AMERICAN DISSENTERS: ANN LEE

Session 1. Empty Altars: Visionaries & Prophets

Homebrewed Christianity w/ Dr. Tripp Fuller

Streamed live on Feb 27, 2023

58:12 - Mother Ann Lee

1:14:58 - Fannie Lou Hamer

This is session one for "Empty Altars: American Saints in a Cynical Age" with Diana Butler Bass & Tripp Fuller. To join the open online Lenten class head over to www.EmptyAltars.com

Shakerism: The First Two Hundred Years

Apr 24, 2021

Almost 50 years ago, when portable video technology was in its infancy, Terese Kreuzer and Eugene Marlow set out to make a documentary about the United Society of Believers, commonly known as the Shakers. A celibate religious order, they had been founded by an illiterate English woman named Mother Ann Lee who, in 1774, crossed the Atlantic Ocean with a handful of followers. The Shakers lived in communes where men and women were equal in terms of authority and responsibility, owning all property in common and caring for each other and serving each other. They believed as Mother Ann did that anyone could embody the spirit of Christ who lived a pure, simple and loving life. "Put your hands to work and your hearts to God," Mother Ann taught.

At one time, there were 18 active Shaker communities in the United States but by the time Kreuzer and Marlow met the Shakers, there were only two left. The one in Sabbathday Lake, Maine had eight covenanted members. The one in Canterbury, New Hampshire was even smaller. In 1992, when the last of the Canterbury sisters died, that Shaker community became a museum. But the Sabbathday Lake Shaker community is still active, though diminished in numbers, a testament to Mother Ann's belief that "No one can build a spiritual heaven without first creating a heaven on earth."

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Enfield Shaker Museum

Biography of Ann Lee, Founder of the Shakers

Mother Ann Lee led the Shakers from England to the United States

by Lisa Jo Rudy | Updated on July 30, 2019

Ann Lee (February 29, 1736–September 8, 1784) was the charismatic leader of the Shakers, officially known as the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing. The illiterate daughter of a blacksmith in Manchester, England, Lee endured a difficult childhood and troubled marriage before leading a group of "shaking Quakers" to upstate New York. The Shakers became an active evangelical group with communities throughout eight states in the Northeast.

Shakers were known for their pacifism, celibacy, egalitarianism between the sexes, unique form of worship, and impressive achievements in the fields of agriculture, design, and music. By the end of the 20th century, Shakerism was essentially extinct, but its legacy continues.

Early Life

Ann Lee was born on February 29, 1736, in Toad Lane, a poor neighborhood of Manchester, England. Ann was the second of eight children born to a blacksmith, John Lee, whose income barely fed his large family. Ann was baptized in 1742 but received no schooling; as a young girl, she went to work in the textile mills to help support her family.

A sensitive young woman, Ann was able to leave the mills to find employment in the local infirmary but was nevertheless overwhelmed by the filth and poverty of Manchester. She spoke out against alcohol and developed a strong aversion to sex. Her distaste for sex was such that she actually lectured her mother against engaging in sex, even with her own husband.

The Wardley Society of Shaking Quakers

In 1758, Ann discovered the Wardley Society, a group of "shaking Quakers," a religious society led by Jane and James Wardley. The Wardleys, like the Quakers, believed in the "inner light" as the source of revelation and spiritual truth, and, like the Quakers, they started their meetings with silence, waiting for the spirit to move members to speak. Unlike the Quakers, however, the Wardleys were influenced by the Camisards (French prophets) who believed that the Second Coming of Christ was near. They also believed that, while Christ's first coming was in male form, the second coming would be in female form. "Shaking Quaker" worship quickly moved from silent meditation to dramatic confession of sins, singing in tongues, shaking, and prophesying. Ann Lee found a home with the Wardley Society, and they were equally impressed by Ann.

Marriage and Pregnancies

Four years after she joined the Wardley Society, Ann's father pressed her to marry his apprentice, Abraham Standerin. Despite Ann's reluctance to engage in sex, she became pregnant and gave birth four times. Each of her children died either in infancy or young childhood. These experiences were devastating for Ann, who saw the deaths of her children as a judgment on her for her sins and determined to remain celibate.

This period of depression and introspection lasted for nine years, during which time Ann refused to share her bed with her husband. Standerin, despite his frustrations with his wife, remained loyal to her for a period of time. A few years later, he traveled to America with her.

Jail, Visions, and a Journey

Members of the Wardley Society were often jailed for reasons ranging from blasphemy to disrupting the peace. In some cases, conflicts with the authorities were a result of the Wardley Society members disrupting other congregations and accusing married members of "whoredom."

It was in 1770, during a period of incarceration, that Ann Lee received a vision. In this vision, according to several sources, Lee saw that sex between Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden was the cause of humanity's separation from God. It was further revealed that she was the incarnation of the second coming of Christ, as foretold in Genesis and the Book of Revelation. She left jail as Mother Ann, or Ann the Word, a mystic and leader of a sect dedicated to celibacy and confession of sins.

Quite a few members of the Shaking Quakers, including some of Ann's family, accepted her vision as spiritual truth and followed her teachings as the “first spiritual Mother in Christ.” They continued to follow her when, in 1774, a vision led her to form a perfect church in America which would become the model for the Millenium. With the help of a wealthy follower, Ann and a group of followers sailed to America.

Mother Ann Lee tombstone.  Doug Coldwell / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

Mother Ann in America

In 1774, Mother Ann and her followers arrived in New York City where Ann's husband, Abraham, finally left her forever. A member of the group leased land in upstate New York, and, in 1776, the Shakers founded their first model farming community in a Niskayuna (now called Watervliet) New York. The community was completely celibate; women and men shared leadership and worked side by side as equals.

Even in their new surroundings, the Shakers found life difficult. As pacifists, they were unwilling to pledge their support to the American revolutionaries, and several Shakers (including Mother Ann) were jailed for being disloyal. Ann continued to preach, even through the windows of her prison cell;. Following her release she set out on a four-year missionary tour throughout the northeastern part of the new United States.

Though the new nation was undergoing a religious revival, the Shakers' unique theology and principles made it difficult to build a following. Nevertheless, Mother Ann, her brother William, and Shaker leader James Whittaker were successful in laying the groundwork for communities in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Many new Shaker converts had been members of non-mainstream groups which, like the Shakers, had been persecuted.

