Austin rightly begins with a discussion of Rufus Jones' influence in founding the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) as a body dedicated to his vision of the Society of Friends as a mystical religion demanding Quakers embrace a new form of social gospel and actively engage in efforts to overcome evil and injustice in seeking a better world.
Solar eclipses happen when the sun, moon and Earth are perfectly aligned so that when the moon passes in front of the sun it casts a shadow on the Earth. On March 20 this year the moon's shadow falls across parts of North Africa, Europe and the Middle East.
The last total solar eclipse visible from the continental United States was in 1979, and it was only over a corner of the Pacific Northwest. Something like this summerâs event, where so many people on land can see a total solar eclipse, is exceptionally rare â although the United States actually will experience another one, crossing an opposite diagonal swath of the country, in 2024.