Reluctant or Radical Revolutionaries?
Evangelical Missionaries and Afro-Jamaican Character, 1834-1870
- History & Biography
- Publisher: Fortress Press (Augsburg Fortress)
- Published: 2020
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Publisher's Description
This study is based on extensive research that challenges traditional ways of understanding some evangelical missionaries of nineteenth-century Jamaica and calls for revision of those views. It highlights the strength and character of persons facing various challenges of life in their effort to be faithful to the guiding principles of their existence. It gives an account of evangelical missionaries fulfilling their mission to the black people of Jamaica as ex-slaves as they simultaneously contend with hostility from the elites of society. It also tells of the Afro-Jamaicans who rejected unacceptable imposition from the missionaries while contending with challenges from plantation owners and others in Jamaican society.
Endorsements (4)
“Bolt brings his pastoral instincts and his scholarly discipline to a complex area of the history of the Caribbean struggle for liberation. The end product is a work of balance and diligent attention to details which offers insight into the well-meaning sincerity and immense personal sacrifice of missionaries. This work is a must read and will be a valuable addition to your library.”
“Cawley Bolt makes a compelling case for people's identities to be understood as constructions of the imagination. They are neither exact descriptions of our uniqueness nor accurate markers of who we are. Instead, they are fictitious characterizations contrived as part of the process to influence social differentiation. This book unveils how important it is to deconstruct our understanding of the identities assigned us so as to be able to affirm what we believe to be defensible, and to reject what we find unacceptable, about how people define us.”
“We are most indebted to the Rev. Dr. Cawley Bolt for a work of sound scholarship on a most interesting and provocative topic. He explores the use of the notion of the Negro character especially by the missionaries in the immediate post-emancipation period and somewhat beyond both to define the identity and to offer an explanation of the capacity and potential of the African people who had experienced slavery in Jamaica.”
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