When Baptism Threatened Slavery: Christianity and Power in the Caribbean and Atlantic

This episode explores the complex intersections of Christianity, colonialism, and slavery in the 17th–18th century Caribbean and Atlantic world. Historian Catherine Gerbner discusses her book, Christian Slavery, shedding light on how baptism and shared worship challenged the institution of slavery and unsettled slaveholders. The episode delves into the legal and racial shifts from identifying freedom by being 'Christian' to being 'white,' and the impactful roles of Quakers, Moravians, and other missionaries in the region.

Listeners interested in Caribbean history, family genealogy, and heritage will gain practical guidance on using diverse church and missionary records to uncover hidden stories of faith, resistance, and freedom. This discussion offers valuable tools and perspectives for anyone tracing their ancestral roots and seeking to understand the legacies of colonialism in shaping identity and history in the Atlantic world.

 

Bio:

Katharine Gerbner examines how religion shapes – and is shaped by – race, freedom, and technology. She studies religious practices that have been excluded from traditional definitions of religion and develops multilingual archival strategies to uncover stories that have been marginalized and forgotten. She is the author of Archival Irruptions: Constructing Religion and Criminalizing Obeah in Eighteenth-Century Jamaica (Duke University Press, 2025) and Christian Slavery: Conversion and Race in the Protestant Atlantic World (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018). She is Associate Professor of History and Director of Religious Studies at the University of Minnesota.

 

Book:

https://www.amazon.ca/Christian-Slavery-Conversion-Protestant-Atlantic-ebook/dp/B07BXDSQ2H?ref_=ast_author_mpb

 

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