UNSPOKEN WORLDS Wbmen's Religious Lives Third Edition

NANCY AVER FALK RITA M. GROSS ~stern Michigan University University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire [Emerita]

iif Wadsworth ~ Thomson Learning", Australia • Canada • Mexico • Singapore • Spain • United Kingdom • United States 2-.001 22

lVhen Christ Is a WOman: Theology and Practice in the Shaker Tradition

SUSAN M. SETTA

n the eve of the American Revolution, unique in human history. It proclaimed the O Ann Lee and a small band of followers left Motherhood and Fatherhood of God, asserted England and set sail to establish a heavenly that the second coming of Christ had occurred kingdom in the American colonies. They in the woman Ann Lee, fostered a social and called themselves the United Society of political structure of both male and female Believers in Christ's Second Appearing. Only leadership, and prohibited both marriage and a few of the original Shakers accompanied private ownership of property. Lee; the rest remained in England with John By insisting that Ann Lee was the Christ and Jane Wardley, who had originally founded and that God was both male and female, the the group as an offshoot of the Society of Shakers undercut the patriarchal bias of eigh­ Friends. Within 75 years of its journey west, teenth- and nineteenth-century Christianity. . the United Society had 5,000 fully covenanted Because both men and women had been cre­ members, and probably three times as many ated in the image of God, and because the devotees who, for personal reasons, could not female Christ had explicitly brought redemp­ live with their Shaker brothers and sisters. The tion for women, Shakers believed that women religious system of the United Society of as well as men should have full access to all Believers in Christ's Second Appearing is forms of religious practice and leadership.

SUSAN M. SmA, PH.D., is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts. She is a former Chair of the Women and Religion Section of the American Academy of Religion.

264 ll7hen Christ Is a WOman: Theology and Practice in the Shaker Tradition 265

Living in their own version of the Kingdom of The loss of her children was very painful for God on Earth, Shaker women and men had a Lee, and during the late 17 60s she underwent rare opportunity to live in full accordance a period of spiritual crisis. She became with this conviction. extremely troubled by day and unable to sleep by night; she prayed constantly for deliverance. Spiritual and physical agonies plagued her until, as her biographers claim, she perspired ANN tEE AND THE EARLY blood. Meanwhile, the Wardleys' small associa­ SHAKER COMMUNITIES tion was being persecuted by civil and church authorities for such infractions as Sabbath Shaker sources consistently trace Shaker ori­ breaking and blasphemy. While Lee was gins to 1747, when Jane and John Wardley for­ imprisoned for Sabbath breaking in 1770, she mulated a group based loosely on the ideas of claimed to have a revelation informing her that the Society of Friends. A group that empha­ she herself had been chosen to be the final sized ecstatic religious experience, they came to incarnation of Christ. When Lee was released be known as Shakers because they both quaked from prison, returned to the group, and related and shook during their worship services. One her vision, other Shakers experienced the same striking feature of the Wardleys' teaching was revelation and hence accepted the truth of her the expectation that Christ would come soon, claim. From that time on, Lee's vision: became probably in female form. In 1758, Ann Lee and a central focus of Shaker teachings. However, her husband Abraham Stanley were drawn to in addition to her claim to be the Second the group. At first Ann was merely a follower of Appearance of Christ, Lee claimed God had the Wardleys. But eventually she would pro­ revealed to her that the root of all sin was lust, claim herself the second Christ and become a which in turn prompted all sexual relations. source of divisive controversy. Thus Lee taught her followers to abandon sex It is as difficult to uncover the life of the and take up celibacy as a central feature of historical Ann Lee as it is to find the histori­ their spiritual practice. This, together with cal Jesus. Because Lee was illiterate, the Lee's increasing prominence in the group, ulti­ reconstruction of her life, work, and ideas mately led to a break with the Wardleys. depends upon both the writings of those who In 1774, Lee had another revelation, telling knew her and later interpretations of the orig­ her to take her gospel .message to America inal accounts. Stories and sayings attributed and to create God's kingdom on earth in the to her often vary according to the prevailing colonies. Together with a small group of fol­ theology of the time period in which they lowers, who were mostly her relatives, Lee set occur. Despite the difficulties in presenting sail for the Shakers' new home. The trip was her biography, several facts about Lee's life difficult: a storm threatened the very lives of are clear. Lee was born to indigent parents in the Shakers; their vessel was damaged and Manchester, England in 1736, five years came perilously close to sinking. Lee, how­ before the Great Awakening was to sweep ever, was not daunted by the danger and, New England in the American colonies. Lee according to her companions, she controlled married Abraham Stanley in 1756. They had the forces of nature so that a wave mended four children, all of whom died at birth or in the ship. This action further convinced an early childhood. Lee and her parents had already devoted group that Lee shared in the been members of the Anglican church, but in power of God. the year of their marriage, Lee and Stanley Landing in New York City, the American joined the Wardley community. Shakers soon moved to a rural area in upstate 266 Susan M. Setta

