THE PROCESS OF SELF-ACTUALIZATION THROUGH RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE IN JANE FENN HOSKENS’ LIFE
THE PROCESS OF SELF-ACTUALIZATION THROUGH RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE IN JANE FENN HOSKENS’ LIFE

Summary/Abstract: This article proposes that Jane Fenn Hoskens (1694-1764) in her autobiography The Life and Spiritual Sufferings of That Faithful Servant of Christ Jane Hoskens, A Public Preacher among the People Called Quakers (1771) meets the criteria for Abraham Harold Maslow’s theory of self-actualization. His theory is humanistic; it promotes man’s psychological development including the constitution of a competent selfhood, a socially congruent persona and a blissful state of existence. Hoskens renders her need to actualize herself and achievement of it through her definition of herself on religious sphere; she depicts her spiritual crises and recurrent clashes of faith in the way to God. Her process of self-actualization requires this effort and through frequent ‘peak experiences’ her choice of Quakerism crystallizes in which she attains clear visions of her being and life in general. She finds preaching, writing and missionary activities as the tools for self-expression.

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