Short summary of Shaker Doctrines:

• God is Dual. Shakers believe in One God — not three male beings in one, but Father and
Mother.
• Equality of Sex. Woman appears in her rightful place, at once the equal of man in creation and
office at the hand of God. Ann Lee's followers, 1900 years after Jesus uttered the words,
"Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more;" and sent Mary to tell the Good News of a
risen Lord and living Savior, alone of all humanity, have taught the doctrines that have placed
woman side by side with man, his equal in power, in office, in influence and in judgment.
• God the Father-Mother. Fatherhood and motherhood exist in the complete human being. One is
correlative of the other. Self-existent, infinite Perfection of Being, Father and Mother. The very
name God, Almighty, in its original Hebrew form El Shaddai, reveals the infinite quality. El,
God, its first meaning, Strength: Shaddi, the plural whose singular, Shad, signifies a Breast and
is feminine. Our natural father and mother, with their united strength and wisdom, truth and
love are types of that Perfect Parentage, our Father and Mother which are in Heaven.
• Resurrection. Mother Ann taught that there is no resurrection of the body. "I am the resurrection
and the life," said Jesus Christ. The life of Christ is in itself, by its very nature, a resurrection
out of, above, the natural, carnal life. The Christian resurrection is a resurrection of the soul
from death in sin to a life of righteousness, as judged by the Christian standard, not the
revivification of the dead physical body.
• Regeneration. "By following in the footsteps of Jesus and in obedience to his precepts, man may
be fully saved from sin in this life and ultimately redeemed from sin and all temptations to evil.
The true Christian salvation is from the commission of sin, not merely from the consequences of
committed sin. The blood (life) that Jesus gave for man's salvation was his life of consecration
and obedience to God's will, an example and winning incentive to follow him. The death Jesus
died to aid humanity in the work of salvation was his death to a sinful nature, by which he
overcame the world within, thus becoming the great Mediator for our race. 'In that he (Jesus)
died, he died unto sin once.' No vicarious atonement. The true cross is not of wood but a life of
self-denial, a crucifixion of the lower nature. Every soul must work out its own salvation by
practising the self-denials of Jesus, aided by baptisms of the Holy Spirit of Christ, an influx of
the saving power of the Divine Creator; salvation is not otherwise found."
• Atonement. As a new, practical and living sense is found in the terms resurrection, regeneration,
so do the followers of Mother Ann Lee learn from her a new rendering of this old theologic
term, which is at-one-ment. By the life of the resurrection, by following in the steps of Jesus,
living out his principles, man works out his salvation and comes to be at one with God.
• The Judgment. "The day of judgment for any soul commences when brought to the Christ
tribunal, whether in this or the spirit world. This judgment is initiated by the voluntary
confession of all the confessant's sins to God, in the presence of a Christ witness, who likewise
has confessed all sin." The end of the world shall come to every soul who is born of the Spirit
into the Kingdom of Heaven and by growth and patient effort will eventually attain unto the
Kingdom of God.
• The Soul's Eternal Progression. Against the favorite doctrines of her time — Election,
Reprobation, Hell Torment for the persons of those decreed by the fiat of Eternal justice to a
lake of fire and brimstone, Ann Lee taught the mercy and love of the Eternal Father-Mother.
The souls of all men have endless existence. Every soul is subject for the spiritual resurrection
 to eternal life, by obedience to Christian principles; thus, and thus only, may it inherit eternal
soul life. The soul's probation is not limited to this world, but extends to the world of spirits, the
future state. Thus only can the justice and mercy of God be manifest to souls who are not
privileged to hear the testimony of Christ in this life.
• Christ of the Ages. To Ann Lee came by revelation of the Spirit and through her was imparted to
her followers the teaching that Christ (not Jesus) is the manifestation of Deity, — "Immanuel,
God with us." Many times and in different races has the Christ Spirit rested upon, entered into
and manifested itself through human beings,— special witnesses. The most complete and all-
embracing endowment of the manifesting Spirit of God rested upon Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus
was a Jew, born of human parents. Struggling with a nature like our own, "tempted in all points
like as we are," he conquered by self-control and daily cross-bearing, as we must conquer our
natures, "learning obedience by the things that he suffered."
• Christ Revealed in Woman. Jesus Christ not only foretold the falling away, the coming of
antichrist, he also foretold a reappearing, a coming again to gather and save. In his last
interviews with his disciples he uttered some mysterious words, over which theological
quibbling has spent itself in vain. Not to the wise nor prudent of this world came the word of
revelation, but to the child in simple trust with heart of faith. The apocalypse of mystery that
descended from cloud to sea at Patmos opened its meanings, when to the child spirit of Ann Lee
came the call of God. We have watched her follow that call. We have seen her wrestlings and
conflicts as flesh strove with spirit, as the cross, heavy and death bringing, was taken bravely
up. We have watched her. as she subdued and slew the weakness and sin of her lower nature. We
have heard her cries and moans of agony as the weight of a world's woe pressed upon her heart.
We have watched her in prison, every nerve throbbing with the torture of that forsaken, narrow
cell, where for fourteen days she was nourished by God's gift, sustained by His power. We have
seen her in the prison cell in Manchester, baptized with the Christ Spirit. From that time she
never faltered in her calm assurance of knowledge that to her had been given the revelation of
the Maternal Spirit of God. Ann Lee always acknowledged Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior,
the Head of the Church; but, when the two anointed leaders, before whom she had confessed her
sins and whom she had obeyed as her spiritual guides, recognized in her a superior endowment
of Divine Maternity, and with the rest of the little circle acknowledged her as now their Spiritual
Mother, she did not refuse the recognition.