The United Society of Believers in the Second Coming of Christ, more commonly known as the Shakers, was originally founded in Manchester, England, during the 1770s. Enduring religious persecution from the British government, the first nine Shakers set out for America. Mother Ann Lee, the charismatic and visionary leader of the early Shakers, was among those first believers who set foot on American soil in 1774. In a two-year preaching tour of New England, Ann Lee won many new converts to the faith and lay the foundations of the first Shaker communities. Mother Ann Lee died in 1783, by which time there were several established Shaker communities beginning to flourish.
The Shakers were an exemplary group of early Americans, struggling to make a new life for themselves in the rich wilderness. The new country became a vast testing ground for Utiopian communities such as the Shakers. Of all the hundreds of Utiopian societies founded in early America, the Shakers, who emphasizd a strong integration of faith and daily life, are the most enduring. They established a cooperative life of piety, work and clean living. Personal property and individual rights were unimportant, all of which were sacrified for the common good of the community.
The Shakers had three essential beliefs that influenced their living practices. They believed that God was dual in nature, both mother and father to their children. Jesus Christ was the first manifestation of God's presence on earth; Mother Ann Lee was the second. The Shakers believed that they were living in the millennium leading up to the final judgment and so they were not to be focused on earthly concerns. Because of this second belief, they lived a celibate life dedicated to building the kingdom of heaven on earth. They lived separate from the outside world, "the world's people," in complete devotion to Mother and Father God. Throughout the 19th century, they continued to gain converts, building their numbers to over 4000 believers. Since they regarded themselves as the children of their holy Mother and Father, they saw one another as sisters and brothers who were to live in devotion and union, practicing a virtous life together. They divided each village into "families" of brothers and sisters who lived, worked and worshipped in a confessional community. Males and females lived in equality, and all races were welcome to join in Shaker life. The only element required to join was the signing of a covenant at the age of 20.
As It Is in Heaven is set in the Shaker village of Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, one of the most prosperous of all the Shaker communities during its time. Shaker life was exceedingly attractive, even more so in times of hardship. There are many stories of "winter Shakers," individuals who joined the Shaker communities for the bleak winter months but, come spring, left to return to the world's people.
By the 1820s the Shaker way of life was well established. Like most religious communities, internal disruptions arose and many felt that the original vision of Mother Ann had been lost. All of this changed due to an intense spiritual revival that began in 1837, a period of Shaker history known as "Mother Ann's Work." As It Is in Heaven is set during this period of revival when believers experienced visions, trances and all phenomena of religious fervor. Intense periods of shaking and dancing, visions and the channeling of spirtis disrupted the orderly flow of the Shaker service. Many received what they termed "gifts" which were divine inspirations, experiences or abilities.
In the rush of American industrialism and modernization after the Civil War, many of the Shaker communities disbanded. Their simplistic way of life was no longer attractive in a world of emerging materialistic consumerism. The Shaker's story and experience are embraced by many Americans today as a national treasure. At its heart, the Shaker experience is about religious freedom and the American puritan vaues of hard work and endurance, brotherhood/sisterhood and equality. The beautiful Utopian experiment will be cherished for generations.
Stephanie Sandberg