Death

Mother Ann's missionary tour was exhausting and involved a variety of hardships including physical assault. By the time she returned to Watervliet, she was ill; within a year both she and her brother had died. She died on September 8, 1784, at the age of 48, leaving James Whittaker, Joseph Meacham, Lucy Wright, and several other disciples to carry on the creation of multiple Shaker communities across eight states. Ann Lee was buried in the Shaker Cemetery in Watervliet, New York.

Legacy

Title of a very first book about Ann Lee Testimonies of the Life, Character, Revelations and Doctrines of Our Ever Blessed, and the Elders with Her published by Shakers in 1816. Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons

Ann Lee's personal story was documented by her followers in books which narrated her words, revelations, and actions (Testimonies of the Life, Revelations, and Doctrine of Our Ever Blessed Mother Ann Lee). These books, along with Mother Ann's personal influence, helped to shape the growth of the Shaker movement throughout the 1800s and into the 1900s.

Shakers were and still are well known for their egalitarian and pacifist beliefs, their celibacy, and their industry. Just as importantly, they are remembered for their significant contributions to American agriculture, design, and music.

Sources

• “About the Shakers.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-shakers/about-the-shakers.

• Ann Lee, A Woman of Great Faith, libertymagazine.org/article/ann-lee-a-woman-of-great-faith.

• Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Ann Lee.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., www.britannica.com/biography/Ann-Lee.

• “First Shaker Settlement.” Shaker Heritage Society, home.shakerheritage.org/.

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'Shakers near Lebanon', c1870. Members of the Mount Lebanon Shaker Community, Lebanon Springs, New York State, 'dancing' at their meeting. Artist: Currier and Ives.  Print Collector / Getty Images

Ann Lee, A Woman of Great Faith

article link

by Boris Boyko   |   January/February 2014

The meeting of Shakers started with silent meditation. Ann Lee, a young woman of medium height and serious manner, told them about her vision. She claimed that just as the male and female are seen throughout the animal and vegetable kingdoms, so had God appeared in both forms. “It is not I that speak,” she said. “It is Christ who dwells in me.”

Soon the whole group was taken with a mighty shaking, singing, dancing, and shouting. The Shakers believed that the second coming of Christ was near. They thought that He would appear in the form of a woman. When they heard of Ann’s vision, she was no longer considered by them to be human, but divine. Ann was the one for whom they were waiting!

In 1770 she became their leader, their spiritual mother. They called her Mother Ann or Ann the Word. Ann herself never claimed that honor, nor did she think herself worthy of it. Throughout her life she was persecuted, but her faith carried her on to establish the first Shaker colony in the United States.

Ann was born in Manchester, England, on February 29, 1736, the second of eight children. Her father, John Lee, was a blacksmith from a very poor neighborhood called Toad Lane; no record exists of her mother’s name.

Manchester became known as a textile center during the Industrial Revolution. New machines sped up the clothmaking. People from the countryside poured into Toad Lane, doubling the population to 20,000 between 1719 and 1739. Whole families worked for low pay from dawn till dark. They were crowded into filthy little rooms. There was much disease, and the infant death rate was high.

Ann had no schooling. During her childhood she lived amid the mud, noise, and odors of Toad Lane. Before she reached her teens, she worked in a textile factory, first as a cutter of velvet and then as a helper in preparing cotton for the looms. Later she became a cutter of hatters’ fur. She was also a cook in an infirmary in Manchester. A serious-minded girl, Ann was always faithful and neat about her work.

When she observed the sin and despair in Toad Lane, Ann felt there must be a higher purpose to life. She looked for hope in religion. Cathedral square was nearby, but she thought the official church too sedate. She longed for something stronger.

At the age of 22 Ann met a tailor and his wife, James and Jane Wardley. The Wardleys had been Quakers, but couldn’t find the inner peace they wanted. They also searched for a religious answer to the suffering around them.

While in London the Wardleys had joined a group called the French Prophets, also known as the Shaking Quakers, or Shakers. The French Prophets came from the mountains of southern France, where they were called Camisards. They were exiled from their homes because of their radical ideas and manner of worship.

Why did they shake and dance during worship? the Shakers were asked. The answer was that their form of worship was based on the customs of the Old Testament. When the Israelites escaped from the Egyptians at the Sea of Reeds, Miriam “took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances” (Exodus 15:20). In another passage David was seen “leaping and dancing before the Lord” (2 Samuel 6:16). The words of the psalmist said: “Let them praise his name in the dance” (Psalm 149:3).

In London the Shakers were ridiculed. They attracted only a few followers. Most of them left to go to other countries, but the Wardleys decided to start a group in Manchester. In 1758 Ann joined the Wardleys, which consisted of about a dozen members.

At first the young woman with fair complexion, blue eyes, and chestnut-brown hair did not stand out in the meetings. She was so mild-mannered and pleasant that many wondered why she had not married. Later she attracted attention when she shouted out against sin.

Ann believed that all fleshly relations between men and women were a sin. She never condemned marriage, but thought it less perfect than celibacy. She thought that after children were produced, the life of sex must be replaced by the life of the soul.

But on January 5, 1762, Ann did marry (at her father’s insistence). At that time she was still a member of the Church of England, for the banns were signed, by mark, by Ann and Abraham Standerin, or Stanley. (The cathedral records were unclear about the last name.)

Abraham was described as a kindly man who was employed as a blacksmith in Ann’s father’s shop. The couple made their home with her parents. In the next four years four babies were born, but each lived only a few months. In 1766, after the death of her last child, Ann became very ill. She thought that her marriage was sinful and that God was punishing her. After a time of great remorse, she had the vision that caused her to become Mother Ann.

When Mother Ann began to direct the Shakers’ activities, the persecution began. In the summer of 1773 she and four others were arrested and each fined £20. Because they were unable to pay, they were thrown into jail.

Once, when she suffered from a stoning, Ann said, “I felt myself surrounded by the presence of God, and my soul was filled with joy. I knew they could not kill me, for my work was not done; therefore I felt joyful and comfortable, while my enemies felt confusion and distress.”