New York. Despite considerable economic small group developed into a successful difficulty, the small group of believers prose­ utopian community and began several mis­ lytized actively, caught the attention of many sionary ventures westward. clergy in the area, and began to attract new The leadership that followed was never as members. However, at the same time, many dynamic nor as successful as that of Whit­ of their new neighbors were eying them with taker, Meacham, and Wright. Those three had considerable &uspicion. For one thing, it was been chosen by Lee herself; later individuals the eve of the American revolution and these rose to leadership roles primarily because of English women and men were preaching that seniority within the group. TJmes were espe­ a new kingdom was about to be established cially difficult from the mid-1820s until the on earth. At one point Lee was even arrested 1840s. Financial hardship, coupled with a for treason. But she was released after inform­ conservative leadership that had never known ing the judge that God had told her he was on the foundress, led to low morale and strained the colonies' side. The novel, albeit heretical, relationships. religious ideas of the Shakers were scorned by During the 1840s, the community'S for­ many in the surrounding community. This tunes rose again, as the result of an innovative scorn ranged from derogatory sermons to revival called "Mother's Work." At this time, physical persecution. Lee herself died in 1784 the spirits of Ann Lee and other historical or from injuries inflicted by an angry mob. spiritual figures began appearing regularly Lee's death precipitated a crisis for her fol­ through human "instruments," or mediums, lowers. Although Lee had never claimed to be who transmitted to the community their mes­ immortal, some of her followers apparently sages, paintings, poems, hymns, and new believed that Christ's Second Coming could laws. Lasting until about 1847, this interval of not die. Before her death, Lee had named as dramatic spiritual activity brought renewed her successor James Whittaker, one of the orig­ financial prosperity, increased membership, inal English Shakers; Whittaker led the group and missionary expansion. By the end of the until his death just three years later, in 1787. 1860s, however, the Shaker communities As a result of the uncertainties provoked by again were in decline; individual societies Lee's death, Whittaker concentrated on clari­ were closed, members began to leave, and fying Shaker doctrine, and the group survived new converts became rare. The membership, its founder's passing. An American convert, once almost equally divided between men and Joseph Meacham, replaced Whittaker and led women, now became predominantly female. the group until 1796. Prior to her death, Lee The decline and transformation of the had called Meacham her "first born son in Shaker communities cannot be attributed to America." Under Meacham's leadership, the anyone factor. Ironically, financial success Shaker community organized a system of spir­ contributed to the decline because the group's itual and temporal governance that has con­ prosperity attracted members seeking an tinued until the twentieth century. Lee had set escape from poverty rather than responding to a precedent for dual male and female leader­ a spiritual calling. In addition, to gain more ship when she appointed Lucy Wright, converts, Shakers accommodated their theol­ another Americanborn member, to oversee ogy to American Protestantism and hence women's affairs in the community. Meacham became less distinctive. The fervent, innova­ formalized Wright's position in the group, and tive, and ecstatic worship that had once been a she became known as Mother Lucy. After hallmark of the Shaker tradition now also Meacham's death, Mother Lucy became the became more restrained and traditional. Today, Shakers' leader. Under her tenure, the original only a handful of practicing Shakers remain. -- When Christ Is a Wbman: Theology and Practice in the Shaker Tradition 267

SHAKER TEACHINGS: search a soul merely by looking into some­ ANN THE CHRIST one's eyes. One such account comes from Hannah Cogswell: One striking example of increasing conser­ I know of a certainty, that Mother Ann had vatism in Shaker teachings was a withdrawal the gift of prophecy and the revelation of from their initial understanding of Ann her­ God, by which she was able to search the self. The earliest Shaker communities, dating hearts of those who came to see her; for I from 1770-1830, contended that Lee and have myself been an eye and ear witness of Jesus were co-saviors. To support their claim it. I have known some to come to her under that Lee had been a second savior, early a cloak of deception, thinking to conceal Shakers reinterpreted the traditional Chris­ their sins in her presence; and I have seen tian view of Christ. They saw Christ not as her expose them by the searching power of Jesus, but as a principle-the "Unity of truth, and to acknowledge that the light Divine Male and Female."l This had first and revelation of God was in her.4 appeared in Jesus and then finally, and neces­ sarily, in Ann Lee. Christ had to come in both Rebecca Jackson, who founded the predomi­ male and female forms, they argued, because nantly black community of Philadelphia God was both male and female. Hence they Shakers, spoke of Jesus and Ann in identical sometimes called Ann Lee their Mother in terms. Jackson claimed that Jesus and Ann Christ because she represented the female "lived on earth as angels do in heaven, living aspect of God. angel lives in earthly bodies."5 Speaking of her The original Shakers had described the vision of the new creation, Jackson said that second coming of Christ in terms parallel to both Lee and Jesus had existed before the those that other Christians had used to refer world was made. According to Jackson, Lee to the first appearance in Jesus. Hence they had restored four spirits in one; the Mother, also called Lee "the Second Eve," "Ann the Father, the Daughter, and the Son; by Christ," and "Ann the Daughter." After Lee's completing this divine quartet, Lee had saved death, Mother Sarah Kendall wrote that she the world.6 Others argued that when Jesus knew Lee was said "I go to prepare a place for you," he was referring to the completion of God's plan of the Lord's anointed, the Bride, the Lamb's salvation that had occurred through the Wife spoken of in ancient days by holy appearance of Lee. Lee and Jesus together are inspiration; for she did the same·work and the saving pair who come to redeem the performed miracles in the same spirit that world; but it is Ann, not Jesus, who completes 2 Christ did while on earth. the purpose of salvation history. Despite the danger of making such heretical However, early Shaker writers did not sim­ statements, Kendall affirmed the strength of ply add the concept of a female savior to her conviction by adding: Christian teachings; they rather reinterpreted the entire Bible within the context of Lee's As soon would I dispute that Christ made revelation. They used for this purpose a special his first appearance in the person of Jesus approach to scripture that was common in the of Nazareth as I would that he made his eighteenth and nineteenth century. According second appearance in the person of Ann to this "typological" method of Biblical inter­ Lee.3 pretation, certain figures or actions called Lee's earliest biographers tell of Lee's powers, "types" anticipate and point to the final act of her ability to heal the sick, and her capacity to salvation. But the significance of any such 268 Susan M. Setta

"type" is not apparent until its fulfillment. stant. Taking the first chapter of Genesis as Using this approach, the Shakers tried to sh~w their starting point, they contended that that all of salvation history had been moVIng God's statement "Let! Us create man in Our towards completion of the Christ principle in image. . . ." must be taken }:o mean that God the woman Ann Lee. When Shaker writers was both male and female. Ridiculing the looked to the Bible with the idea of a female then-standard interpretation of this passage, Christ in mind, they saw the worn.en of the which claimed that God was speaking to Jesus Bible in a 'new and more important light. in this passage, the Shakers asked: Many Biblical women became "types" of Ann, who pointed to God's redemption of the world Was it to the Son, the Father spoke, as the through her. For example, the mother of divines have long taught? How then came Moses became a "type" of Ann, for Ann "is the man to be created male.and female? Father true figure of the final deliverance of the peo­ and Son are not male and female; but/ather ple of God though the woman."7 Of course, and mother are male and female, as likewise Jesus himself was also understood to be a are son and daughter. . . . "type." As Son of God and Anointing Spirit, And without this relationship there can he pointed to the divine Daughter, Ann. exist no order in creation! Without a father 9 Although early Shaker sources portrayed and mother we can have no existence. Lee and Jesus as equals, later Shaker theology In the Shakers' opinion, the truth about downplayed the similarity between them. In a the motherhood of God had been suppressed 1904 Shaker publication, the Shaker sisters by 2,000 years of Christian ~eaching. In Leila S. Taylor and Anna White claimed that order for humanity to become perfect and to Shakers had never believed that Ann was live in a Heaven on Earth, both the mother­ 8 Christ. Frederick Evans, who became an hood and the fatherhood of God had to be elder at the end of the nineteenth century, acknowledged. reiterated this claim. A Shaker sister inter­ The period of Shaker history known as viewed more recently, in 1974, asserted that "Mother's Work" saw an important develop­ Lee demonstrated the light of Christ that lies ment in the concept of the motherhood of within every human being, but Lee herself God. During this time a figure called Holy was not the Christ. To these later writers, Lee Mother Wisdom began to speak through the became an exemplary prophet, a model for Shaker mediums; the first to receive her were the true Christian. Although Lee's spiritual a group of male and female children, but later maturity