Richard Francis: Ann The Word - The Story of Ann Lee

Fourth Estate

$49.95

Review: Philip Culbertson*

Founded in Manchester, England, Shakerism had been going for just 11 years when Ann Lee joined in 1758. The name Shaker, or Shaking Quaker, originally a pejorative, was adopted proudly by the sect's members, for it described the chaotic physical manifestations of being infused with God's presence: shaking, singing at top volume, shouting, stamping of feet, dancing, shoving, and whirling around.

Christ's Second Coming was manifest amongst this body of believers, and more importantly, concentrated in Ann herself.

In 1770, during a brief stay in a mental institution, she experienced the revelation that she was Ann the Word, the embodiment of the mysterious woman clothed with the sun in Revelation 12:1.

Following a second revelation, she led a handful of the faithful to Massachusetts, where she became the acknowledged leader of the whole sect.

She was venerated by her followers as the female Messiah, the incarnation of the female nature of Christ.

Another follower observed that just as womanly Eve led humanity into sin, so womanly Ann would lead humanity out. Mother, as she was quickly known, was the second Eve, she who set things right again. The church was henceforth to be led by both The Lamb and The Bride.

Mother Ann was no Mother Theresa. She was known for twisting people's ears hard enough to make them cry, and for being able to see into other's hearts with such accuracy that she could reveal their lustful sins in a loud voice, in very public places.

These qualities may have endeared her to some, but they were frightening to others. Shakers threatened the security of frontier New England in many ways, and for that, suffered as victims of frequent violence. Their leaders were British at the time of the American Revolution, and therefore possible spies. Above all, they were led by a woman.

In her mid-40s, Ann was violated sexually by an angry mob, in revenge for her female presumption and as a way of defusing any threat that she might be a witch.

The human cost of Shakerism is not always given full weight in modern nostalgia for the Shaker way of life. Many people know the famous Shaker hymn, 'Tis a gift to be simple, 'tis a gift to be free. Less comfortable are the words of another hymn Shakers often sang: "Of all my relations that I ever see, my own fleshly kindred were furtherest from me; how ugly they look, how distant they feel; to have them, despise them increases my zeal."

Shakers were not allowed to be married or have sexual relations. Married converts were forced to separate, and their children sent to other communities. The sect could reproduce itself only through missionary efforts. Surprisingly, there are a small handful of elderly Shaker women still living.

The success of Shakerism was small - there were at its peak no more than 5000 adherents scattered across America - but its reputation looms large. Their industriousness, hymn tunes, simple furniture designs and technology (a Shaker sister invented the circular saw), are idealised.

Many see Shakerism as a repository of old American values, an innocent way of life in touch with the environment, where self-help is combined with caring, and spiritual integrity and purity are all-important.

Little has been known about Mother Ann, for no free-standing biography of Ann Lee had been written. Francis has fortunately corrected this omission, in a satisfying way.

* Philip Culbertson is the director of pastoral studies at St Johns Theological College, Auckland.