Abstract
Iris Murdoch's novels feature a surprising number of Quakers for someone who appears not to have attended a Quaker meeting after the age of 18. In this chapter I explore Murdoch's life-long ambivalence about Quakerism. I focus on the neglected influence of Murdoch's education at Badminton School on the development of her life's wprk in fiction and philosophy, demonstrating through archival research that many of Murdoch's key philosophical and theological interests can be traced back to the influence of her head teacher, the Quaker Beatrice May Baker, and the intensely Quaker ethos of Badminton school at that time.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Iris Murdoch and the Western Theological Imagination |
| Editors | Miles Leeson, Frances White |
| Publisher | Springer Nature |
| Publication status | Accepted/In press - 2024 |