Book excerpt: No single word conjures up religion, spirituality, or the sacred more than holiness. Yet its meaning in Christian theology, and application in Christian practice, has been greatly misunderstood. Few Quakers today of any persuasion would recognize the mystical depth of meaning the concept had for Quakers down through the centuries. Holiness: The Soul of Quakerism recovers the essential place of holiness theology in three centuries of Quaker history. It explores how Quaker spirituality was shaped in its inception by the experience of union with God, otherwise known in the Christian tradition as perfection, and examines selected figures from Quaker history who represent different emphases of holiness in the context of their time and culture.