Elizabeth G. Watson

Elizabeth Grill Watson (January 7, 1914 – February 24, 2006) was an American Quaker minister, curator, and feminist theologian.[1][2][3]

For the Scottish child suffragette, see Bessie Watson.
Elizabeth G. Watson
Born(1914-01-07)January 7, 1914
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
DiedFebruary 24, 2006(2006-02-24) (aged 92)
Edina, Minnesota
NationalityAmerican
EducationMiami University, Chicago Theological Seminary, University of Chicago Divinity School
Occupation(s)Theologian, curator
OrganizationSociety of Friends
SpouseGeorge H. Watson (married 1937)

Personal life

Elizabeth Grill Watson was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on January 7, 1914.[1][4] Watson grew up in Lakewood, Ohio.[5][6] Women were not permitted to be ministers at her childhood Methodist church. However, she wanted to become a minister regardless.[7] She graduated from Miami University in Ohio in 1936 with a Bachelor of Arts in Greek and literature.[7] She then studied at the Chicago Theological Seminary and the University of Chicago Divinity School. There she met George H. Watson, who she married in 1937.[8][4][6] While the couple were attending a graduate school in Chicago, they joined the Society of Friends in 1938.[2][9]

The Watson family lived at the Heller House in Chicago for 24 years. While living there, George worked as first chair of the political science department at Roosevelt University and Elizabeth worked at the local American Friends Service Committee.[5]

The couple raised four children and four foster children. After the Watsons' oldest child, Sara, died in a car accident in 1964, Elizabeth wrote Guests of My Life due to the event.[7][8] The book was developed into a play.[6] In the 1980s, Elizabeth and George retired to a Quaker planned community in Massachusetts. From 1991 onward, they lived in Minneapolis.[5] Elizabeth G. Watson died on February 24, 2006, in Edina, Minnesota.[2][6]

Work

Elizabeth G. Watson's theological writing focused on multiple subjects, including women in the Bible, liberation theology and feminist theology.[1][3][5] Watson was particularly influential among liberal Quakers for her feminist theological work.[8] Watson was more generally known as an activist for social justice, including for racial equality.[2][10] The Watsons' Chicago home was the first mailing address and meeting place used by CORE, an African-American civil rights organization.[8][6]

She wrote about holistic philosophy.[7] In addition to the Quaker concept of an inward light, Watson spoke of an inward darkness she described as "not ... desolation or evil, but a quiet waiting and creativity."[11]

After moving to Long Island, New York, Watson worked as a curator for the Walt Whitman Birthplace State Historic Site in the 1970s.[2][5] Watson delivered lectures at Friends General Conference meetings for various topics. She became a representative for the Friends World Committee. She became involved with colleges associated with the Quakers, and was a Friend-in-Residence at the Earlham School of Religion. George and Elizabeth Watson were both Fellows at the Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre and Friends-in-Residence at the Pendle Hill Quaker Center for Study and Contemplation.[6]

She advocated for acceptance of gay people, characterizing condemnation of gay and lesbian people as archaic and ignorant of continuous revelation.[12][13] In 1977, she delivered a speech to the Friends Committee for Gay Concerns (later known as the FLGBTQC) entitled Each of Us Inevitable, in which Watson stated, "As Friends, we are called to combat oppression wherever it occurs. We are called to help empower the poor, the blacks, the Native and Hispanic Americans, women, gays, and anyone else who may be victims of disaster, injustice, indignity, discrimination, or any other form of oppression. I have constantly written and spoken about this for many years, and will not repeat it here."[14]

Some of Watson's work focused on environmental theology.[3] By the 1990s, one concern of hers was that environmental destruction was a greater threat to the world than nuclear war.[15]

Bibliography
  • Guests of My Life. Burnsville, North Carolina: Celo Press, 1979.
  • Sexuality, a Part of Wholeness. Family Relations Committee, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, 1982.
  • Daughters of Zion: Stories of Old Testament Women. Richmond, Indiana: Friends United Press, 1982.
  • Healing Ourselves and Our Earth. Friends Committee on Unity with Nature, 1991.
  • Journey to Universalism. Landenberg, Pennsylvania: Quaker Universalist Fellowship, 1991.
  • Wisdom's Daughters: Stories of Women around Jesus. Cleveland, Ohio: Pilgrim Press, 1997.

See also

References
  1. "Personal Experience of Faith" (PDF). The Canadian Friend. Vol. 102, no. 2. Canadian Yearly Meeting. May 2006. p. 35. Retrieved September 21, 2021.
  2. "George H. and Elizabeth G. Watson Papers". Bryn Mawr College. Archived from the original on 2020-08-13. Retrieved September 21, 2021.
  3. "Elizabeth Grill Watson". The Friend. Retrieved September 21, 2021.
  4. Densmore, Christopher; Addison, Barbara (2010). "Articles and Publications". Quaker History. 99 (2): 51–55. ISSN 0033-5053. JSTOR 41947700 – via JSTOR.
  5. Coffin, Linda (March 1998). The Marriage of True Minds: An Interview With Elizabeth and George Watson (PDF). pp. 12–17. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  6. Friends Journal: Quaker Thought and Life Today (PDF). June 2006. pp. 36–37. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  7. Bratman, Fred (1979-12-30). "A Daughter's Death, A Mother's Faith". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-09-22.
  8. Abbott, Margery Post (2011-12-01). Historical Dictionary of the Friends (Quakers). Scarecrow Press. p. 361. ISBN 978-0-8108-7088-8.
  9. Watson, Elizabeth G. (1997). "The Mother of the Sons of Zebedee" (PDF). Friends World Committee for Consultation. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-04-19. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
  10. Whitmire, Catherine (2001-07-01). Plain Living: A Quaker Path to Simplicity. Ave Maria Press. p. 186. ISBN 978-1-933495-41-5.
  11. Port, Mary Jean (December 1, 2016). "Darkness and Light". Friends Journal. Retrieved September 21, 2021.
  12. Hamm, Thomas D. (2006-09-18). The Quakers in America. Columbia University Press. p. 139. ISBN 978-0-231-12363-1.
  13. Friends Journal. Vol. 52. Friends Publishing Corporation. 2006. p. 37.
  14. Watson, Elizabeth. Leuze, Robert (ed.). "Each of Us Inevitable - Some Keynote Addresses" (PDF). Quaker.org. Friends for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Concerns. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-09-22. Retrieved September 21, 2021.
  15. Chijioke, Mary Ellen; Shetter, Claire B. (1993). "Articles and Publications". Quaker History. 82 (2): 114–118. ISSN 0033-5053. JSTOR 41947251 – via JSTOR.
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