Another time a mob dragged Ann out of a meeting. She was confined for two weeks in the “Dungeons” for breach of the Sabbath. Her cell was so small that she couldn’t stand upright. It was accessible to the street, however, so James Whittaker, one of her followers, fed her wine and milk through a pipe stem he stuck in the keyhole.

One Saturday evening James reported seeing a vision. He claimed he saw a large tree in America, where every leaf seemed like a burning torch. The meaning of the vision was clear to Mother Ann. She believed that the second Shakers church would be established in America.

Immediately she sent John Hocknell, another follower, to the seaport of Liverpool to secure passage to America for a small party of Shakers. When he returned, John warned Mother Ann: “People are saying the ship, the Mariah, will sink.”

Ann answered, “God will not condemn it when we are in it.”

John Hocknell had saved enough money from his shop to pay expenses for the whole group. On May 10, 1774, the party of nine Shakers, consisting of Ann; her husband, Abraham; her brother William Lee; her niece Nancy Lee; Mary Partington; James Whittaker; James Shepherd; and John Hocknell and his son Richard sailed aboard the Mariah, bound for New York.

Soon after setting sail, the Shakers began to praise God by singing and dancing on deck. When the captain threatened to throw them overboard, Mother Ann told her followers it was better to listen to God than to man. While they continued to worship, a sudden storm blew up, and a loosened board caused the ship to spring a leak. The water started gaining on them, for it couldn’t be pumped out quickly enough.

Ann told them to trust in God, for an angel had appeared before her with the promise of their safety. Suddenly a great wave came and closed the displaced board. Soon the pumps were stopped. After that the captain allowed the Shakers to worship freely.

On August 6, 1774, 11 weeks after leaving England, the Mariah and its passengers arrived safely in New York. The Shakers walked up Broadway until Ann led them into a side street. It was a warm Sunday afternoon, and a few people were sitting on the front steps of their house when Ann confronted them. “I am commissioned of God to preach the everlasting Gospel to America . . . , and an Angel commanded me to come to this house, and to make a home for me and my people,” she said.

The Shakers were given temporary refuge until they obtained jobs. Ann stayed on to work as a housemaid, while the others scattered. Abraham took to drinking and deserted his wife. Alone in an unheated room, she became ill and unable to work.

What Mother Ann wanted most was to spread the message and to worship with her followers. One day she learned from some Quakers that it was possible to obtain cheap land about 100 miles north of the city. John Hocknell, James Whittaker, and William Lee traveled up the Hudson River to investigate.

The Shaker men took a long-term lease on some land, a low, swampy wilderness cut off from civilization, about seven miles northwest of Albany. It took them a year to clear a portion of the land and build a simple log shelter. They built a room at ground level for the “sisters” and attic space for the “brethren.” Finally, in the late 1770s, Ann and her group moved to their land to start the first Shaker settlement in America.

The Indians had called the territory Niskayuna, which meant “maize land.” Later it was renamed Watervliet. Mother Ann said, “Put your hands to work and your hearts to God.” Slowly the Shaker settlers tamed the wilderness. They cleared trees and dug ditches to drain the fields. Some practiced their own trades, such as blacksmithing, in Albany in the winter. In a few years the colony at Niskayuna built simple but comfortable homes and barns. They raised good crops and began working on arts and crafts.

In 1779 a religious revival took place in Lebanon Valley, New York, about 30 miles from the colony. Some of the leaders visited the Shakers and joined them. They came from Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. Some went home and formed Shaker colonies of their own.

Violent persecutions followed when Mother Ann and others embarked on missionary tours. In Petersham, Massachusetts, a crowd dragged her from her horse, threw her into a sleigh, and tore her clothes. She and some of the elders were accused of being British spies and were savagely abused. They were put into prison in Albany. Then Ann was separated from her followers and sent to Poughkeepsie, New York.

From her cell she could call out to passersby. Word was spread that a poor woman was being held because of her religion. She was then taken to a private home, where she conducted worship services. Some of the townspeople protested. They dressed like Indians and threw little bags of gunpowder through the windows and down the chimney into the fireplace.

After that, things quieted down. Five months later Mother Ann was released from prison by Governor George Clinton. She arrived, in a state of exhaustion, back at Watervliet two years and three months after having left. Eight Shaker communities had resulted from her mission in New England.

All that Mother Ann had undergone probably hastened her death, which took place on September 8, 1784, at the age of 48. Her brother William had died on July 21 of the same year. Ten years in America had taken its toll, but Ann’s mission had been accomplished. Shakerism was well established in the East and later spread to Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio.

The Shaker influence peaked before the Civil War, and then their numbers lessened. There are now very few Shakers, but Ann Lee, a woman of great faith, left her mark on the religious history of the United States.

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Ann Lee

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mother Ann Lee
Born	29 February 1736 Manchester, England, Kingdom of Great Britain
Died	8 September 1784 (aged 48) Watervliet, New York, U.S.
Burial place	Watervliet Shaker Village, Colonie, New York 42.73909°N 73.81637°W
Other names	Ann Elizabeth Lees Ann Standerin
Occupation(s)	Founder of the Shakers Preacher Singer Missionary
Years active	1758–1784
Spouse	Abraham Standerin (separated c. 1775)
Children	4 (all died in infancy)
Parent	John Lees
Relatives	William Lee (brother) Nancy Lee (niece)
Personal
Religion	Christianity
Denomination	Shaker
Signature

Shakers

Topics
Early chronology of Shakers Era of Manifestations Shaker communities Shaker families Shaker furniture Shaker inventions "Simple Gifts" Works based on "Simple Gifts" Anti-Shaker
Notable people
Founders Jane and James Wardley Ann Lee William Lee James Whittaker Joseph Meacham Lucy Wright Other members Shaker members
v t e

Ann Lee (29 February 1736 – 8 September 1784), commonly known as Mother Ann Lee, was the founding leader of the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, or the Shakers.

