Philadelphians - Your Art History Reference Guide!

ArtHistoryClub Information Site on Philadelphians Art History Art History Search        Art History Browse        Classroom welcome to our free resource site for all art history lovers!
Art History Search        Art History Browse             News        Gallery        Forums        Articles        Weblinks        welcome to our free resource site for all art history lovers!

Philadelphians

The Philadelphians were a Protestant 17th century religious sect in England. They were organized around John Pordage (1607 - 1681), a priest in Broadfield, Berkshire, who had been ejected from his parish in 1655 and then reinstated in 1660. Pordage was attracted to the ideas of Jakob Boehme, the Lutheran theosophist.

A group of followers came to Pordage, led by Mrs. Jane Leade (1623 - 1704), who experienced a number of visions and recorded them in A Fountain of Gardens. The group incorporated as The Philadelphia Society for the Advancement of Piety and Divine Philosophy in 1670. They rejected the idea of being a church, and none of the members ceased their memberships in existing churches. Together, the group held views that were somewhat transcendentalist and somewhat pantheist, but with a gnostic component, in that they maintained that their souls were illuminated by the Holy Spirit.

Mrs. Leade's visions were a central part of the sect. The group's views were spread to continental Europe by Francis Lee, a non-juoror at the accession of William III. The group drew up a formal confession of beliefs in 1703. However, after the death of Mrs. Leade, the group's numbers dwindled quickly.

Last updated: 08-02-2005 03:05:40
Last updated: 01-04-2007 01:18:57
The contents of this article are licensed from Wikipedia.org under the
GNU Free Documentation License. See original document.
Art History Search | Art History Browse | Contact | Legal info