Reviews for Slave Religion: The Invisible Institution in the Antebellum South

The average rating for Slave Religion: The Invisible Institution in the Antebellum South based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-07-08 00:00:00 Jermon Williams Widely considered a classic in the field of American slave history, this book should also be considered a classic in our understanding of American religious history. In the context of widespread (if not near universal) hypocrisy of the white church and its participation in slavery, the faithfulness of Christian slaves seems to be the only redeeming aspect of American Christianity in the era of slavery. It might even be more accurate to say that Christian slaves WERE the true Church which stood in opposition to the false church that so severely marred the Gospel by its complicit participation in slavery. The legacy of Christian slaves is a story about heroes of the Christian faith - saints who endured unspeakable suffering to preserve the purity of the Gospel. Even as the American church is still coming to terms with our history and reckoning with racism, we have to ask - How much further might we have fallen were it not for the faithful perseverance of Christian slaves? Albert Raboteau says in his afterword, "Despite severe persecution and suffering, slave Christians bore witness to the Christian gospel, whose truth they perceived and maintained in contradiction to the debasement of that very gospel by those who held power over their bodies and their external actions, but not their souls. The suffering witness of slave Christians constitutes a major spiritual legacy not only for their descendants but also for any who would take the time to heed the testimony of their words and of their lives."

Review # 2 was written on 2013-09-14 00:00:00 Travis Rymon This is something of a classic in the literature on the slave church. It started out as a doctoral thesis, but unlike some books that have that provenance, this one really engages. Sure, there is an incredible amount of detail - and a huge number of footnotes, reflecting Raboteau's careful research - but it still reads like a great piece of social history. He's clearly taken by the back-story of the black church, but certainly not in an overly romanticized way. Essential reading for me, as I continue to trace the tradition that in time would give rise to the blues and to jazz.