The full title of this post is, “The Slave Bible, Maroon Hermeneutics and Denmark Vesey: Fugitive Faith from 1807 to Mother Emanuel.”
To heal our culture, we must study and understand our history. These studies must include the actions of people and events which have not traditionally been part of the “formal historical curriculum canon” in United States public and private schools. Specifically, the history of resistance to chattel slavery, settler colonialism, and white supremacy in the Americas is vital to understand. It is for these reasons the 1526 Project is a powerful curriculum for spiritual transformation as well as historical enlightenment.
Our small group for the 1526 Project is continuing to meet on Sunday evenings via Zoom, but because of our (extended) focus last week on Haiti, Bois Caïman, the Haitian Revolution, and modern-day Haiti, we’re focusing on the week 8 curriculum as well as the “Deep Dive” curriculum for August this week. (Instead of Week 9.) To help prepare in advance of tonight’s small group, and provide others (including you!) additional media resources to complement and extend the PDF curriculum, I created an 11 slide slideshow as well as a 42 minute “deep dive audio podcast” about both the Week 8 curriculum of the 1526 Project, and the “August Deep Dive.”
Remember if you are not part of our small group, you can directly obtain your own copy of the 1526 Project for $12 on resistance500.com.
Here is the video description of this audio deep dive, which I created with Gemini Notebook (formerly “Notebook LM:”)
This week 8 deep dive for the 1526 Project examines how empires weaponized Christianity through the 1807 “Slave Bible,” a heavily redacted text published in London and used in the British Caribbean to promote obedience by removing liberation narratives like Exodus, the prophets, and Revelation while retaining passages such as Philemon and household codes. The episode explains how enslaved people developed the “Maroon Hermeneutic,” preserving and transmitting unredacted scripture through clandestine literacy, hush harbors, and spirituals, and highlights key texts (Exodus 1–15, Luke 1’s Magnificat, Daniel 3, Revelation 21, and Acts 5:29). It connects this theology to the Haitian Revolution’s proof of successful revolt and to Denmark Vesey’s 1822 Charleston conspiracy organized through the AME Church, its suppression, and the long continuance to Mother Emanuel AME and the 2015 Charleston Nine, concluding with curriculum practices of examen, liturgy, and action.
00:00 A Bible With Pages Missing
01:24 Welcome to the Deep Dive
02:53 How We Approach This
03:54 Inside the 1807 Slave Bible
05:40 Theological Sandbox Explained
07:56 Doctrine of Discovery Link
08:52 Maroon Hermeneutic Emerges
12:42 Reading in the Dark
13:58 Hush Harbors and Spirituals
15:58 Five Texts of Resistance
16:28 Exodus and Holy Deception
18:07 Magnificat and Refusal
19:46 Daniel Against Empire
20:06 Revelation Made Physical
21:46 Haiti Proof Of Concept
26:17 Vesey And The AME
29:01 Gullah Jack And The Plot
32:06 Betrayal And Crackdown
33:15 Mother Emanuel Continuance
34:06 Charleston Nine And Fugitive Faith
35:57 Practices Examen Liturgy Action
39:36 Final Challenge And Wrap
Here are links to English WikiPedia articles for many of the key people and events mentioned in this week’s curriculum:
- The 1807 “Slave Bible” — Select Parts of the Holy Bible for the use of the Negro Slaves in the British West-India Islands
- Exodus (the liberation narrative removed from the Slave Bible) — Book of Exodus
- The Prophets (also removed) — Nevi’im
- Revelation (also removed) — Book of Revelation
- The Letter to Philemon (retained in the Slave Bible) — Epistle to Philemon
- Household codes (also retained) — New Testament household code
- Maroons / Maroon Hermeneutic — Maroons
- Clandestine literacy (secret literacy among enslaved people) — Anti-literacy laws in the United States
- Hush harbors — Hush harbor
- Spirituals — Negro spiritual
- Luke 1’s Magnificat — Magnificat
- Daniel 3 — Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
- Revelation 21 — Revelation 21
- Acts 5:29 — Acts 5
- The Haitian Revolution — Haitian Revolution
- Denmark Vesey and his 1822 Charleston conspiracy — Denmark Vesey
- The AME Church — African Methodist Episcopal Church
- Mother Emanuel AME — Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church
- The 2015 Charleston Nine — Charleston church shooting
I hope these resources enable you to deepen your own understanding of these difficult but important chapters of our shared history. We continue to live in the shadows of our past. In seeking to better understand the actions of those who have gone before us, hopefully we can strive together to do better.
Let us commit together to act as culture healers, not culture warriors.
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