had been without earthly parallel, she appeared mostly through female instru­ she was not considered equal to Jesus. Rather ments. Holy Mother Wisdom was believed to than insisting on a female incarnation of be a manifestation of the female in God. She Christ, later Shakers turned to the image of was not Ann Lee, but was Ann's and everyone . God as Mother to deVelop their concept of a else's Mother in Creation. According to one female aspect of divinity. recorded manifestation, Wisdom had come "to set my house in order to complete and fortify the walls of my Zion."lO Eternal Wis­ dom stood with the Eternal Father when she GOD AS FATHER AND MOTHER proclaimed: I Whereas Shaker views of the nature of Lee Bow down, obey, all ye who hear my Word, I changed over time, their vision of God as male both ye who dwell on Zion, and ye who and female, father and mother, remained con- dwell in distant lands, say I Eternal Wis- When Christ Is a WOman: Theology and Practice in the Shaker Tradition 269

dom. . . . In word of solemn warning I women who were their contemporaries in sound my trumpet of wisdom unto United States society. you .... According to the Shaker view, women were Know ye that I am Wisdom, Eternal and equal to men in their original nature because Unchangeable Wisdom: one with God I the two genders had been created in the like­ am, and always shall be; even as he is your ness of a God who was both IJ1.ale and female. Et$!rnal Father, so do I Eternal Wisdom, Nevertheless, Shakers agreed with main­ stand as your everlasting Mother with stream Christianity of the time on two impor­ Him. tant points of biblical interpretation. First, I sound forth mercy, with Him Judg­ they agreed that men and women had sinned ment proclaim; We stand as one, and work through Adam and Eve and hence had lost the but as one alone;. . .11 possibilities of this original condition. Second, the Shakers, along with most Christian inter­ Often, as in the above passage, Mother preters, agreed that women had then become Wisdom is portrayed as a Warrior working to subordinated to men because Eve had brought complete the creation. But at other times, about humanity's fall. Unlike most other Wisdom seems almost timid. Paulina Bates's Christian interpreters, however, the Shakers long book titled The Divine Book of Holy and claimed that female subordination was not Eternal Wisdom l2 recorded revelations of final. Because the Milleruum had arrived Mother Wisdom in which this female aspect through the coming of Ann Lee, male domi­ of God was often humble and meek and pos­ nation had been overcome, and the true equal­ sessed many attributes considered valuable ity of men and women could be restored. for the nineteenth-century gentlewoman. Moreover, Shaker writers asserted that According to this view, Holy Mother Wisdom women could be redeemed only through a had not made herself known in the past female savior. An early Shaker theological because the world was not safe enough for her compendium noted: appearance. But whether her image was fierce or gentle, Mother Wisdom stood on equal It was therefore indispensably necessary, footing with God and gave Shakers a complex for the final restoration of man to eternal image of God as female. life, that the spirit should be revealed in that sex where sin first began; and there destroy that enchanting influence which the woman received from the serpent, that alluring power by which the natural man is WHY WOMEN NEED led, and through which the fall of man was A SPECIAL SAVIOR first produced. [Emphasis added.] 13 The images of Mother God as Warrior, Gen­ Note this text's presupposition that sin tlewoman, and Wise Woman, together with "first began" with the female sex. The writer the belief in Ann Lee as completion of Christ, assumes that women are even more vulnera­ offered the Shakers a full reflection of woman ble to evil than males. He goes on to say that in the deity. Furthermore, the Shaker concep­ women therefore had to be raised from "the tion of the fourfold nature of God profoundly lowest state of the fall" in order to be "made affected Shaker attitudes towards women and a fit temple for the Holy Spirit to dwell in." Shaker social institutions. Thus, Shaker theol­ Thus, the Shakers' very positive view of ogy offered to women a means by which many women's potentialities was based on an ini­ Shaker sisters could become freer than tially negative assessment. 270 Susan M. Setta

Until the Second Coming of Christ, appearances of Christ to eradicate women:s women and men had not shared a similar sinful tendencies. But women had finally been capacity for perfection. Instead, since the fall redeemed, and a new, egalitarian "Heaven on women and men had had a completely differ­ Earth" had now become possible. ent moral makeup. The female nature was most evident in the character of the first woman, Ev:e. Like most Christian interpreters of the day, Shaker theology located the origin WOMEN IN GOD'S KINGDOM of the world's evil in Eve's inclination towards ON EARTH what they called "animal sensations." While Adam was somewhat responsible for his own Perhaps the most exciting aspect of Shaker actions, Eve was plainly responsible for the practice was the fact that Shakers actually downfall of both human ancestors. Instead of tried to design and live in such an egalitarian rejecting Eve's role, as one might expect, "Heaven." From the time of their beginnings Shaker