"...while offerings by lamas and yogis have been plentiful, books on Western mystics were - and are - hard to find...this series should help remedy the situation."
Psychology Today

Shakers, The: Two Centuries of Spiritual Reflection

Edited, with an introduction by Robley Edward Whitson
preface by Gertrude M. Soule

"...we believe, and do testify, that the present gospel of God's grace unto us is the day which in the scripture is spoken or prophesied of as the second appearing of Christ to consume or destroy antichrist, or false religion and to make an end of the reigning power of sin..." Joseph Meacham (1741-1796)

The Shaker tradition, from its origin in late eighteenth-century England to its flowering in nineteenth-century America, long has been of interest to students of sociology and American religious history. Yet, few attempts have been made to relate Shaker theology and spirituality to the mainstream of Western mystical experience. In presenting this collection of Shaker texts, Robley E. Whitson contends that Shakerism has been generally misunderstood and, consequently, undervalued as a source of useful insights into the divine-human relationship.

Here are collected the teachings of Ann Lee, Joseph Meacham, John Dunlavy, and others who walked in the Shaker Way as it unfolded over the decades. The foundational doctrines on community, celibacy, union with Christ, faith as process, and the male/female aspects of God are presented in the original writings of the movement.