Slavery's Heroes

Book excerpt: "Slavery's Heroes constitutes required reading for all who search for a rich historical resource for understanding the legacy of Baptist witness in Jamaica between 1783 and 1865. Dr Morrison's familiarity with extant original sources furnishes the tools for the coherent articulation of a fresh interpretation that is both credible and compelling." - Dr Neville G Callam, General Secretary, Baptist World Alliance "Dr Morrison has chronicled for us groundbreaking work in "Slavery's Heroes." For the first time we receive research with the quality of an eye witness account on the Ethiopian Baptists who with George Liele introduced Baptist work to Jamaica and the Caribbean and began a trail that led to the emancipation of enslaved people in the Caribbean and the founding of indigenous religions. This book is carefully researched and cogently argued." - Dr Noel L Erskine, Professor of Theology and Ethics, Emory University "Dr Morrison in this study of George Liele and his contemporaries has demonstrated that the modern Christian missionary movement owes more to African American Christianity than has previously been acknowledged. She elucidates skillfully how they dealt with the catholicity and particularities of the Christian faith in their obedience to God in its transmission and in this lies their relevance for our times and place." - Rev Dr Horace O Russell Emeritus Professor of Historical Theology and Dean of Chapel, Palmer Theological Seminary of Eastern University, St David's, USA; Formerly, President UTCWI, Kingston, Jamaica Coinciding with both the 230 year anniversary of the establishing of the first Baptist Church in Jamaica by the Ethiopian Baptist Society and it's brutal demise almost 150 years ago at Morant Bay, 'Slavery's Heroes' documents its pioneers; the men and women who led by George Liele, advocated for a nation from enslavement to emancipation and beyond. This work offers insight into a people, a faith and a movement which demonstrated boldness, bravery and self-sacrifice, as it sought to achieve freedom for generations of people it knew it would never meet.