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.
Solar eclipses occur only at a new moon, when the moon passes between the earth and the sun: the moon is entirely backlit and so it's visible only as a shadow. (You can actually see it a very little bit due to earthshine, the light reflected by the earth, onto the moon, and then back.)