After nearly two decades of participation in a religious movement that became the Shakers, in 1774 Ann Lee and a small group of her followers emigrated from England to New York. After several years, they gathered at Niskayuna, renting land from the Manor of Rensselaerswyck, Albany County, New York (the area now called Colonie). They worshiped by ecstatic dancing or "shaking", which resulted in them being dubbed the Shakers. Ann Lee preached to the public and led the Shaker church at a time when few women were religious leaders.^[1]

Early history

Manchester at Ann Lee's time (1746) panorama

Ann Lee was born in Manchester, England, and was baptized privately at Manchester Collegiate Church (now Manchester Cathedral) on 1 June 1742,^[2] at the age of 6. Her parents were members of a distinct branch of the Society of Friends and too poor to afford their children even the rudiments of education.^[3] Ann Lee's father, John Lees, was a blacksmith during the day and a tailor at night. It is probable that Ann Lee's original surname was Lees, but somewhere through time it changed to Lee. Little is known about her mother other than that she was a very religious woman. As often happened in those days, the mother's name was not even recorded.^[4] When Ann was young, she worked in a cotton factory, then as a cutter of hatter's fur, and later as a cook in a Manchester infirmary.

In 1758, she joined an English sect founded by Jane Wardley and her husband, preacher James Wardley; this was the precursor to the Shaker sect.^[5] She believed and taught her followers that it is possible to attain perfect holiness by giving up sexual relations. Like her predecessors, the Wardleys, she taught that the shaking and trembling were caused by sin being purged from the body by the power of the Holy Spirit, purifying the worshiper.

Beginning during her youth, Ann Lee was uncomfortable with sexuality, especially her own. This repulsion towards sexual activity continued and manifested itself in her repeated attempts to avoid marriage. Eventually her father forced her to marry Abraham Stanley (or Abraham Standarin^[6]). They were married on 5 January 1761 at Manchester Collegiate Church.^[7] She became pregnant four times, but all of her children died during infancy. Her difficult pregnancies and the loss of four children were traumatic experiences that contributed to Ann Lee's dislike of sexual relations.^[8] Lee developed radical religious convictions that advocated celibacy and the abandonment of marriage, as well as the importance of pursuing perfection in every facet of life. She differed from the Quakers, who, though they supported gender equality, did not believe in forbidding sexuality within marriage.

Rise to prominence

In England, Ann Lee rose to prominence by urging other believers to preach more publicly concerning the imminent second coming, and to attack sin more boldly and unconventionally. She spoke of visions and messages from God, claiming that she had received in a vision from God the message that celibacy and confession of sin are the only true road to salvation and the only way in which the Kingdom of God could be established on the earth. She was frequently imprisoned for breaking the Sabbath by dancing and shouting, and for blasphemy.^[9]

She claimed to have had many miraculous escapes from death. She told of being examined by four clergymen of the Established Church, claiming that she spoke to them for four hours in 72 tongues.^[10]

While in prison in Manchester for 14 days, she said she had a revelation that "a complete cross against the lusts of generation, added to a full and explicit confession, before witnesses, of all the sins committed under its influence, was the only possible remedy and means of salvation." After this, probably in 1770, she was chosen by the Society as "Mother in spiritual things" and called herself "Ann, the Word" and also "Mother Ann." After being released from prison a second time, witnesses say Mother Ann performed a number of miracles, including healing the sick.^[11]

Lee eventually decided to leave England for America in order to escape the persecution (i.e., multiple arrests and stays in prison) she experienced in Great Britain.^[9]

Move to America

A group of Shakers, published in 1875

In 1774 a revelation led her to take a select band to America. She was accompanied by her husband, who soon afterwards deserted her. Also following her to America were her brother, William Lee (1740–1784); Nancy Lee, her niece; James Whittaker (1751–1787), who had been brought up by Mother Ann and was probably related to her; John Hocknell (1723–1799), who provided the funds for the trip; his son, Richard; James Shepherd; and Mary Partington. Mother Ann and her converts arrived on 6 August 1774 in New York City, where they stayed for nearly five years. In 1779 Hocknell leased land at Niskayuna in the township of Watervliet, near Albany. The Shakers settled there, and a unique community life began to develop and thrive.^[9]

During the American Revolution, Lee and her followers maintained a stance of neutrality. Maintaining the position that they were pacifists, Ann Lee and her followers did not side with either the British or the colonists.

Ann Lee opened her testimony to the world's people on the famous Dark Day in May 1780, when the sun disappeared and it was so dark that candles had to be lighted to see indoors at noon.^[12] She soon recruited a number of followers who had joined the New Light revival at New Lebanon, New York, in 1779, including Lucy Wright.

Benjamin Osborn's house at Mount Washington.

Beginning in the spring of 1781, Mother Ann and some of her followers went on an extensive missionary journey to find converts in Massachusetts and Connecticut. They often stayed in the homes of local sympathizers, such as the Benjamin Osborn House near the New York-Massachusetts line. There were also songs attributed to her which were sung without words.^[13][14]

The followers of Mother Ann came to believe that she embodied all the perfections of God in female form^[15] and was revealed as the "second coming" of Christ.^[16] The fact that Ann Lee was considered to be Christ's female counterpart was unique. She preached that sinfulness could be avoided not only by treating men and women equally but also by keeping them separated so as to prevent any sort of temptation leading to impure acts. Celibacy and confession of sin were essential for salvation.^[15]

Ann Lee's mission throughout New England was especially successful in converting groups who were already outside the mainstream of New England Protestantism, including followers of Shadrack Ireland. To the mainstream, however, she was too radical for comfort.^[17] Ann Lee herself recognized how revolutionary her ideas were when she said, "We [the Shakers] are the people who turned the world upside down."^{[dubious – discuss]}

The Shakers were sometimes met by violent mobs, such as in Shirley, Massachusetts, and Ann Lee suffered violence at their hands more than once. Because of these hardships Mother Ann became quite frail; she died on 8 September 1784 at the age of 48.^[9]

Mother Ann Lee tombstone

She died at Watervliet and is buried in the Shaker cemetery located in the Watervliet Shaker Historic District.^[18]

It is claimed that Shakers in New Lebanon, New York, experienced a 10-year period of revelations in 1837 called the Era of Manifestations. It was also referred to as Mother Ann's Work.^[19]

Cultural legacy

Ann Lee is memorialized in:

• Judy Chicago's The Dinner Party^[20]
• the (afterword of the) novel A Maggot
• A song, "The Heart Of Ann Lee", on the 2010 album All This Longing by English folk singer-songwriter Reg Meuross

See also

• Millennial Praises
• the Public Universal Friend, contemporary leader of another new religious movement
• List of people who have claimed to be Jesus^[15][16]

