Title: The Public Universal Friend
Subtitle: Jemima Wilkinson and Religious Enthusiasm in Revolutionary America
Description: "In The Public Universal Friend, Paul B. Moyer tells the story of Wilkinson and her remarkable church, the Society of Universal Friends. Wilkinson's message was a simple one: humankind stood on the brink of the Apocalypse, but salvation was available to all who accepted God's grace and the authority of his prophet: the Public Universal Friend. Wilkinson preached widely in southern New England and Pennsylvania, attracted hundreds of devoted followers, formed them into a religious sect, and, by the late 1780s, had led her converts to the backcountry of the newly formed United States, where they established a religious community near present-day Penn Yan, New York. Even this remote spot did not provide a safe haven for Wilkinson and her followers as they awaited the Millennium. Disputes from within and without dogged the sect, and many disciples drifted away or turned against the Friend. After Wilkinson's "second" and final death in 1819, the Society rapidly fell into decline and, by the mid-nineteenth century, ceased to exist. The prophet's ministry spanned the American Revolution and shaped the nation's religious landscape during the unquiet interlude between the first and second Great Awakenings."--Publisher's description.
Subjects: Women evangelists, Biography, Church history, Women and religion, Women religious leaders, History, Wilkinson, jemima, 1752-1819, Women, united states, biography, Evangelists, United states, church history, LGBTQ biography and memoir, LGBTQ religion & spirituality, Nonbinary, Queer
Places: United States
People: Jemima Wilkinson (1752-1819), Public Universal Friend (1752-1819)
Time periods: 18th century