Mystical Technologies and Ontologies of Spirit Encounter: American Shakers during the Era of Manifestations

The United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, also known as the Shakers, are often remembered for their strict lifestyle (which included mandatory celibacy) and striking furniture. But more central to the Shaker way of life was a commitment to the principle of ongoing revelation, which made any Shaker a potential mystic or “instrument.” How might the study of mysticism look different if we moved the extraordinary world of Shaker spiritualism from the periphery to the center? The five panelists on this roundtable, all of whom work outside the subfield of Shaker studies, will relate aspects of the 19th-century spiritual revival known as the “Era of Manifestations” to conversations central to the study of early modern mysticism. These include theological debates over continuous revelation; the relationship between race, authority, and religious experience; changing conceptions of heaven; the history of the book and industrial printing; and ideals of gender, motherhood, and communal dynamics in monastic life.