Slaves of the Churches: A History

This book explores how the church established norms for slave ownership and behavior towards slaves, drawing on chronicles, letters, and other documents to provide insight into the situations of unfree ecclesiastical dependents. It finds that unfree dependents had less chance of achieving freedom than slaves of other masters, as the church authorities duty to preserve the Church's patrimony led them to hold on tightly to their unfree human resources.

Format: Hardback
Length: 296 pages
Publication date: 16 October 2020
Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc

In recent years, the news has been filled with stories of religious universities and institutions grappling with their slave-owning past. It is astonishing to many that the Church itself could have been involved in such a sordid business. This timely book, the result of many years of research, is a comprehensive study of the origins of this problem. Mary E. Sommar delves into how the Church sought to establish norms for slave ownership among ecclesiastical institutions and personnel, as well as the behavior of others towards such slaves. The story begins in the New Testament era, when the earliest Christian norms were established, and continues until the thirteenth-century establishment of a body of canon law that would persist into the twentieth century. Alongside her analysis of various policies and statutes, Sommar draws on chronicles, letters, and other documents from each historical period to provide insight into the situations of unfree ecclesiastical dependents. She reveals that unfree dependents of the Church had less chance of achieving freedom than did slaves of other masters. The church authorities' duty to preserve the Church's patrimony for future generations led them to hold on tightly to their unfree human resources. This accessible book does not present an apology for the behavior of past Christian leaders but rather aims to learn from their actions and gain an understanding of their motivations. It is a valuable contribution to the ongoing discussion about the complex history of slavery and religion.

Weight: 518g
Dimension: 165 x 242 x 28 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780190073268