Quakers and Hannah Arendt: Hope in the Face of Authoritarianism

With Lily Chadwick

October 5, 2026

Date and Time Details: October 5 @ 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm EDT

Location: Hybrid

Contact: registration@pendlehill.org

October First Monday Lecture

Recent years have witnessed a global resurgence in authoritarian and populist sentiments that have, for many, sparked emotions of fear and despair. What lessons from the past can Quakers make use of to address current international concerns?  In this lecture, Lily Chadwick, Programme Coordinator in Quaker History, explores some of the writings of philosopher and political theorist Hannah Arendt, whose works analyzed the rise of totalitarianism in Europe in the early twentieth century. This lecture, participants will hear the perspectives of a historian on what reflections from Arendt may be applied within Friends’ communities today. 


Lily Chadwick will be joining us remotely from the UK. You are welcome to join us to participate from the Barn.

Thanks to the generous support of the Friends Foundation for the Aging, we’re able to make this and other free, online programs accessible to f/Friends of all ages.

This and our other lectures are streamed live and available as recordings on our YouTube channel. 

About the Leader

Lily Chadwick

Background and Research Interests: Lily Chadwick (she/her) is Woodbrooke’s Programme Coordinator for Quaker History. Lily is by training a social historian of the early modern Atlantic with an emphasis on intersections of gender, authority/power, religious ‘radicalism’, and regionalism. Her particular interest in histories of women and religious dissent led her to the study of Quakers […]

Learn more about Lily Chadwick

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