ePub Mastering Christianity: Missionary Anglicanism and Slavery in the Atlantic World by Travis Glasson in History

Review

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Excellent; Dispassionate Treatment of a Difficult (Uncomfortable) SubjectBy Timothy ScottTravis Glasson has produced a work that is scholarly and fair. Naturally the connection between Christianity and slavery is a sensitive social subject and should be handled with great care. Glasson does an excellent job of writing as a dispassionate historian (as much as this is possible to do) and allows the various individuals of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG) to speak for themselves. Glasson does well to demonstrate that the SPG was always committed to the evangelization of Native Americans and African-American slaves. However; the Society's commitments to a close Church-State relationship in the British Empire; the status quo of the English social order; and to slavery itself created difficulties for its evangelistic goals. In some cases; the SPG actually strengthened the institution of slavery through advocating the idea that Christian baptism did not result in a change in a slave's social situation (i.e.; emancipation). Many members of the SPG defended slavery; and the society owned Codrington; a slave plantation in Barbados. Though the society was a slave owning institution itself; it did appeal to slave owners to treat their slaves humanely and to teach them Christianity. However; these efforts were; by and large; unsatisfactory in their execution. Glasson also shows that there were members of the society who were committed to the abolition cause; but they were a minority. Sadly; the SPG did not free its slaves until it was forced to by government legislation.Mastering Christianity is well-researched and well-written. Glasson avoids presenting the reader with his own opinion of the rightness or wrongness of the people he treats. He simply records what they said. The potential reader should recognize that this book is an academic rather than popular treatment of the subject and reads as such (I do not say this as a negative but to let the potential buyer know what they are getting). Good book. Worth the read.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy Rev. Fr. K.N. EllisNew helpful details on the ministry of The Rev'd Philip Quaque