References

1. ^ In addition to Ann Lee, only nine women preachers have been identified before 1800. Catherine A. Brekus, Strangers and Pilgrims: Female Preaching in America, 1740–1845 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998), 343–46.
2. ^ MS 12/1, Manchester Cathedral Archive
3. ^ Ripley, George; Dana, Charles A., eds. (1879). "Lee, Ann" . The American Cyclopædia.
4. ^ Campion, Nardi (1990). Mother Anne Lee: Morning star of the shakers. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England. pp. 2. ISBN 0874515270.
5. ^ Campion, Nardi Reeder (1976), Ann the Word: The Life of Mother Ann Lee, Founder of the Shakers, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, ISBN 978-0-316-12767-7
6. ^ "Lee, Ann (1736-1784)". Shaker Museum. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
7. ^ MS 13/3, Manchester Cathedral Archive
8. ^ Kern, Louis J. (1981). An Ordered Love: Sex Roles and Sexuality in Victorian Utopias: The Shakers, the Mormons, and the Oneida community. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0-8078-1443-7.
9. ^ Jump up to:^a b c d Richard Francis, Ann the Word: The Story of Ann Lee, Female Messiah, Mother of the Shakers, The Woman Clothed with the Sun (New York: Arcade Publishing, 2000).
10. ^ Foner, Eric; Garraty, John A., eds. (1991). "Ann Lee". American History Companion: The Reader's Companion to American History. Houghton Mifflin. p. 646. ISBN 978-0-395-51372-9.
11. ^ Answers.com Mother Ann Lee (section Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Ann Lee)
12. ^ Francis, Ann the Word, 130–31
13. ^ "Shaker Music". PineTree Productions.
14. ^ Roger L. Hall (1999). A guide to Shaker music: with music supplement. Pinetree.
15. ^ Jump up to:^a b c Rufus Bishop and Seth Youngs Wells, comps., Testimonies of the Life, Character, Revelations and Doctrines of our Ever Blessed Mother Ann Lee (Hancock, Mass.: J. Talcott and J. Deming, Junrs., 1816); Seth Youngs Wells, comp., Testimonies Concerning the Character and Ministry of Mother Ann Lee (Albany, N.Y.: Packard and Van Benthuysen, 1827).
16. ^ Jump up to:^a b Frederick William Evans. Shakers: Compendium of the Origin, History, Principles, Rules and Regulations, Government, and Doctrines of the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing : with Biographies of Ann Lee, William Lee, Jas. Whittaker, J. Hocknell, J. Meacham, and Lucy Wright. Appleton; 1859. p. 26.
17. ^ Brekus, Strangers and Pilgrims: Female Preaching in America, 1740–1845, 343–46.
18. ^ Landmarks of American women's history, Chapter: Watervliet Shaker Historic District, Page Putnam Miller, Oxford University Press US, 2003, pp. 36 ff.
19. ^ Aune, Michael Bjerknes; DeMarinis, Valerie M. (1996). Religious and Social Ritual: Interdisciplinary Explorations. SUNY Press. p. 105. ISBN 0-7914-2825-7.
20. ^ "Ann Lee". The Dinner Party: Heritage Floor. Brooklyn Museum. Retrieved 4 June 2012.

Further reading

• Campion, Nardi Reeder. Mother Ann Lee: Morning Star of the Shakers Publisher: UPNE. 1990. ISBN 0874515270
• Francis, Richard (2000). Ann the Word : the story of Ann Lee, female messiah, mother of the Shakers, the woman clothed with the sun. New York : Arcade Pub. : Distributed by Time Warner ISBN 1559705620
• Hall, Roger Lee. Invitation to Zion: A Shaker Music Guide. Publisher: PineTree Press, 2017.
• Stein, Stephen J. The Shaker Experience in America: A History of the United Society of Believers (Yale University Press, 1992). ISBN 0300059337
• Hager, Jacob Henry (1892). "Lee, Ann" . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography.
• "Lee, Ann" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.
• Rigg, James McMullen (1892). "Lee, Ann" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 32.
• Claus Bernet (2002). "Ann Lee". In Bautz, Traugott (ed.). Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) (in German). Vol. 20. Nordhausen: Bautz. cols. 899–911. ISBN 3-88309-091-3.

AMERICAN DISSENTERS: ANNE HUTCHISON

Puritan Reformer Anne Hutchinson

Session 1. Empty Altars: Visionaries & Prophets

Homebrewed Christianity w/ Dr. Tripp Fuller

Streamed live on Feb 27, 2023

58:12 - Mother Ann Lee

1:14:58 - Fannie Lou Hamer

This is session one for "Empty Altars: American Saints in a Cynical Age" with Diana Butler Bass & Tripp Fuller. To join the open online Lenten class head over to www.EmptyAltars.com

The Religious Reformer | Anne Hutchinson

The Antinomian Controversy Documentary

Mar 14, 2023

Anne Hutchinson was a religious reformer, Puritan preacher, midwife,

and alleged prophetess whose beliefs and influence brought her into

conflict with the magistrates of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Christian Activist, Preacher, Dissenter, & Theologian Anne Hutchinson

Quotes & Sayings by Anne Hutchinson

edited by Jone Johnson Lewis | updated on January 31, 2018

Jone Johnson Lewis, Women's History Writer, B.A., Mundelein College, M.Div., Meadville/Lombard Theological School. She is a women's history writer who has been involved with the women's movement since the late 1960s. She is a former faculty member of the Humanist Institute.

Anne Hutchinson's religious ideas and leadership of others who held them threatened to create a schism in the Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1635 to 1638. She was accused by her opponents of "antinomianism" (anti-law), undermining authority, and overemphasizing salvation by grace. She, in turn, accused them of Legalism, which is overemphasizing salvation by works and rules over individual conscience.

Puritan Reformer Anne Hutchison

Selected Anne Hutchinson Quotations

"As I do understand it, laws, commands, rules and edicts are for those who have not the light which makes plain the pathway. He who has God's grace in his heart cannot go astray."

"The power of the Holy Spirit dwelleth perfectly in every believer, and the inward revelations of her own spirit, and the conscious judgment of her own mind are of authority paramount to any word of God."

"I conceive there lies a clear rule in Titus that the elder women should instruct the younger and then I must have a time wherein I must do it."

