Who Counts as a Theologian?

Critics sometimes argue that Black Christian abolitionist voices were not “real theologians” because they did not produce systematic treatises, commentaries, or dogmatics like their white counterparts. At best, so the argument goes, they were “second-class” theologians — more activists or poets than serious thinkers.

This objection rests on a narrow and Eurocentric definition of theology. If theology is, as Anselm wrote, fides quaerens intellectum — “faith seeking understanding” — then Black abolitionist voices were profoundly theological. Their theology simply took different forms: lived, prophetic, and contextual.

This essay reclaims those figures as the first liberation theologians in America — interpreters of God’s justice whose witness transformed Christianity itself.

The Many Genres of Theology

The Bible itself contains many genres: law, poetry, prophecy, narrative, and epistle. Likewise, the church has long recognized that theology need not appear only in systematic form. Augustine’s Confessions (autobiography) and Hildegard of Bingen’s hymns are both considered theology because they interpret divine truth through lived experience.¹

By the same measure, Equiano’s autobiography, Wheatley’s poetry, Walker’s pamphlets, and Douglass’s narratives are theological texts. They explore God’s providence, human dignity, and the meaning of redemption through the lived encounter with suffering and grace.

As Psalm 78:4 declares, “We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord.” Testimony is theology.

Lived and Prophetic Theology

Enslaved and free Black Christians forged theology from the underside of history. They reflected on God’s character not in classrooms but in cotton fields, hush arbors, and makeshift pulpits carved out of oppression.² Their theology answered timeless questions: Where is God in suffering? How does Christ liberate us? How do we resist Pharaoh today?

Spirituals such as “Go Down, Moses” and “Steal Away to Jesus” — often understood as meditations on Exodus — proclaimed that God is the deliverer of the oppressed.³ Their theology was not abstract speculation but lived interpretation: God revealed through endurance, solidarity, and the conviction that divine justice will not sleep forever.

Distinct Contributions of Black Abolitionist Theology

Black abolitionist theologians wrote in genres as diverse as Scripture itself, but their central claim was the same: God stands with the enslaved.

• Phillis Wheatley (1753–1784): Through poetry she affirmed spiritual equality — “Negros, black as Cain, / May be refin’d, and join th’ angelic train.”⁴

• David Walker (1785–1830): His Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World (1829) warned that America faced divine judgment for slavery — a prophetic exegesis of national hypocrisy.⁵

• Frederick Douglass (1818–1895): In his Narrative (1845) appendix he distinguished between “the Christianity of Christ” and “the Christianity of this land,” exposing moral corruption within the church.⁶

• Sojourner Truth (1797–1883): In her 1851 Akron speech she joined women’s equality and abolition, insisting that the Spirit’s voice speaks through the oppressed body.⁷

• Henry Highland Garnet (1815–1882): His 1843 “Address to the Slaves” declared, “Let your motto be RESISTANCE! RESISTANCE! RESISTANCE!”⁸

• Harriet Jacobs (1813–1897): In Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861) she wrote, “Slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women,” reflecting a theology of prayer, providence, and moral agency.⁹

Taken together, these figures produced a complete theology — of creation, sin, redemption, and hope — written not in ivory towers but in chains and courage. Their work stands as an American counterpart to the prophetic and liberation traditions of Scripture.

Exclusion and Innovation

Black Christians were systematically barred from seminaries, presses, and pulpits where European-style theology was institutionalized. Their absence from commentaries and dogmatics is not evidence of inferiority but of exclusion.

What they did produce — poetry, autobiography, hymnody, and narrative — were theological innovations born of necessity. Richard Allen’s founding of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) in 1816 exemplifies this creative resistance. His sermons, hymns, and Doctrines and Discipline of the AME Church (1817) codified a theology of freedom and dignity — an ecclesial act of protest and prophecy.¹⁰

Prophets as the First Liberation Theologians

The Hebrew prophets were not systematizers but proclaimers of God’s justice. Moses confronted empire; Amos thundered, “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:24).

In the same way, enslaved and free Black Christians preached liberation theology avant la lettre. Their faith declared that God sides with the poor, critiques kings, and exposes idolatry — not of golden calves, but of racial hierarchy and profit.

