# George Fox — The Varieties of Religious Experience character guide

> George Fox in The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** George Fox, Fox

**First appearance:** 0012-lecture-ix-conversion

## Snapshot

The Quaker founder whose spiritual autobiography supplies James with one of his most vivid documents of a soul seized and remade by inward light.

## Who they are

Fox enters the lectures as a primary witness, the kind of first-person record James prizes over secondhand doctrine. His turbulent inner life illustrates how a single dominant aim can expel its rivals and produce what we call conversion. For the book's argument, he is proof that religious experience is best studied in the raw testimony of those who lived it.

## Relationships

### [Jesus Christ](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_varieties_of_religious_experience_se/characters/jesus_christ)

_psychological_

Fox, as founder of Quakerism, is portrayed by James as having a direct and intense personal relationship with the spirit of Christ.

### [William James](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_varieties_of_religious_experience_se/characters/william_james)

_psychological_

James analyzes Fox's religious experiences and inner turmoil as a key example of the divided self and spiritual healing.

### [Jesus Christ](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_varieties_of_religious_experience_se/characters/jesus_christ)

_psychological_

Fox, as founder of Quakerism, is portrayed by James as having a direct and intense personal relationship with the spirit of Christ.

### [Jesus Christ](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_varieties_of_religious_experience_se/characters/jesus_christ)

_psychological_

Fox, as founder of Quakerism, is portrayed by James as having a direct and intense personal relationship with the spirit of Christ.

### [William James](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_varieties_of_religious_experience_se/characters/william_james)

_psychological_

James analyzes Fox's religious experiences and inner turmoil as a key example of the divided self and spiritual healing.

### [William James](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_varieties_of_religious_experience_se/characters/william_james)

_psychological_

James analyzes Fox's religious experiences and inner turmoil as a key example of the divided self and spiritual healing.

## In the story

### [Lecture I: Religion and Neurology](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_varieties_of_religious_experience_se/chapters/lecture-i-religion-and-neurology)

Founder of the Quaker religion, cited as an example of a religious genius with psychopathic traits.

### [Lecture XIX: Other Characteristics](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_varieties_of_religious_experience_se/chapters/lecture-xix-other-characteristics)

Mentioned as a religious leader with frequent automatisms and a sense of being under a foreign power.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_varieties_of_religious_experience_se/characters/george_fox
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_varieties_of_religious_experience_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_varieties_of_religious_experience_se/characters