A Woman’s Religion: How Ann Lee Broke Through the Patriarchy Jennifer Roberts
aegis 2006 82 roberts
In the last few decades, feminists have been looking to the Shakers as both a model for women’s equality in religious leadership and as a model of an ideal utopian society. Ann Lee, founder of the American Shaker religion, provided the building blocks for future Shakers to codify and expound on the laws set forth by this enigmatic visionary, which would lead the Shakers toward an egalitarian society. However, a few scholars have exposed what they see as contradictory ideas of gender equality that permeate Ann Lee’s philosophy, as well as that of the later Shakers. Debates rage over the later Shakers gendered labor division and Lee’s supposed enforcement of the patriarchy as proof that Lee was not an advocate for women. Others, in Lee’s defense, claim that her belief in a female counterpart to Christ coupled with her leadership role is proof enough that she was in many respects a feminist. Though the argument is sound, it does not go far enough. One must look at Lee in the context of her own time and not through twenty-first century eyes. One must look behind the curtain, behind the patriarchal hierarchy, to understand how Lee worked within the only system available to women to affect wide-scale change and make the Shakers a “women’s religion.”1 Though Lee was the founder of a new religious sect, Lee recognized that she would need to work within the patriarchal framework of both society and Christianity, and manipulate the hierarchal system to further the standing of women within a religious community. To understand how Lee manipulated her position and the confines of such, and to fully understand the significance of Lee’s ideology of religion and how it has informed feminism today, we must first explore her history. Lee’s experiences as a young girl, a wife, a mother, and a leader of an influential religion will help clarify the rationale behind the dichotomy of her teachings. Lee’s childhood and upbringing are critical to the understanding of how she shaped the Shaker religion. Lee, born into a working class family in 1736 in Manchester, England, had no formal schooling. In fact, Lee remained illiterate her entire life. Luckily, her oral teachings were written down in some of the Shaker’s most important religious texts: The Divine Book of Holy and Eternal Wisdom, and Compendium. Often, these texts are referred to as “Mother’s Wisdom,” which laid the foundation for the belief system of the early Shakers. Within the teachings we discover the ideas on the role of women that supports Lee’s standing as a feminist visionary and champion of women. The natural progression of the Shakers into an era of positive attitude toward women in their society and liturgy was a direct result of Lee’s influence from within the system. Through Lee’s oral teachings we get a clear account of her childhood and inclination for religious duty. Lee, an enigmatic child, exhibited quite an interest in religious mysticism. She had visions of a godly nature from a young age. She was dedicated to God and keenly aware of her own sinfulness. Lee’s preoccupation with her own impurity seemed to torture her: “I labored in nights; continually crying for my own redemption, and in the daytime I put my hands to work and my heart to God. My sufferings were so great that my flesh consumed
