England’s Book of Shame: The Slave Bible: A Preface

The recent past has witnessed a rising interest in examining the cultural, economic, and social implications of colonialism and especially of trans-Atlantic slavery. As a result, many academic institutions have been sanctioning research projects to ascertain their own and certain historical figures’ roles in trans-Atlantic slavery. Whilst the research undertaken is very pertinent in understanding the synergy of human beings, these research projects have unfortunately excluded religious material artefacts from their research focus, either deliberately or unintentionally, even when they were aware of the existence of such artefacts that could have thrown light upon a broader understanding of the human transactions. To address this lacuna in research, this project attempts an in-depth analysis of the infamous Slave Bible that was published in London in 1807(1808?) for slaves in the West Indies. Even though its display at the Museum of Bible, Washington DC generated much attention among the academic community, until now, no credible research has been undertaken on this Biblical artefact to analyse the motivations behind the production, the material aspects, and the textual contents. By utilising a multidisciplinary framework of postcolonial studies, book history, and religious studies, this project will unlock a new historical saga, which will be very helpful in understanding the past and its influence in the present.