"If any come to my house to be instructed in the ways of God what rule have I to put them away?"

"Do you think it not lawful for me to teach women and why do you call me to teach the court?"

"When I first came to this land because I did not go to such meetings as those were, it was presently reported that I did not allow of such meetings but held them unlawful and therefore in that regard, they said I was proud and did despise all ordinances. Upon that, a friend came unto me and told me of it and I to prevent such aspersions took it up, but it was in practice before I came. Therefore I was not the first."

"I am called here to answer before you, but I hear no things laid to my charge."

"I desire to know wherefore I am banished?"

"Will it please you to answer me this and to give me a rule for then I will willingly submit to any truth."

"I do here speak it before the court. I look that the Lord should deliver me by his providence."

"If you please to give me leave I shall give you the ground of what I know to be true."

"The Lord judges not as man judges. Better to be cast out of the church than to deny Christ."

"A Christian is not bound to the law."

"But now having seen him which is invisible I fear not what man can do unto me."

"What from the Church at Boston? I know no such church, neither will I own it. Call it the whore and strumpet of Boston, no Church of Christ!"

"You have power over my body but the Lord Jesus hath power over my body and soul; and assure yourselves thus much, you do as much as in you lies to put the Lord Jesus Christ from you, and if you go on in this course you begin, you will bring a curse upon you and your posterity, and the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it."

"He that denies the testament denies the testator, and in this did open unto me and give me to see that those which did not teach the new covenant had the spirit of antichrist, and upon this he did discover the ministry unto me; and ever since, I bless the Lord, he hath let me see which was the clear ministry and which the wrong."

"For you see this scripture fulfilled this day and therefore I desire you as you tender the Lord and the church and commonwealth to consider and look what you do."

"But after he was pleased to reveal himself to me I did presently, like Abraham, run to Hagar. And after that he did let me see the atheism of my own heart, for which I begged of the Lord that it might not remain in my heart."

"I have been guilty of wrong thinking."

"They thought that I did conceive there was a difference between them and Mr. Cotton... I might say they might preach a covenant of works as did the apostles, but to preach a covenant of works and to be under a covenant of works is another business."

"One may preach a covenant of grace more clearly than another... But when they preach a covenant of works for salvation, that is not truth."

"I pray, Sir, prove it that I said they preached nothing but a covenant of works."

Thomas Weld, on hearing of the death of the Hutchinsons: "Thus the Lord heard our groans to heaven and freed us from this great and sore affliction."

From the sentence at her trial read by Governor Winthrop: "Mrs. Hutchinson, the sentence of the court you hear is that you are banished from out of our jurisdiction as being a woman not fit for our society."

* * * * * * *

 

Anne Hutchinson Statue  |  Cyrus Dallin (Public Domain)

Anne Hutchinson

World History article link

by Joshua J. Mark

January 20, 2021

Anne Hutchinson (l. 1591-1643 CE) was a religious reformer, Puritan preacher, midwife, and alleged prophetess whose beliefs and influence brought her into conflict with the magistrates of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, especially its governor John Winthrop (l. c. 1588-1649 CE) in 1636-1638 CE. She was the central voice of the so-called Antinomian Controversy which divided the colony and, to the magistrates, threatened its mission and continued existence. Hutchinson claimed that the ministers of the colony were preaching a false doctrine of salvation based on works while ignoring the truth that salvation was granted by God's grace alone.

Winthrop and the magistrates countered her, claiming that God's grace in one's life is made evident by one's works, and objected to her influence over others in the colony on three points:

• She was a woman and, as such, had no authority to preach, especially to men.

• She undermined the religious authorities by claiming that works had no bearing on salvation.

• She claimed she had a spiritual gift that allowed her to tell who was among God's elect and who was not, claiming knowledge only God could have.

Hutchinson ably defended herself in court, citing scripture to back up her defense, but her judges refused to be taught doctrine by a woman, and she was banished from the colony in March 1638 CE. Hutchinson left Massachusetts Bay Colony and settled the region which would become Portsmouth, Rhode Island after her trial. In 1641 CE, her new settlement received word that Massachusetts Bay Colony was expanding and might absorb the surrounding settlements of Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. She left the region with seven of her children, a son-in-law, and servants to relocate to New Netherlands (modern-day New York) establishing a homestead in what is now the Bronx in 1642 CE.

She and all of her children save one were killed in an attack by the Siwanoy Native American tribe in 1643 CE during the conflict known as Kieft's War (1643-1645 CE). Her daughter, Susanna (later Susanna Cole, l. 1633-1713 CE), was taken by the Siwanoy and married to their chief Wampage I (d. c. 1680 CE) with whom she is said to have had a son.

Winthrop, and the other magistrates who had condemned her, interpreted her death and the capture of her daughter as a justification of their verdict and God's punishment of her sins. Others, since her death, have disagreed and honor her as a visionary, reformer, and advocate for true religious freedom against the authority of the Puritans of Massachusetts. This view has gained greater support in the modern era, and she is regarded as a 'founding mother' and one of the most impressive figures from the period of Colonial America.

Early Life & Influences

Anne Hutchinson was born in Alford (pronounced Olford), Lincolnshire, England in 1591 CE, daughter of the Anglican preacher Francis Marbury and his wife Bridget. Anne was the third daughter of the 15 children the couple would have and seems to have been a favorite of her father. Francis Marbury was a Puritan sympathizer, who openly criticized the Anglican Church he served for and its policies, especially that of ordaining uneducated and immoral men as priests. He was at first censured and then imprisoned after an ecclesiastical trial.

"ANNE WOULD REMAIN OUTSPOKEN, CONFIDENT, & UNREPENTANT OF HER INTERPRETATION OF THE BIBLE."

The head of the Anglican Church was the monarch of England and so criticism of church policy or practice was tantamount to treason. Once Marbury was released from prison, he was given house arrest, and during this time, he composed a transcript of his trial from memory, which he would later read to Anne and her siblings along with the Bible and Foxe's Book of Martyrs. Marbury's version of the trial cast him as the brave Christian champion of truth fighting against the ignorant and stubborn establishment of the Church; an image which seems to have impressed itself upon Anne as she would remain outspoken, confident, and unrepentant of her interpretation of the Bible for the rest of her life.

