Evangelicalism's Complex Role in Shaping Atlantic World's Slavery Debate
Evangelicalism, a powerful religious movement, significantly shaped the Atlantic world from the 16th to the 19th century. Its stance on slavery, however, was complex and divisive.
Initially, evangelical encounters with slavery saw missionaries baptizing enslaved Africans while reassuring masters that baptism didn't imply freedom. However, evangelical conviction later drove abolitionism, with figures like William Wilberforce and Jonathan Edwards the Younger leading the charge in the late 18th century.
Enslaved people often heard a different gospel in secret meetings, drawing on evangelical preaching to sustain hope and resist subjugation. African converts often perceived the radicalism within evangelical preaching more clearly than their white counterparts, sometimes sparking revivals that unsettled the social order. Meanwhile, evangelicalism also armed defenders of slavery with theological arguments, leading to divisions within churches along sectional lines.
The key figure involved in the split of evangelical churches in the United States over slavery during the 1840s and 1850s was Charles Grandison Finney.
The history of evangelicalism and slavery reveals the capacity of religion to serve both power and resistance, both oppression and liberation. The emphasis on biblical authority and personal conversion in evangelicalism could be invoked to sanctify or undermine hierarchies, reflecting the complex role of religion in societal issues.