These believers stood in continuity with biblical prophets: their sermons, songs, and testimonies proclaimed divine deliverance amid empire’s cruelty.

Jewish Continuity: Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

A century later, Jewish theologian Abraham Joshua Heschel carried this prophetic vision into the modern age. Marching beside Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, he reflected, “I felt my legs were praying.”¹¹

For Heschel, theology was not speculative but incarnate — prayer translated into justice. In this he echoed the same logic as enslaved Black Christians: that faith without action is false, and piety without justice is blasphemy. Their shared conviction forms an unbroken thread from Amos to Selma: God walks with the oppressed.

Canon Control and the Criterion of Justice

For centuries, white theologians controlled seminaries, publishing houses, and theological canons — determining who counts as a theologian and what counts as theology. This constitutes a form of epistemic injustice — denying authority to speak about God.¹²

As a result:

• Luther is taught without reference to his antisemitism.¹³

• Edwards, Hodge, Dabney, and Thornwell are often taught without reference to their slaveholding or pro-slavery theology.¹⁴

• Black abolitionists are dismissed as “activists” rather than theologians.

This canon control privileges abstract systematics over prophetic theology. Yet if theology is measured not by complexity of argument but by conformity to divine justice, the hierarchy collapses.

Comparative Table: Traditional vs. Black Abolitionist Theology

If we judge theology by its alignment with divine justice rather than its academic form, the theological map of history changes. Many orthodox thinkers were morally compromised on slavery and racism. Meanwhile, those denied education and ordination articulated a theology truer to the gospel’s core.

Black abolitionist theology defended the imago Dei — the divine image in every human being — against its denial. It proclaimed that salvation must also mean freedom. In the end, their theology outlived the systems that enslaved them.

Conclusion: The First Christian Liberation Theologians

Black abolitionist voices may not have written commentaries on Romans or systematic tomes like Hodge or Calvin. But they forged a theology more urgent — one that declared that God hears the cries of the oppressed, that Christ stands with the enslaved, and that the gospel demands freedom.

Their theology stands in continuity with the prophets of Israel and the liberating vision of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. It is a stream of theology that measures truth by justice, not by hierarchy.

To call them “second-class theologians” is to misunderstand what theology is. They were not marginal but central — the first Christian liberation theologians in America. Their witness continues to inspire movements in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and South Africa.

In their hands, theology was no longer the systematics of empire but the gospel of Exodus:

“Let my people go.”

Notes

1. Augustine, Confessions, trans. Henry Chadwick (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991); Hildegard of Bingen, Symphonia harmoniae celestium revelationum (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998).

2. Albert J. Raboteau, Slave Religion: The “Invisible Institution” in the Antebellum South (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978).

3. See Dena J. Epstein, Sinful Tunes and Spirituals: Black Folk Music to the Civil War (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1977).

4. Phillis Wheatley, “On Being Brought from Africa to America,” in Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (London, 1773).

5. David Walker, Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World (Boston, 1829).

6. Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, written by himself (Boston: Anti-Slavery Office, 1845), App. 118.

7. Sojourner Truth, “Address at the Women’s Rights Convention, Akron, Ohio, 1851,” Anti-Slavery Bugle, June 21, 1851.

8. Henry Highland Garnet, “An Address to the Slaves of the United States of America” (1843).

9. Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself (Boston: Thayer & Eldridge, 1861), ch. 6.

10. The Doctrines and Discipline of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (Philadelphia, 1817); see Richard S. Newman, Freedom’s Prophet: Bishop Richard Allen, the AME Church, and the Black Founding Fathers (New York: New York University Press, 2008).

11. Abraham Joshua Heschel, quoted in Susannah Heschel, Abraham Joshua Heschel: Prophetic Witness (New York: Continuum, 2001), 140.

12. Miranda Fricker, Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Ethics of Knowing (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007).

13. Martin Luther, On the Jews and Their Lies (1543).

14. Jonathan Edwards, “Holding Slaves Was Lawful,” manuscript, Yale University Library; Charles Hodge, Bible Argument on Slavery (Philadelphia, 1860); Robert Lewis Dabney, A Defence of Virginia, and Through Her, of the South (New York: E. J. Hale, 1867); James Henley Thornwell, Collected Writings, vol. 4 (Richmond, 1871).

