Introduction
Rebecca’s Revival is a fascinating story of a black Caribbean woman, who pulled herself off the bondage of slavery to pursue the work of evangelism. In this story, Rebecca was the inspirational figure behind the rise and spread of black Christianity in the Caribbean region. In fact, it is Rebecca’s struggle and endurance that is credited with the spread and sustainability of Christianity among African Americans. Rebecca Protten, born in 1718, underwent a stream of experiences in her life, especially at her early years, consisting of her conversion from being a slave to being an accomplished evangelist. She freed herself from the bondage of slavery by joining St. Thomas, a West Indies area colonized by Denmark, where she preached to hundreds of slaves, who were mainly of African origin. Persistent efforts and going against the wishes of cruel planters, Rebecca together with other fellow black preachers combined force and formed what is considered the pioneer African Protestant in the American region.
Rebecca’s life was full of events, which consisted of being actively involved in the process of converts recruitments, presiding over marriage between races, fighting against charges of blasphemous actions and slave incitements, several visits to African (mainly West Africa) and Germany. These events put her in the position of one of the promising international preacher with global appeal especially among the African Americans people and the anti-slavery sympathizers. In fact, her bravery and charisma portray her uniqueness in terms of prophecy and evangelism that would later sweep across the entire Americas region dominated by slavery and eventually changing the cultural face of African Americans. Basically, the author, Sensbach, has managed to bring out almost forgotten lives of Black American visionaries, where throughout life Rebecca’s life among the Germans, Danish and Dutch is producing the much needed evidence from Rebecca’s own hand-written letter. This particular piece of work has created a remarkable tale of a champion’s life among the slaves, who managed to globe-trot three separate continents, giving a clear picture of direct and rather dynamic relationship between the Atlantic regions. It also brings out how Christianity evolved to be what it is today in the present world.
Rebecca’s Life in the Atlantic World
George Whitefield, a renowned missionary who toured North America, a British colony by then, emerged as the heart of Great Awakening. Before this however, one itinerant missionary by the name Rebecca Protten, performed a lot of work to popularize the Gospel of St. Thomas within the Atlantic region. Unlike Whitefield who received warm receptions from both crowds and authorities, Rebecca’s tours in the same regions were always treated with suspicion, with most of her planned movements restricted with the laws, just like the would be attendants (mainly slaves).
Another huddle that Rebecca faced was the socio-cultural and political discrimination from authorities of St. Thomas, who were inevitably not interested in seeing their slaves become members of new Christians, through learning and practicing of the new faith. After all, she was a woman who inserted herself into the male domain in the name of introducing slaves to Christianity. Basically, all the people she worked with at St. Paul were men, which put a lot of challenge since she was not allowed to publicly preach to the people. However, Rebecca got a reprieve in the fact that she was allowed to preach and talk to women in more informal places or occasions. Although she did not become as famous as Whitefield, her efforts and struggle to spread the gospel and define the black Christianity history is worth noting
Christianity and Rebecca’s Successful Tours
As illustrated earlier, amidst the burden of being black and female, Rebecca managed to go against what one would consider an important aspect of shading off the burden of race and gender. Rebecca’s life story evolve around the three continent of South America (Caribbean), Europe and Africa. The story is in the context of one personality constructing her life, and unknown to, reconstructs many other people’s lives in the multifaceted world that defines the Atlantic region. It is evident that not all the dimensions of Rebecca’s life are exposed in the text. In fact, Rebecca is portrayed mainly in the dimension of religious identity construction, especially the 18th Century’s Christianity, with other themes like gender and race as factors of influence. Through Christianity, Rebecca came from being a Caribbean slave to become an evangelist in the Moravian Church, with the end result of developing the lives of many slaves in the region. According to the author, it’s evidently not certain if Rebecca would have involved herself in the slave rebellion that took place at St. John or even supported it considering her Christian background. As he stated:
“There is no record of Rebecca’s reaction to these events, but given her Christian leanings and her identification with her master’s family, it seems likely she would have strongly disapproved of the uprising. Though she would have emphasized with the plight of the slaves, she would have had nothing at all to gain from supporting the St. John rebels ….” (Sensbach, 2005, p.41)
As would come out, earlier, Rebecca, born in the West Indies, traveled several miles in her early age as a disciple in the black international black evangelical movement. Her preaching prowess led her to transverse three continents, with the climax of her travel fatefully leading her to Africa’s Gold Coast. Even though Rebecca spent her entire life among either Europeans or Africans or a mixture of both, she did not entirely fit in any of them as she was a product of a mixed race (Sensbach, 2005, p.6). It’s her religion, Christianity that made her transverse these distinct groups, where at times she even urged Africans to surrender their religions in favor of Christianity.