writers never questioned this notion. in New York, the Shakers were millenarians; Instead they tried to show why it had been they believed that they were,living representa­ necessary for evil to enter the world through a tives of the Kingdom of God on earth. Their woman. The Shakers argued that since all pattern of daily life could therefore not be humanity had entered the' world through ordered by the laws and customs of the fallen, women, evil must have arisen out of the same secular, imperfect world. Their own rules of source. Eve's communication with the devil governance and day-to-day activity had to had excited her "animal sensations," and lust, mirror the ways of heaven. To live in the way which gave rise to sin, had thus been born. that they felt the redeemed ought to live, the Through the interaction of Adam and Eve, Shakers founded alternative communities. the male had also fallen prey to these sensa­ Situated mostly in rural areas that at the time tions. Adam and Eve participated "in the act , of founding were part of the American fron­ of sexual coition; and thus partook of the for­ tier, these communities owned their own bidden fruit."14 land, designed and built their own buildings, Before the Second Coming, women had and produced most of their Dwn food, cloth­ been weak, and hence were easily led astray. ing, furniture, and even machinery. Being Like all creatures, Eve had the ability to refuse self-sufficient and unobtrusive, they were usu­ temptation; but she instead gave in to her ally left alone by the new U.S. government fleshly nature. Because of this, the animal and by their neighbors. Hence they were also nature became humanity'S reigning principle. able to shape their own social and political Only by intervention of God's Spirit could life-style. Three central components of this humanity be restored to its true spiritual life-style held important implications for nature. Jesus, a male, had brought redemption Shaker women: celibacy, communal property, for men. However, women required a differ­ and the Shaker form of community organiza­ ent plan of salvation, because women's moral tion and governance. quality differed from that of men. Before Ann From the time of Lee's vision to the pres­ Lee, women had no savior. Thus, in the ent, a central Shaker practice has been Shaker view, men had gained access to per­ celibacy-that is to say, total abstinence from fection almost two thousand years before sex and marriage. Like other Shaker teach­ women had done so. Clearly, the sin of the ings, Shaker justifications for celibacy female was grave, for it took two separate changed during the course of Shaker history. When Christ Is a lfbman: Theology and Practice in the Shaker Tradition 271

Lee herself set the tone for the early Shaker part of her efforts to win custody of her chil­ abhorrence of sexual intercourse when she dren from her Shaker husband. 17 stated: Moreover, Shakers at times questioned their own celibate practice. Near the close of Those who choose to live after the fl~sh, the nineteenth century, when their population can do so; but I know, by the revelation of was dwindling, some Shakers even for a time God, that those who live in the gratification considered starting a "generative order"; this of 'their lusts will suffer in proportion as would be for those who found celibacy too they have violated the law of God in difficult a cross to bear. However, other mem­ nature.l5 bers disputed this idea, and the noncelibate Early Shaker sources, following Lee's own order was never founded. teachings, generally charged that sexual rela­ In contrast, Shakers never challenged their tions are the primary cause of sin in the second major departure from mainstream world. Later sources were less likely to stress American practice-the abolition of private the evils of sexuality itself. But they still ownership. The Shaker belief that members viewed celibacy as an important way to pro­ should hold all lands and goods in common tect the unity of the millenial community. was based on Lee's revelation that "Christian­ Sexuality leads to marriage, and married per­ ity did not admit to private property." This sons tend to look to their spouses' and chil­ practice was closely linked to the celibate dren's needs rather than committing them­ ideal, for a1tV interest in the material world selves fully to their spiritual families. Most was considered to be an expression of lust. All Shaker defences of the celibate life further­ carnality-all desire for worldly things-had more emphasized that marriage places' to be eradicated in the New Kingdom. This women in a subordinate role. 16 included both the desire for sexual union and The Shaker practice of celibacy is often the desire for material wealth. misunderstood. Although Shakers preferred a The practice of sharing property was celibate lifestyle and required celibacy before already on record in 1782; in that year, Ben­ a person could take up residence in one of the jamin Barnes gave all of his land to the settle­ Shakers' own settlements, not all Shakers ment which survives today as Sabbathday lived within the celibate communities. Non­ Lake. From these early beginnings it swiftly celibate Shakers, sometimes called "house­ became the norm for all fully covenanted holders," often remained with their worldly members to donate all their property to the families. In all probability, most of these community. By