George Fox - Legacy

Legacy

Fox's influence on the Society of Friends was of course tremendous, and his beliefs have largely been carried forward by that group. Perhaps his most significant achievement, other than his predominant influence in the early movement, was his leadership in overcoming the twin challenges of government prosecution after the Restoration and internal disputes that threatened its stability during the same period. Not all of his beliefs were welcome to all Quakers: his Puritan-like opposition to the arts and rejection of theological study, forestalled development of these practices among Quakers for some time.

The name of George Fox is often invoked by traditionalist Friends who dislike modern liberal attitudes to the Society's Christian origins. At the same time, Quakers and others can relate to Fox's religious experience, and even those who disagree with him regard him as a pioneer.

Walt Whitman, who was raised by parents inspired by Quaker thought, later wrote: "George Fox stands for something too—a thought—the thought that wakes in silent hours—perhaps the deepest, most eternal thought latent in the human soul. This is the thought of God, merged in the thoughts of moral right and the immortality of identity. Great, great is this thought—aye, greater than all else."

George Fox University in Oregon, founded as Pacific College in 1891, was renamed for him in 1949. He also has a building named after him at Lancaster University. James Harcourt played Fox in the 1941 film Penn of Pennsylvania. Fox's relationship with Margaret Fell is novelized in Jan de Hartog's The Peaceable Kingdom: An American Saga.