When she was 15 years old, the family moved from Alford to London, and they were present in the city when Guy Fawkes and the other Catholic conspirators attempted to blow up Parliament in November 1605 CE. Although many, if not most, around her interpreted this act as proof of the 'evil' of Catholicism, her father had impressed upon her the conviction that there was little difference between Anglicanism and Catholicism.

Her father encouraged this conviction through his sermons and instilled in her the Puritan view that the Anglican Church was in need of reform and a true Christian should not be afraid to speak out against corruption or injustice no matter the consequences. Francis Marbury died suddenly in 1611 CE, and Anne lost her main confidante and mentor. The next year, she married a young merchant of means, William Hutchinson (l. 1586-1641 CE), who was from Alford but then working in London. After their marriage, they moved back to Alford.

John Cotton & Migration

In Alford, the couple heard of a young Puritan preacher, John Cotton (l. 1585-1652 CE), some 20 miles away in Boston who had acquired a reputation for his zeal and eloquence, and they made the journey to hear him. Cotton was a strict Puritan who recognized the Church needed major reform but, unlike those of the separatist movement, refused to leave it, preferring to change it from within. Anne and William became devoted to Cotton and were especially influenced by his insistence on God's grace as the sole factor in one's salvation; there was nothing one could do to win God's favor or merit eternal life because everyone was a sinner, and only by God's own election would a soul be rewarded with eternal life.

John Cotton & Henry Vane Plaque
Daderot (Public Domain)

Those whom God had chosen were known as the elect, and others would be eternally damned. No one knew who was headed for which eternal destination, however, and so Puritan theology held that one should act as though one were saved and praise God for his goodness and mercy even if, in the end, one's soul was destined for hell. This belief was not Cotton's alone, it was the general understanding of Puritan belief, but Cotton placed special emphasis on grace-not-works while most Puritans believed that doing good deeds, attending church, reading the Bible, and being an upstanding member of the community established a Christian as one of the elect; one's outward behavior and financial success reflected one's inward salvation.

Cotton was a charismatic and diplomatic clergyman who was able to maintain his position at Saint Botolph's Anglican Church for 20 years, even though he frequently preached reform or theology which contradicted the Church's official stand. Anne and William regularly made the trip with their children to hear Cotton preach, and he became her spiritual mentor. At about this same time (c. 1629 CE), Anne's sister Mary was married to the Puritan preacher John Wheelwright (l. c. 1592-1679 CE) who was vicar of the church at Bilsby, closer to Alford, and Wheelwright encouraged Anne to hold meetings in her home known as conventicles during which women, primarily, would meet to discuss the latest sermon, the Bible, and their personal spiritual concerns.

Cotton's successful run at Saint Botolph's ended in 1633 CE when Archbishop William Laud (l. 1573-1645 CE) was purging churches of Puritan pastors. Cotton hid from authorities until he could book passage on a ship to New England. The authorities of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, who had heard of his zeal and ability to win souls for Christ, had been wooing him for years and so he left Boston, England, for Boston in the Massachusetts colony. In 1634 CE, Anne Hutchinson and her family followed him.

Meetings & Popularity

The Massachusetts Bay Colony had been united under the leadership of John Winthrop who emphasized the importance of a cohesive vision and conformity from all its citizens. Winthrop's famous sermon A Model of Christian Charity made clear that this colony was to be that model for the whole world and only those willing to act in accord with this vision would be welcomed. When Cotton arrived, he got along well with Winthrop and the others, and the same held true for the Hutchinsons. William was a successful and wealthy merchant, and the family built a large house in downtown Boston directly across from Winthrop's.

John Winthrop, Governor of Massachussets Bay Colony

American Antiquarian Society (Public Domain)

In his journals, Winthrop mentions Anne Hutchinson as a "goodly woman" whose devotion to scripture was admirable and who quickly became a popular and respected member of the colony as a midwife of exceptional skill. Since many women died in childbirth, and often their children as well, a midwife with a good reputation for successful births was much sought after. Anne resumed the same practice she had followed back home of holding conventicles in her home, which the women of the colony began flocking to. In time, these meetings became less Bible study and discussion and more Anne preaching her own theological views which mirrored those of Cotton, and the women began bringing their husbands to hear her preach.

Anne's sermons then began to include critiques of local pastors other than Cotton and Wheelwright, and this began her troubles with the authorities. The senior pastor of the Boston Church was John Wilson (l. c. 1588-1667 CE), who had been away in England when Cotton and then the Hutchinsons arrived. When he returned in 1635 CE, and Anne first heard him preach, she instantly dismissed him as a poor substitute for Cotton and, further, as preaching a false doctrine of works-as-justification. Wilson maintained the standard Puritan view that one could not expect God to do all the work and it was each person's responsibility to show their faith by their works as made clear in the Bible in the Book of James 2:18:

"Yea, a man will say, Thou hast faith and I have works: Show me thy

faith apart from thy works and I will show you my faith by my works."

Anne Hutchinson rejected this verse as advocating for works-as-justification because, to her, it was only saying the same thing Jesus conveyed in the line from Matthew 7:16: "By their fruits shall ye know them." It was obvious to Anne that Christians would show their faith through their works, but this did not mean that one's works justified one in God's eyes. Wilson and Winthrop disagreed with her interpretation; and so began the so-called Antinomian Controversy.

Antinomian Controversy & Trial

"BY 1636 CE, ANNE HUTCHINSON WAS AMONG

THE MOST POPULAR CITIZENS IN THE COLONY."

By 1636 CE, Anne Hutchinson was among the most popular citizens in the colony and was supported by Cotton and the newly arrived John Wheelwright as well as the aristocratic new governor Sir Henry Vane (l. 1613-1662 CE), who had replaced Winthrop as governor in 1636 CE and believed in religious tolerance. Vane had defended the religious reformer Roger Williams (l. c. 1603-1683 CE) earlier in 1635 CE before he was banished. Wilson and Winthrop believed that Anne Hutchinson may have bewitched Vane and the others because it was clear to them that she was able to exert some potent force which was dividing the previously unified and harmonious colony.

