Octavia, daughter of God : the story of a female messiah and her followers / Jane Shaw.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Shaw, Jane, 1963-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women and religion--England--Bedford--History--20th century.

Women and religion.

Christian sects--England--Bedford--History--20th century.

Christian sects.

Panacea Society.

Barltrop, Mabel, 1866-1934.

Barltrop, Mabel.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (416 p.)

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, 2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In 1919, in the wake of the upheaval of World War I, a remarkable group of English women came up with their own solution to the world's grief: a new religion. At the heart of the Panacea Society was a charismatic and autocratic leader, a vicar's widow named Mabel Bartlrop. Her followers called her Octavia, and they believed that she was the daughter of God, sent to build the New Jerusalem in Bedford.When the last living members of the Panacea Society revealed to historian Jane Shaw their immense and painstakingly preserved archives, she began to reconstruct the story of a close-knit utopian community that grew to include seventy residents, thousands of followers, and an international healing ministry reaching 130,000 people. Shaw offers a detailed portrait of Octavia and describes the faith of her devoted followers who believed they would never die. Vividly told, by turns funny and tragic, Octavia, Daughter of God is about a moment at the advent of modernity, when a generation of newly empowered women tried to re-make Christianity in their own image, offering a fascinating window into the anxieties and hopes of the interwar years.

Contents:

Cover

Contents

Preface

PART I - Octavia

Chapter 1 Seeking

Chapter 2 Listening to God

Chapter 3 The Daughter of God

Chapter 4 Who was Mabel?

PART II - The Community

Chapter 5 The Female Apostles

Chapter 6 How to Live For Ever

Chapter 7 Trouble in Paradise

Chapter 8 Going Global

Chapter 9 Sex Difficulties

Chapter 10 Don't Fall in Love

Chapter 11 Family Problems

PART III - The World

Chapter 12 Negotiating the World

Chapter 13 Defeating the Bolshevik Menace

Chapter 14 Open the Box!

Chapter 15 The Church

Chapter 16 Death, after all

Epilogue

List of Abbreviations

Notes

Bibliography

Acknowledgements

Index

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

R

S

T

U

V

W

Y.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-283-29254-8

9786613292544

0-300-18063-2

OCLC:

923596683