The Shakers actually did very, very well. Their numbers swelled over the generations up through the 19th century and only started to shrink after the American Civil War. It wasn't, precisely, the religion's requirement of chastity that put an end to it (though it certainly would have helped if they could have passed it on to children). The religion relied on an agrarian population. Thus, they had an appeal for farmers who couldn't make it on their own, as here was a commune of well organized farmers, all working together to bring in crops and such. All wealth and work was pooled, and so everyone prospered equally.
It was communism at its purest. Whatever you needed you were given—food, clothes, bed, medicine. No more, no less. A lifetime of security without ever having to worry about earthly necessities so long as you did your share of the work. But once there were factory jobs for poor people to make money at, and farmers had ways to plow their fields with machines and such and, thus, solitary farmers had ways to avoid crop failure, the Shakers lost that appeal. And so they shrank away.
As for your point, however, actually no. The Shakers were anti-cerebral (their founder, a blacksmith's daughter and textile mill worker, was illiterate). They were all about doing—farming, weaving, carpentry—being self-sustaining. Pure Pentacle suit.
The Shaker motto was "hands to work, heart to God." They prayed and they worked, and the only thing they read was the gospel. They did have lively discussions...but rarely cerebral ones.
A Priest/Monk and Nun is more in line with what you're after. As Priests/Monks in the middle ages were often the only scholar class, even Kings being illiterate. Ditto nuns, which was where educated women went—and often the only place where they had power and autonomy. There were some very brilliant and cerebral Monks and monk life did allow for some to be pure scholars. Likewise nuns. So. Priest and Nun is more apt.