Select Bibliography

Dabney, Robert Lewis. A Defence of Virginia, and Through Her, of the South. New York: E. J. Hale, 1867.
Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Boston: Anti-Slavery Office, 1845.
Fricker, Miranda. Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Ethics of Knowing. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.
Garnet, Henry Highland. “An Address to the Slaves of the United States of America.” 1843.
Heschel, Abraham Joshua. The Prophets. New York: Harper & Row, 1962.
Jacobs, Harriet. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Boston: Thayer & Eldridge, 1861.
Newman, Richard S. Freedom’s Prophet: Bishop Richard Allen, the AME Church, and the Black Founding Fathers. New York: New York University Press, 2008.
Raboteau, Albert J. Slave Religion. New York: Oxford University Press, 1978.
Walker, David. Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World. Boston, 1829.
Wheatley, Phillis. Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral. London, 1773.

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Introduction: Revival and Reform

If Part III traced the theology of the oppressors, Part IV turns to another stream: revivalist and evangelical voices who saw slavery not simply as a political issue but as a gospel issue. The Second Great Awakening (1790s–1840s) emphasized personal conversion, holiness, and visible moral reform. For many of its leaders, this meant confronting the “great national sin” of slavery.

These voices stand in sharp contrast to Puritan/Reformed leaders who defended slavery. Their revivalist theology linked salvation to social transformation, insisting that true Christianity demanded abolition.

Revivalist and Abolitionist-Aligned Voices

• Charles Finney (1792–1875): Evangelical revivalist who called slavery a “great sin.” Barred slaveholders from communion and made Oberlin College a hub for abolitionist activism.

• Theodore Dwight Weld (1803–1895): Finney’s disciple and one of the most powerful anti-slavery preachers. His book American Slavery As It Is (1839), co-authored with Angelina and Sarah Grimké, documented slavery’s brutality.

• Arthur & Lewis Tappan: Wealthy merchants who bankrolled abolitionist causes, supported Oberlin College, and underwrote Finney’s ministry.

• Lyman Beecher (1775–1863): Revivalist Presbyterian minister. Though not consistently radical, his children carried abolitionism forward:

  • Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–1896): Author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852), which galvanized anti-slavery sentiment worldwide.

  • Henry Ward Beecher (1813–1887): Famous Brooklyn preacher; raised money to free enslaved people and wielded his pulpit as a platform for abolition.

• Gerrit Smith (1797–1874): Wealthy reformer, Oberlin ally, funded abolitionist newspapers, gave land to Black families, and supported radical causes.

• Elijah Lovejoy (1802–1837): Presbyterian minister and abolitionist newspaper editor. Murdered by a pro-slavery mob in Illinois, remembered as one of the first white martyrs for the cause.

• Asa Mahan (1799–1889): First president of Oberlin College, partnered with Finney to make Oberlin one of the most radical abolitionist institutions in America.

• Oberlin Faculty and Students: Carried the twin fires of revivalism and abolitionism across the Midwest, creating a network of churches and communities where evangelism and emancipation went hand in hand.

Patterns to Notice

• Group One — Puritan/Reformed Leaders: Colonial Puritans and 18th–19th century Princeton/Southern Presbyterians defended slavery in principle, citing biblical precedent and prioritizing social order and institutional unity.

• Group Two — Revivalist/Evangelical Leaders: Especially those influenced by the Second Great Awakening, treated slavery as a moral sin demanding immediate repentance. They made abolition part of discipleship, not optional politics.

• Transitional Outliers: Samuel Sewall, Jonathan Edwards Jr., and Samuel Hopkins in earlier generations anticipated abolitionist arguments, but it was Finney’s revivalist wave that fused spirituality and social reform most decisively.

Conclusion: Revival as the Seedbed of Abolition

The revivalist abolitionists of the 19th century represent a different strand of Christian theology than the “theology of the oppressors.” For them, slavery was not an institution to defend or an issue to tolerate for the sake of unity — it was a sin that threatened the very credibility of the gospel.

By linking revival spirituality to social reform, they helped ensure that abolition was not only a political movement but also a Christian one. Their legacy reminds us that theology can either sanctify chains or shatter them — and in this case, revival power became a force for liberation.