Rebecca’s life in the 18th century is a portrayal of life of an individual during those years in the practical sense, revolving around Africa, Caribbean and Europe. Rebecca’s life is drawn in a more fascinating way through her identity with Christianity, with which she used to leave traces of complexity, dynamism, and interconnection of places. Although it may seem normal and easy to connect Europe, Africa and the Caribbean in the modern day studies, it is evident that the author did specify the how Christianity gained its roots among the slaves, at least practically, through one person with passion and intelligence to go against all the odds of racial and gender barriers. In this aspect, it is important to note that Sensbach openly exposes a wider life of Rebecca, rather than picking one aspect of her life.
Race, Gender and Christianity
In the period of her life, Rebecca emerged as a symbol of different races brought together, combined with the aspect of gender (as a woman). Although she may not be in a prime position to represent black women in the Atlantic region, a bigger part of her life story can portray and represent the overall life of a black woman in the larger Atlantic region. For instance, her voice, revealed in the letters she left behind, is used by today’s historians to reflect back on their studies. However, the Sensbach does not believe the letters are original despite bearing Rebecca’s signature. He believes that the letters may have been shaped by another missionary at St. Thomas, where they were written. It is therefore logical to state that despite the existence of these letters, there are numerous questions as to whether the voice behind them is authentic. This implies that most of is affirmed about black women is limited in nature or rather conditional, thus helping us to speculate on what the black women were (or were not) in those period at that specific place.
Perception of Missionary Life
Far from the Atlantic World that has portrayed the life of an individual in terms of her identity as well as biography, the author has elaborated the text mainly in the context of historical background of religious events. The distinct description of the German’s Moravian community together with its religious activities, connected to the personal life of an individual is a perfect demonstration of what missionaries did in relation to the spread of Christianity. The relationship between Rebecca and this community suggest a rich interconnection between the missionary and the masses, despite the fact that this trace is rather sketchy. In fact, the author exposes the role of missionaries, which is most often overlooked in the related stories. This is done through the exposure Rebecca and other missionaries lives.
Basically, in the former European colonies, missionaries are perceived as agents of imperialism or just selfish people seeking open opportunities to help their masters exploit the colonial masses. However, Rebecca and her husband as missionaries in this book represent a different picture of what missionaries are and should be. They represent what I would describe as “agents of change” in the larger Atlantic region, despite being honest Christians who sincerely responded to the changes that emerged in modern multicultural society. It therefore portray a life that is defined by the works of missionaries, who in addition to their works, added more complex scenarios to the redefinition of the culture of Afro-Caribbean people with no negation of missions ahead.
Black Evangelism and Phillis Wheatley
The early evangelists preached so much about turning away from the “ways of the waorld”, but intentionally turned blind eyes to the slave trade and its evils, in order to conform to their masters. This is what led to the rise of black evangelism, with its fiery approach to preaching and warm acceptance of the slaves’ testimonies. The death of Whitefield in 1770 led Phillis Wheatley to write a poem, ‘An Elegiac Poem’ in his praise as a great revivalist. Sensbach uses Phillis Wheatley as a way of emphasizing the works of black evangelists who fought so hard to ensure slaves embraced Christianity as away of moving away from the bondage of indifference. In deed, slaves converted into Christianity in large numbers through the newly installed movement of evangelists. In conformity to the work of Wheatley, the Danish sugar colonies in the Caribbean region witnessed massive conversion of hundreds of slaves, which signified the birth of first African Protestants in the region. Sensbach illustrates that, Moravians were somewhat egalitarian and interracial through the life of Rebecca, whose husband was a white Moravian missionary.
Rebecca and Maters Children
In her life as a slave, Rebecca did interact with her masters children. In the process, she learned the ways of the masters, hence got her ways of accessing their personal lives, eventually transforming them into what would later become her secret weapon to work with the slave owners. Although the text does not explicitly expose Rebecca’s thoughts rather than speculations, it’s through the learning masters’ religious inclination and how they regarded other religions. The explicit approach to theological knowledge was learned from the slave master’s children, who adored the life of Christ. The compelling life of Rebecca however exposes her to both lives as she is in the middle of two racial groups, the white slave maters and slaves of African descent. With strong desire to become a member of the Christian community at a tender age, she approached a Roman Catholic priest to baptize her as Rebecca. During the same period of time, it’s her interaction and close association with Adrian, her late master’s son that led to her freedom after he freed her.
Although the book brings out the historical aspect of Rebecca as a slave and an evangelist, there is a clear indication that it is at times hard to know who Rebecca is as a person, rather than acknowledging that she indeed existed. In fact, the text exposes how Rebecca at times did not come into reality with her own story, making it look somewhat vague.
Reference
Sensbach, J. F. (2005). Rebecca’s Revival: Creating Black Christianity in the Atlantic World. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.