Spangenberg and Zinzendorf on Slavery in the Danish West Indies

Abstract

abstract:This publication is a transcription and translation of two texts that relate to slavery in the Danish West Indies. The first text is the second half of a letter by August Spangenberg to Isaac le Long just after Spangenberg's return to Skippack from the Danish West Indies. It contains Spangenberg's impressions of life and the mission in St. Thomas six years after its commencement. The second text is a German version of the farewell speech Zinzendorf gave to government officials and slaves in February 1739 concluding his sojourn on St. Thomas. In Zinzendorf's speech we see the distinction between the enslaved, mortal body and the free, eternal soul, which legitimates slavery within Christianity. Both of these texts are well known from studies on Moravian missions and slavery, but here the full text provides us with a fuller view of the political and social contexts of the early Moravian missions to the Danish West Indies and the complicated history of slavery and Christianity.