Clergy in the early modern Caribbean (ca. 1650–1800)

Abstract

AbstractRecent historical studies of religious life in the early modern Atlantic world have increasingly taken into consideration the slave societies of the Caribbean, a region considered by an earlier generation of scholarship to be overwhelmingly irreligious. New methodological approaches to well‐perused documents have yielded significant insights into the everyday religious experiences of Caribbean inhabitants, notably communities that have often been overlooked for their apparent inability to leave archival traces. Such studies have made important contributions to a broader scholarly conversation about categories of difference in the early modern world, particularly in regard to the momentous change in the era that saw race rather than religion emerge as a primary marker of social identity. A significant portion of the primary source material that historians in this dynamic field have consulted was, unsurprisingly, produced by religious officials like Inquisition officers, episcopal authorities, missionaries (both Protestant and Catholic), ministers, and regular clergy, among others. Because they were historical actors who undoubtedly contributed to this shift and because they also produced documentation relating to it, a comprehensive account of the role of clergy in this era is needed. This article surveys this body of scholarship. It interrogates its approach to religious sources and individual religious leaders and assesses what they have revealed about the spiritual and cultural life of the early modern Caribbean.