Enslavement, Evangelicalism and Bibles

Evangelical Anglicans believed that abolition would avert the danger of imminent divine judgment, forcing slave masters to treat those they ‘owned’ as fellow Christians and opening the way to their conversion. For this to happen it was necessary to provide bibles in languages used by enslaved people. The British and Foreign Bible Society’s (BFBS) evangelical mission to translate the bible into all languages met this need. Bibles on display here from Queens’ Library’s ‘Samuel Lee’ collection of BFBS bibles embody this mission. The collection was named after the self-taught linguist Samuel Lee. Having matriculated as a Queens’ student in 1814, he became Professor of Arabic only four years later. His biblical translation work for the BFBS enhanced the College’s standing amongst abolitionist circles. The former Queens’ member and recipient of substantial slave wealth, Thomas Penny White, donated the bibles in the Samuel Lee collection to Queens’ Library.
This gospel of St Matthew was published by the BFBS in the language of Bullom as spoken in Sierra Leone.

Title: Book hoa Matthew. The Gospel according to Saint Matthew in Bullom & English (London, 1816)
Shelfmark: Lee I 5
Provenance: Donated by Thomas Penny White (Queens’ m. 1797).

EnslavementLee I 5exhibition