"Skin for Skin": Biblical Language in Jamaica's Morant Bay Rebellion
In October, 1865, Paul Bogle and a few hundred Black residents of rural Jamaica rebelled against the vagaries of an overly zealous magistrate. They set the courthouse at Morant Bay on fire and killed over a dozen people, mostly white. In the savage government reprisals that followed, over 430 Black...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Oxford University Press
2022
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| In: |
Journal of the American Academy of Religion
Year: 2022, Volume: 90, Issue: 3, Pages: 636-653 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Bogle, Paul 1815-1865
/ Bible. Ijob 2,4-6
/ Skin color (motif)
/ Morant Bay rebellion
/ Group identity
/ Blacks
/ Baptist
/ Abolitionists
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| IxTheo Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy CG Christianity and Politics CH Christianity and Society FD Contextual theology HB Old Testament KBR Latin America KDG Free church NCC Social ethics NCD Political ethics TJ Modern history |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | In October, 1865, Paul Bogle and a few hundred Black residents of rural Jamaica rebelled against the vagaries of an overly zealous magistrate. They set the courthouse at Morant Bay on fire and killed over a dozen people, mostly white. In the savage government reprisals that followed, over 430 Black Jamaicans were executed. Here, I observe how biblical language played a central role in public discourse about the rebellion. I focus on the rebellion's slogan: skin for skin. I trace the interpretive history of this phrase drawn from the book of Job, showing how it became associated with advocacy for Black rights. And I examine the social context of Bogle's use of the phrase to call for a Black alliance that crossed ethnic, religious, and class lines. I thus further a critical trajectory that has recognized the importance of biblical language to race talk in the age of emancipation. |
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| ISSN: | 1477-4585 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: American Academy of Religion, Journal of the American Academy of Religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/jaarel/lfac071 |