the 1820s, Lucy Wright was "householders" were women. Eighteenth- and asserting that the Union was the Gift. That is nineteenth-century laws invariably granted to say, Union, the united effort of the believ­ custody of children to a father if one of the ers, depended on the sharing of Shaker parents left the household. A woman who resources. Shakers argued that private owner­ joined a celibate Shaker community without ship was a barrier to spiritual and temporal her husband would lose all claim to her chil­ equality. Property served to divide rather than dren and be unable to see them. In contrast, a unite a community. It led to the subjection of . man who left his wife to join would take his women, to slavery, and even to war. children along with him. Mary Dyer, a woman In fact, the ability to give up property, rather of the early nineteenth century who published than the practice of celibacy, was the ultimate scathing attacks on the United Society, pub­ test of commitment to Shaker teachings. A per­ lished her expose, A Portrait of Shakerism, as son living at a Shaker settlement could lead a 272 Susan M. Setta celibate life and still not be considered fully in Comments remarkably similar to those~of Union. Union was reserved for those who Engels on the inequality of the marriage rela­ signed the Covenant, a document that trans­ tionship and women's dependent statUs ferred permanent ownership of the signer's appear frequently in the writings of Shaker property to the community. Shakers did not do sisters. For example, Paulina Bates com­ this immediately upon joining; in 1799, mented on the status of the married woman: Mother Locy- Wright created a "Gathering Hence ariseth the belief in many that the Order"-a kind of novitiate-that lived exactly female is not in possession of a living soul; like other Shakers and practiced celibacy. But but (is] merely a machine for the use and these new members retained their right to benefit of man in his terrestrial state of retrieve their property if they decided to leave existence. 20 the community. In contrast, if fully covenanted members left, their property remained with the Yet another woman echoed Engels's own Shaker community. Because Shaker property words when she wrote, in 1882: "Woman's was jointly held, it was considered to be wholly condition is little superior to slave."21 devoted to God. It could not be used to bene­ Both Engels and the Shaker writers of fit individual members, even in cases where course presupposed the economic structure of members retained some right to reclaim it. The eighteenth- and nineteenth-century marriage. Shakers adamantly upheld this position even In America of that time, as in Engels's Europe, from the time of the first written covenant. ownership of property was allotted almost The Shaker practice of sharing property, exclusively to men. American women were like the practice of celibacy, had important subjected to the principle of coverature, which implications for Shaker women; for both the United States had taken over from English tended to equalize the relationship between common law. In marriage, according to this men and women. Nineteenth-century thinkers legal standard, "the husband and wife were one were well aware of the dose correlation person--the husband."22 Because of covera­ between private ownership and the subjection ture, married women had no rights of ownership; of women. At the time when Shaker commu­ during the eighteenth and 'early nineteenth nities were enjoying their largest membership centuries women could hold property only if and prosperity, Friedrich Engels was writing they were single or widowed. The Married his Origins of the Family, Private Property, and Women's Laws, passed, during the 1860s, the State. Monogamous marriage, Engels con­ altered this principle slightly, but they pro­ tended, was a means of extending property tected only the property that a woman brought and insuring its transference to male heirs. to her marriage. Anything acquired by the This kind of relationship was "the first form of woman during the marriage was still owned by the family to be based, not on natural but on her husband. Hence within a typical family economic conditions, on the victory of private structure, women became totally dependent property over primitive natural communal upon men; for men controlled their means of property."18 Engels argued that the male's financial support. When a woman married she ownership of property and consequent eco­ ran the risk of becoming yet another posses­ nomic superiority over the female led to male sion) because she had no financial autonomy. supremacy in the marriage relationship. And yet for most women of the time, marriage Therefore the marriage relationship was not was the only viable option for women; they had mutual. Instead, in his view, "the modern indi­ no other means of making a living. vidual family is founded on the open or con­ Both Shaker celibacy and the Shaker sys­ cealed domestic slavery of the woman."19 tem of community property undercut this sys- When Christ Is a Wbman: Theology and Practice in the Shaker Tradition 273 tem at its foundation. Shaker men did not Elders and two Eldresses led each "Family." hold property; nor could they use community Deacons and Deaconesses, as temporal lead­ property for their own benefit; therefore they ers, did not govern, but rather supervised par­ could not use it to exercise