SHEFFIELD, Mass. — Join the Bidwell House Museum on Saturday, Aug. 26 for the final history talk of the 2023 season with Kenneth P. Minkema, Director of The Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University.

 

In this presentation, Dr. Kenneth Minkema will examine some of the theological, religious, and biblical rationales for the institution of slavery, as expressed in the Puritan and Dissenting tradition inherited by many of the English colonizers of New England. Prominent ministers of western Massachusetts, such as Jonathan Edwards of Northampton, along with others, enslaved people of color. As the eighteenth century wore on, however, critiques of the slave trade and, eventually, of slavery itself emerged, helping to set the stage for a nation-wide debate and eventual armed conflict.

 

Kenneth P. Minkema is the Editor of The Works of Jonathan Edwards and Director of The Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University, with an appointment as Research Scholar at Yale Divinity School.

 

This lecture will be held on Zoom. Registration via the Museum event page is required: https://www.bidwellhousemuseum.org/event/religion-and-slavery-in-colonial-new-england/

 

Attendees will receive an email 1-2 days in advance of the talk with the link to access the Zoom presentation.