Shakers

This article is about the Shakers, a religious denomination. For other uses of the term shakers or shaker, see Shakers (disambiguation).

Wardley predecessors

Derived from a small branch of English Quakers who had adopted some of the doctrines of worship followed by the 'French Prophets,' as Londoners called the Camisards, who had been driven into English exile from the provinces of Vivarais and Dauphiné. Under the leadership of James and Ann Wardley, husband and wife, the group became known for their intense, ecstatic worship. The Wardleys' followers, when "wrestling in soul to be freed from the power of sin and a worldly life," writhed and trembled, purportedly under the influence of the Holy Spirit, so that they won the name Shakers; their trances and visions, their jumping and dancing, were like those of many other sects, such as the Low Countries dancers of the 14th and 15th centuries, the French Convulsionnaires of 1720–1770, or the Welsh Methodist Jumpers.

Related Topics:
Doctrine - Worship - Camisards - Vivarais - Dauphiné - James - Ann Wardley - Holy Spirit - 1720 - 1770

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The original and proper name of the group is the United Society of Believers In Christ’s Second Appearing, but followers quickly adopted the derogatory nickname, Shaking Quakers, which had been given to them by their many detractors.

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