power over ticular tasks. There were, for example, Farm women. Women had equal access to the Deacons and Kitchen Deaconesses. Trustees Shaker' community property; therefore they were in charge of financial matters and con­ were, nQ longer economically dependent on trolled the Shaker communal property: men. Shaker celibacy meant that men and Because this complex governmental struc­ women did not marry; even if a Shaker couple ture required leaders at each level, women had been previously married, they did not live had much greater access to leadership roles together, and their marriage was not recog­ than they did in the greater American society. nized by the community. Hence even the habit About one in fifty Shaker sisters would fill a of wives submitting to their husbands could leadership position during her life in the not carryover into the redeemed community. United Society.23 Moreover, the woman lead­ But perhaps even more importantly, by ers were no mere figureheads; especially those doing away with households founded on mar­ in the Lead Ministry held considerable riage and individual ownership, the Shakers responsibility. Lucy Wright, the most impor­ gained an opportunity to create a whole new tant Eldress in Shaker history, made final style of human society. People in the Shaker decisions concerning construction of new community were joined by faith, not by mar­ buildings, missionary expansion, and publica­ riage or blood relationships. They lived in tions. Wright's opinion prevailed even when Spiritual Families as children of Heavenly her views were controversial. Although later Parents. "Families," or living groups of from Eldresses were somewhat less visible than 30 to 100 men and women, made up a Wright, they travelled on missionary ventures, "Community."They were designated by loca­ visited the Western societies,' and directed tion-for example~ they were called "South spiritual matters. Even in cases where male Family" or "North Family." Several "Com­ leaders seemed more prominent than the munities" were in turn gathered into a "Bish­ women, the women still held more power opric"; and the "Bishoprics," in turn, comprised than non-Shaker counterparts. the United Society. Lesser ministerial roles of men and women Moreover, at each organization level, the within the commUnity were similar. Confes­ Shakers had m.ultiple leaders. They separated sion of sins was a requirement for union. "spiritual" from "temporal" office. The Lead Women heard women's confessions; men Ministry, consisting of Elders and Eldresses, were confessors to men. In addition, women provided spiritual leadership; Deacons, Dea­ taught and produced spiritual sayings that conesses, and Trustees .directed temporal were passed down and revered for genera­ matters. Spiritual leadership was patterned tions. Work roles had male and female super­ after the heavenly rule of the Father/Son and visors; Deaconesses supervised women's MotherlDaughter; therefore two men and two work; deacons supervised the work of men. women directed spiritual affairs in each Still the Shakers made some discrimina­ administrative unit. The four Shakers in the tion between the tasks of men and the tasks of Lead Ministry were referred to as "Mother" women. Early records indicate that Mary and "Father." They headed the United Soci­ Whitcher was a trustee in 1792,24 but by 1800 ety from New Lebanon, NewYork. Each Bish­ women no longer functioned in this capacity. opric was directed by a "Ministry," consisting, Although Shaker records do not indicate a again, of two men and two women. Two reason for this change, women trustees would I I 274 Susan M. Setta clearly have endangered the community era of "Mother's Work," women were the pri­ because of existing U.S. property laws. Any mary "instruments," the mediums, through Shaker property held in the name of a female whom Holy Mother Wisdom and other spirits would have been subject to these laws. spoke. Hence the Shakers seem to have main­ Although married couples lived separately tained the frequent human division between after joining the communities, the states men as scholars and thinkers and women as continued !O lecognize their marriages. If the vehicles for religious experience. This distinc­ former husband of a trustee had left the com­ tion has no basis in Shaker theology. More­ munity, he could have claimed all of her prop­ over, it did correspond to a difference in erty, including any that the United Society power. Those who produced the approved held in her name. theological writings were senior males of the Moreover, with few exceptions, the daily society; and their writing itself was powerful tasks of men and women were assigned along because it told Shakers and others what conventional gender lines: women worked Shakers thought about themselves. The medi­ within the Shaker kitchens and dormitories, ums in "Mother's Work," however, were often while men worked in the fields and outbuild­ people with little seniority; and because they ings. Despite these stereotypical roles, the served as instruments only, their roles Shaker division of labor held different impli­ brought them virtually no power in the cations from the standard practice of the groUp.26 Ironically, however, the products of nation. For one thing, in the Shaker commu­ these women who channeled "Mother's nity, women's work was not considered to be Work" are now the best-known aspect of of