Catholicism and Slavery

This course explores the role of Catholicism in the global history of slavery. Beginning with an assessment of how early Church theologians interpreted slavery in the Bible, the course will then grapple with how the Church justified taking a leading role in ending serfdom in Europe but endorsed the Atlantic slave trade, becoming one of its most invested participants. We will compare regional contexts of Catholicism & examining global continuities and regional particularities regarding the questions: What did it mean to be enslaved by the Catholic Church? How did enslavers and the enslaved approach Catholicism, as both institution and religious practice, in a context of unfreedom and oppression? In what ways did enslaved people resist Catholic enslavement, drawing upon or rejecting the teachings of Catholicism in their resistance?
Course Attributes: AS HUM; AS LCD; AS WI I; AS SC; EN H; FA HUM; AR HUM

Catholicism and Slavery

RELIGIOUS STUDIES 4890

Section 01