Shakerism

[shey-kuh-riz-uhm]

noun

1. the beliefs and practices of the Shakers.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Shakerism¹

1800–10, Shaker + -ism

Example Sentences

“The appeal of Shakerism is not an easy sell,” said Brother Arnold Hadd, 65, one of two practicing congregants at Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village in New Gloucester, Maine.

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He has always seen the wider fascination with Shakerism’s material history as a way for the world to better understand Shakers.

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“The people that I’ve talked to, the designers, the makers, people like Rita and Jody,” Ms. Schutz said, are drawn to aspects of Shakerism right now because of “a desire to communicate a belief system and a level of integrity.”

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Based on the tenets of communal living, celibacy and a life lived in the service of God, Shakerism flourished under the guidance of its charismatic founding leader, Mother Ann Lee, an illiterate visionary who preached of receiving messages from God that these principles were the only way to salvation.

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Though her quilt-patch separates have a handmade aesthetic quality that recalls Shaker clothes of the past, it is the philosophy behind them that is more directly drawn from Shakerism.

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