lesser value than the work of men. All work Shaker creativity. Most Americans now know was equally sacred because it contributed to Shakers, if at all, primarily through the medi­ God's new creation on earth. Furthermore, ums' spirit drawings, poetry, and hymns. tle women's work was economically vital to the community. Shakers were farmers; the crops they produced had to be processed and preserved so that the community could use CONCLUSION them. Food preservation was especially important; preservation kept food through the The Shaker vision of Christianity brought to winter, and sale of surpluses brought income women a degree of equality and control of for necessities. Finally, Shaker work was com­ their lives that is unparalleled elsewhere in munal; women worked by the side of other Christian history. Responding to an image of women. This meant that women's "inside" God as male and female, a belief in separate tasks never isolated Shaker women as they but full redemption for men and women, and isolated other American women within their a conviction that God's Kingdom could be nuclear homes. established on earth, the Shakers founded a One striking final distinction between society in which men and women shared in Shaker male and female activity is harder to power and spiritual authority. Although they account for or justify. Despite the Shakers' failed to solve all of the problems created by commitment to the sharing of spiritual power, gender distinctions, they nonetheless provide men almost totally dominated the develop­ us today with a vision of what a truly egali­ ment of Shaker theology. With only one tarian society might be like. Their solution exception,25 the Brothers edited and authored was quite radical: doing away with property, all theological works until the end of the nine­ sexuality, and marriage is a sacrifice that few teenth century. On the other hand, during the contemporary men or women would be will- W'hen Christ Is a Wbman: Theology and Practice in the Shaker Tradition 275 ing to- make. Nonetheless, their effort still which could not handle the economic or ideologi­ inspires us, while their view of God as female cal stress of having to raise and indoctrinate a sec­ Savior, Wisdom, Warrior, and Mother offers a ond generation. positive, empowering vision of all that women 17. (Concord, N.H.: For the Author, 1822). can be. 18. Alice Rossi, ed., The Feminist Papers: From Adams to de Beauvoir (New York: Bantam Books, 1974), p. 142, quoting Engels, n.p. 19. Ibid., p. 480. Notes' 20. Paulina Bates, The Divine Book of Holy and 1. Benjamin Youngs, Christ's Second Appearing Eternal Wisdom (Canterbury, N.H.: The United (n.p.:The United Society, 1808),p. 12. Society, 1849), p. 505. 2. Mother Sarah Kendall, quoted in Roxalana 21. Ruth Webster, The Shaker Manifesto, XII, no. 4 Grosvenor, ed., Sayings, p. 9, as quoted in Robley (1882), p. 82. Whitson, ed., The Shakers: Two Centuries of Spiritual 22. Norma Beach, In the Eyes of the Law (Ithaca, Reflection (New York: Paulist Press, 1983). N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1982), p. 17. 3. Ibid. 23. Marjorie Procter-Smith, Wbmen in Shaker 4. Hannah Cogswell, quoted in Seth Wells, ed., Community and Wbrship (Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Testimonies Concerning the Character and Ministry of Mellen Press, 1985). Mother Ann Lee (Albany, N.Y.: Packard and Van 24. The Shaker Quarterly, III, no. 4 (Winter Benthuysen, 1827), p. 31. 1963):p.92. 5. Jean McMohan Humez, Gifts of Power: the 25. Bates, Divine Book of Holy and Eternal Wisdom. Writings of Rebecca Jackson, Black Visionary, Shaker 26. See Priscilla Brewer, Shaker Communities, Eldress (Amherst, Mass.: University of Massachu­ Shaker Lives (Hanover, N.H.: University Press of setts Press, 1981), p. 287. New England, 1986), Chapter 7. 6. Ibid., p. 282. 7. Youngs, Christ's Second Appearing, p. 52. 8. Shakerism, Its Meaning and Message (Colum­ bus, Ohio: Fred J. Heer, 1904). Further Readings 9. Youngs, Christ's SecondAppe.aring, pp. 503-4. Brewer, Priscilla J. Shaker Communities, Shaker 10. Philemon Stewart, A Holy, Sacred and Divine Lives. Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New Roll and Book, vol. 2 (Canterbury, N.H.: The England, 1986. United Society, 1843), p. 262. Humez, Jean M. Mother's First Born Daughters: 11. Ibid. Early Shaker Writings on Wbmen and Religion. 12. Canterbury, N.H.: The United Society, 1849. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993. 13. Calvin Green, A Summary View of the Millenial Proctor-Smith, Marjorie. Wbmen in Shaker Commu­ Church (Albany, N.Y.: Packard and Van Benthuy­ nity and Wbrship. Lewiston, N.¥.: Edwin Mellen sen, 1823), p. 230. Press, 1985. Setra, Susan M. Wbman of the Apocalypse: The Sec­ 14. Ibid., p. 130. ond Coming of Christ in Ann Lee. Ann Arbor. 15. Whitson, The Shakers, p. 163; quoting Daniel Mich.: University Microfilms, 1979. Mosely who is quoting Ann Lee. ---. "The Appropriation of Biblical Hermeneu­ 16. Ibid., p. 158. Contrary to popular opinion, tics to Biographical Criticism." Historical Meth­ celibacy was not the reason for the Shakers' ods 16, no. 3 (summer 1983). decline. In fact, the practice of celibacy probably Stein, Stephen J. The Shaker Experience in America: contributed to the Shaker community's success in A History of the United Society of Believers. New comparison with other utopian communities, Haven: Yale University Press, 1992.