Conversion, power and agency: Anglican missiology in Jamaica circa 1824-1838

By analysing the intersections of conversion, power, and agency in historical Anglican missiology, this dissertation examines the role of the Established Church in Jamaica between 1824 and 1838. It demonstrates that between 1824 and 1838, the Established Church was the most influential imperial agent in the colony and central to the contentious debates over slavery and abolition. I argue that the Established Church in Jamaica held a paradoxical and sometimes contradictory position, serving as both a source of oppression and a channel for resistance. The Church was able to occupy this dual role due to its entanglement with the governance structures of both the metropole and the colony. I explore how the Church’s interactions with enslaved, free Black, and mixed-race people contributed to the undermining of the Jamaican slave system. I argue that through conversion within the Established Church, enslaved, free Black, and mixed-race people asserted agency and power, exposing the ongoing brutality of the slave system. I demonstrate how the Church became a source of counter-power opposing the pervasive authority of the planters in the colony. I discuss the complexities of the colony and the challenges these posed for the work of the Established Church. In analysing the contentious debates over slavery and abolition, I argue that the Established Church played a key role in preventing Jamaica, a volatile colony, from descending into outright civil war, because it was the only institution that permeated all aspects of plantation life in Jamaica between 1824 and 1838.