Day 21. October 20, 2006
Movement 2. Solus Jesus
Lecture 10. Reform, Race, and the Civil War: Jesus and American Slavery (Part 3)
Africans arriving in the U.S. as slaves brought with them animistic religious experiences similar to the experiences of Native Americans. As many as 20 percent of slaves imported to the U.S. had also experienced Islam. The "invisible religion" that took shape among slaves was a folk Christianity shaped by owners' desires to foster subservience and obedience and African Americans' need to deal with oppression. Black Christianity early identified with the bondage and travails of the Jewish Scriptures more strongly than the life and Passion of Christ. Jesus, for African Americans, became the combined figure of Moses-Jesus. In public life, Lincoln was Father Abraham. As the "theologian of democracy," he held the entire nation responsible for slavery and argued for the redemptive power of egalitarian democracy. His death made of him the Christ figure of American democracy.