`Am I not a Man and a Brother?' The Bible and the British Anti-Slavery Campaign

Abstract

After surveying the use of the Bible on behalf of slave-owners, this article studies the biblical exegesis employed by Porteus, Sharp, Hughes and others in the British anti-slavery movement. The decisive hermeneutical move was the recategorization of the slave as a man/woman and a brother/sister — part of a larger intellectual shift in philosophy and theology. The specific contribution of evangelical theology is noted in this connection.