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Tameka Hobbs <[log in to unmask]>
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Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Fri, 30 May 2008 14:42:11 -0400
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Book Talk at the Library of Virginia

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

_The Origins of Proslavery Christianity: White and Black Evangelicals in Colonial 
and Antebellum Virginia_ by Charles Irons

Time: Noon–1 PM

FREE EVENT

In the colonial and antebellum South, black and white evangelicals frequently 
prayed, sang, and worshipped together. Even though white evangelicals 
claimed spiritual fellowship with those of African descent, they nonetheless 
emerged as the most effective defenders of race-based slavery. As Charles 
Irons persuasively argues, white evangelicals' ideas about slavery grew 
directly out of their interactions with black evangelicals. Set in Virginia, the 
largest slaveholding state and the hearth of the southern evangelical 
movement, this book draws from church records, denominational newspapers, 
slave narratives, and private letters and diaries to illuminate the dynamic 
relationship between whites and blacks within the evangelical fold. Irons 
reveals that when whites theorized about their moral responsibilities toward 
slaves, they thought first of their relationships with bondmen in their own 
churches. Thus, African American evangelicals inadvertently shaped the 
nature of the proslavery argument. When they chose which churches to join, 
used the procedures set up for church discipline, rejected colonization, or built 
quasi-independent congregations, for example, black churchgoers spurred their 
white coreligionists to further develop the religious defense of slavery.

Charles F. Irons is assistant professor of history at Elon University.

The Library of Virginia is located at 800 East Broad Street in downtown 
Richmond.  Free parking is available underneath the building.

_The Origins of Proslavery Christianity_ is available for purchase in the Virginia 
Shop at the Library of Virginia: 
http://www.lva.virginia.gov/whatwedo/shop.htm .

www.lva.virginia.gov 
804.692.3500

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