22 Lvhen Christ Is a Woman: Theology And

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.

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