The authorities held a closed meeting with Anne and Cotton in December of 1636 CE and gave the impression that they were satisfied with the orthodoxy of everyone present; in reality, they were gathering evidence to be used at trial later. Anne's brother-in-law John Wheelwright was called before the court in March 1637 CE for a sermon he had given advocating the free grace of God over works. Henry Vane, who supported Wheelwright, lost the May 1637 CE election to Winthrop and returned to England, depriving Wheelwright and Hutchinson of a powerful ally. Wheelwright would be banished later that year, and Anne's own civil trial began that November. Scholar Eve LaPlante comments on its beginning:

Anne Hutchinson stood silently before the governor [Winthrop], listening closely but mindful of God. She did not yet know the nature of the charge against her. Indeed, even Winthrop himself was not yet sure what charge to use against the first female defendant in the New World. He couldn't accuse her of contempt against the state or of sedition because, as a woman, she had no public role. She could not be silenced or punished with disenfranchisement because as a woman she had no voice or vote. (12)

Throughout the three days of her civil trial, the magistrates tried to trick her into admitting to some error they could charge her with. Cotton, who was one of the judges, tried to stand up for her and act as an intermediary, but the majority were only interested in silencing her. Among these was the minister Thomas Shepard (l. 1605-1649 CE) who had earlier questioned Cotton on his own orthodoxy. The conversation which the ministers had with Hutchinson and Cotton in December 1636 CE was introduced as evidence of heterodoxy, and Anne was charged, essentially, with disturbing the peace through unorthodox views and unwarranted criticism of ministers, who were considered her spiritual superiors because they were male.

Anne Hutchinson's claim that God's grace was freely given and an individual's deeds could not merit salvation was the most difficult for the minister-judges to find fault with as it was a standard aspect of Puritan theology. They attempted to charge her with antinomianism (from the Greek "against the law"), claiming that she rejected the value of good deeds and proper behavior, but this accusation was as easily refuted as others. In response to the charge that she was preaching without authority, she rightly answered that she was only holding conventicles at her home, which was a common enough practice, and her 'sermons' were no more than observations on scripture and what the minister had preached at the day's service.

This argument led to the charge against her of undermining ecclesiastical authority by criticizing various ministers such as Wilson, which led to her statement that she had been given spiritual gifts by God and could see who was among the elect and who was not. In telling others which ministers were trustworthy shepherds and which could be safely ignored, she was only looking after their spiritual welfare. The judges then had an actual charge they could press as she was claiming knowledge only God could have: who was and was not among the elect. She was convicted, and when she asked “of what?”, she was only told that the court was satisfied of her guilt. She was placed under house arrest in the home of one of the ministers and was given an ecclesiastical trial in March of 1638 CE at which Cotton abandoned her.

Conclusion

William Hutchinson, recognizing that his wife would not back down and knowing Winthrop never would, had already made preparations for their departure. They had been invited by Roger Williams to settle near his plantation in Rhode Island, and William had been preparing the settlement with others who supported the Hutchinsons while her ecclesiastical trial was underway. The trial concluded as expected with Anne's banishment, and she left Massachusetts Bay Colony with over 60 followers who refused to denounce her.

William died in 1641 CE at about the same time as news reached the Portsmouth Colony that Massachusetts Bay Colony would be absorbing the territory. Rather than face further persecution from Winthrop, Anne Hutchinson left Portsmouth with seven of her children, a son-in-law, and servants to settle in the far more religiously tolerant Dutch New Netherlands, building a home in the area of modern-day Bronx, New York, near the landmark known as Split Rock.

She and six of her seven children, as well as others of her household, were murdered by Siwanoy Native Americans during the conflict known as Kieft's War, instigated and mismanaged by Willem Kieft (l. 1597-1647 CE), Director of New Netherlands, who had betrayed the Siwanoy's trust and attacked them. Only Anne's daughter, Susanna, survived and lived among the Siwanoy for a few years, allegedly bearing their chief a son, before she was returned to her people in an exchange of hostages at the end of the hostilities.

The Murder of Anne Hutchinson
Internet Archive Book Images (CC BY-NC-SA)

Winthrop and the other judges of the Massachusetts Bay Colony delighted in the news of Anne Hutchinson's end as they interpreted it as God's vindication of their verdict. Winthrop later wrote of her death, "Thus it had pleased the Lord to have compassion of his poor churches here and to discover this great imposter, an instrument of Satan" also referring to as "this American Jezebel" a reference to the 'evil' queen in the biblical book of I and II Kings (LaPlante, 244). Her name, and reputation as a divisive force, was kept alive by the transcripts of her trial and other works on that event.

The Puritans continued to revile her, but as they lost their political and spiritual hold on the region in the 18th and 19th centuries CE, Anne Hutchinson began to emerge as a religious visionary and symbol of religious freedom, who stood up to the ecclesiastical proponents of religious intolerance. The American author Nathaniel Hawthorne (l. 1804-1864 CE) modeled his heroine of The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne, on Hutchinson and also devoted a short story to her. In time, she came to be recognized as a powerful woman who asserted her personal dignity and rights in a time when women were given no voice to do so. The Hutchinson River and Hutchinson River Parkway in the Bronx are named for her as are many schools, parks, and memorials throughout New England. A statue honoring her stands today outside the State House in Boston, Massachusetts; the city she was once banished from.

*EDITORIAL REVIEW: This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication.

Bibliography

• Bradford, W. & Paget, H. Of Plymouth Plantation. Dover Publications, 2006.

• Drake, S. G. History of the Early Discovery of America and Landing of the Pilgrims. Nabu Press, 2010.

• Hall, D. D. Puritans in the New World: A Critical Anthology. Princeton University Press, 2004.

• Hawthorne, N. & Cowley, M. The Portable Hawthorne. Penguin Classics, 2005.

• LaPlante, E. American Jezebel: The Uncommon Life of Anne Hutchinson. HarperOne, 2005.

• Philbrick, N. Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War. Penguin Books, 2007.

• Taylor, A. American Colonies: The Settling of North America. Penguin Books, 2002.
• Various Ancient Authors. The Bible, King James Version. Thomas Nelson, 2017.

About the Author: Joshua J. Mark

A freelance writer and former part-time Professor of Philosophy at Marist College, New York, Joshua J. Mark has lived in Greece and Germany and traveled through Egypt. He has taught history, writing, literature, and philosophy at the college level.