The Worst of Indignities: The Catholic Church on Slavery

by Paul Kengor

Many Americans think of slavery as their nation’s original sin. But in truth, slavery has involved peoples and cultures and countries far beyond the United States. Slavery is as old as human history itself.
And yet, the one living institution that has condemned slavery longer and more consistently than any other is the Roman Catholic Church.
In The Worst of The Catholic Church on Slavery, bestselling author Paul Kengor shines a light
The record and biblical roots of the Church’s teaching on slaveryThe efforts of individuals and institutions within the Church to not only bring about freedom for enslaved people but to care for their physical and spiritual needsThe stories of former slaves whose lives of exemplary holiness have placed them on the path of sainthood
At a time when race relations are so bitter, we need the clarifying truth to unite us all. The story of the Roman Catholic Church’s bold and divine opposition to slavery is one unknown to Catholics and non-Catholics alike. It is time for that story to be told.

Genres: History

336 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 26, 2023

About the author

Paul G. Kengor is an author and professor of political science at Grove City College and the senior director of the Institute for Faith and Freedom, a Grove City College think tank. He is a visiting fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace. Kengor has focused much of his work on Ronald Reagan, faith and the presidency, conservative politics, the Cold War, Communism, and Catholicism.

Reviews

[The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha · Rating 5 out of 5]

A useful overview of the Catholic Church's opposition to slavery throughout the centuries. Being an overview, it covers a lot of ground; but the downside is that it can't go into as much detail as you might like. That being said, if you would like more information on Bishop Bartolome de Las Casas and the Dominican abolitionists, I would recommend "Bartolome de Las Casas: Chronicle of a Dream" by Jose Luis Olaizola, which is written in the form of a novel. Alternatively, if you'd like a more academic take, the best I've found is "The Spanish Struggle for Justice in the Conquest of America" by Lewis Hanke. For more information on Papal opposition to slavery, you can't go wrong with "The Popes and Slavery" by Fr Joel S. Panzer. For more information on the Trinitarian Order, which was founded to liberate Christian slaves in the Muslim world, I'd recommend "Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters" by Robert C. David. This was the religious order that rescued Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, from slavery in north Africa. If you're interest in the mistreatment of Christians in Islamic Spain, then you can't go wrong with "The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise" by Dario Fernandez-Morera. But if your interested in the Martyrs of Cordova in particular, then "A Saint under Moslem Rule" by Justo Perez de Urbel is a real hidden gem. Now, if you don't have time for all these books, then just start with Paul Kengor's overview. But let me warn you that it will whet your appetite such that you may choose to read these other books in the future.

[Connor Weyant · Rating 2 out of 5]

Paul Kengor documents an expansive and oft-overlooked history of the Catholic Church’s efforts to denounce and abolish slavery, addressing several misconceptions about the institution that prevail in our current culture. However, he does so through a lens of biased political language that I felt hindered his ability to reach large groups of people and detracted from his otherwise noble message. For example:

“Finally, here again anticipating a criticism from the woke—that is, the politically correct race dividers ripping America apart based on ethnicity, who search hard not for charity but hostility—some will charge that the Catholic Church with this 1686 statement was dreadfully late in coming to the aid of black slaves” (Kengor 110).

Statements like this one use buzzwords that serve no purpose besides inflaming a reader’s political opinions and are present in most of his refuting arguments.
Several other bad habits reduced my respect for Kengor’s writing, including his frequent citation of Wikipedia articles and over-reliance on direct quotes. In fact, I would estimate that 60% of this book’s content came from other directly quoted sources (only half of which were truly necessary). I did gain some valuable knowledge from this book, but felt it was presented in a rather weak manner.

[Jarrett Vandiver · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book hits many topics surrounding slavery and Christianity, but its main achievement is its demonstration that the papacy is the longest-standing and most consistent institution that has condemned and opposed slavery since the earliest days of the church. Pope Eugene IV castigated the slave trade right from its conception in the 1430s, and Pope Paul III would go on to identify enslavers as “instruments of Satan” by 1500.

The rest of the book covers the lives of the brightest saints who served slaves and opposed the institution, such as St Peter Claver and Josephine Bakhita.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to get a sense of how Christianity has historically tackled slavery.

[Jimmy Lamb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read it.

Read this book. So many people don't know true history and this book help us to see the truth about salvery and the church.