'The Testament of Ann Lee' and Eighteenth-Century Enthusiastic Religion

The prospect of the new film, The Testament of Ann Lee (about to be released), is exciting for a historian, such as myself, passionate about studying eighteenth-century religion. Directed by Mona Fastvold, the film puts tremendously rich visual and sonic form to the story (or ‘legend’) of the life of Ann Lee, founder of the Shaker movement. In 1774, Lee and her followers came to America from England, where their religious ideology and practices had grown out of various dissenting and evangelical trends of eighteenth-century working-class Britain. Lee was distinct as a female preacher, perceived by her followers as a manifestation of Christ. The Shakers gained their name from the rhythmic, ecstatic dancing they employed as a form of worship. This kind of somatic, bodily expression – often in states of preaching, prayer, and worship – was called ‘enthusiasm’ (from Greek: en + theós + ousía = in god essence). The overwhelming and euphoric sensations of such religious worship are wonderfully conveyed in a clip from Fastvold’s film released yesterday. The radical potential for Lee's movement was both embraced by those eager for such personal spiritual experience and chastised as heresy by her critics.          

I’ve read dozens of primary accounts of enthusiastic religious behaviour from the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. From Shakers, to Quakers, to New Lights, to Baptists, Methodists, and Millerites, early modern North America saw a profusion of such spiritual practices anchored in the body – thus appealing to people across gender, race, and class distinctions. Enthusiastic revivals and millennial anticipation led people into such excitement that they doubled over or jumped about, groaned or cried aloud in ecstasy, gestured dramatically with their limbs, rolled on the ground, tore their clothing, or barked like dogs. They behaved in such ways to testify to a felt spiritual presence and providential saving grace. To see such eighteenth-century religious culture so expertly adapted and attentively portrayed in Fastvold's film is a feast for the senses. From what I've seen of the film and its promotion so far, the depth of research undertaken to make The Testament of Ann Lee is clear (Fastvold's interest in history was also apparent in her earlier film, The World to Come). This attention to detail will make The Testament a rewarding experience – especially for historians. It will appeal to those with interests in eighteenth-century transatlantic religious cultures, but also to those interested in religion and the American Revolution or the early Republic. Anyone with an interest in histories of kinship, the body, gesture, or dress, will undoubtedly also find this film inspiring to watch. Fastvold's adaptation takes seriously her Shaker subjects while drawing forward important themes of community and leadership, making the film relevant for a twenty-first-century audience.

Shaker imagery such as The Tree of Light, or the Blazing Tree (Hannah Cohoon, 1845), contributed to American folk art traditions.