Mark Dawes, Religion Editor
Rev Dr Devon Dick
The Reverend Devon Dick has just secured his doctor of philosophy degree in Caribbean Studies from the University of Warwick. His thesis related to the work and legacy of the Christian group who was known as Native Baptists. This group has among its most famous members, National Heroes Paul Bogle and George William Gordon.
The Reverend Dick is pastor at the Boulevard Baptist Church in St Andrew and weekly opinion columnist at The Gleaner.
His thesis is titled 'The Origin and Development of the Native Baptists in Jamaica and the Influence of their Biblical Hermeneutics on the 1865 Native Baptist War.'
The following is a Gleaner interview with the Revrend Dick who gives details about his thesis.
Who were the Native Baptists?
The historians generally refer to Native Baptists loosely as anybody who was of African origin and who labelled themselves as Baptists. The term 'Native Baptist' came into being in official documents in about 1837. In the period 1839-1840, there was the Jamaica Native Baptist Missionary Society. This was a formidable society as it had more than 13,000 members. They had annual reports, they met annually, they had a structure - they were well organised. They took the name Native Baptist and formed the organisation in response to racial prejudice within the English Baptist Mission churches here.
You would find that people like Rev James Mursell Phillippo and others would use persons of African origin as assistants. But never to be the pastor. They took umbrage at that. They felt that under God, they were competent. They would say things like, 'Why are you sending for pastors more than 4,000 miles away to come here when we are here and we can do a good job'? It was in response to that that the Native Baptists came into being round about that period. Persons like George Liele and Sam Sharpe were not native Baptists.
Where were they located?
Native Baptists were found mainly in what we now call the Corporate Area, St Catherine, St Thomas and Clarendon. They were not to be found in western Jamaica.
The title of your thesis speaks of a 'Native Baptist War'. What is that referring to?
It is popularly called the Morant Bay Rebellion, or Morant Bay Uprising. Why I don't use the word 'rebellion' is because even the Jamaica Royal Commission Report (which probed the events leading up to the 1865 civil upheaval) questioned whether it was a rebellion and did not use the word 'rebellion'. They used the word 'resistance'.
Many other scholars have questioned whether it was a rebellion. In my view, it was not a rebellion. I was not the first person to use the term 'Native Baptist War.' Perhaps the first person so to do was Beverley Carey in her book The Maroon Story.
Why do you use the term 'War'?
War can be a neutral term to the extent that in a war, you have an aggressor and you have someone who is responding. Bogle and others were essentially responding to injustices at the time and being fired upon.
What surprised you the most in this research?
I did not realise the depth of the Native Baptists in terms of how they interpreted scripture and understood God. They would make statements to justify that they could preach. They believed that you do not need scholarship to preach. They believed, too, that it does not make sense one is a scholar in a pulpit and people can't understand what you are saying. You need to be able to communicate.
They were so advanced that they were quoting Isaac Watts, who is widely regarded as the father of English hymnody. Isaac Watts was not only a great hymn writer, but was also a scholar. When you look at their reports, you will see that they were quoting people like Isaac Watts. (Isaac Watts lived between the period 1674 to 1748.)
Well organised
They were also well organised and they had large congregations. One of their leaders, William Tillick, had a congregation of more than 1,000 members. The Native Baptists were very well organised. They had rules and regulations, they raised their funds, and they justified their beliefs and practices based on scriptures. They justified themselves to be seen as authentic ministers of religion.
In terms of discoveries which were shocking, I did not realise the racial prejudice of the English Baptists was so strong. We grow up with the idea that William Knibb, James Phillippo were so strongly anti-slavery. One did not expect some of the things that Phillippo criticised the Native Baptists for, in terms of their understanding of scripture. I did not expect he would be so critical of other persons' interpretation of the scriptures.
Does the Jamaica Baptist Union owe any of its ancestry to this group?
The Native Baptists would have had links to George Liele and he would have been seen not as the founder of the Native Baptists, but as the inspiration. And since George Liele is the inspiration for the Jamaica Baptist Union, and since George Liele was the one, who, along with Moses Baker, invited the English Baptists to come here, then there are common links.
One of the objectives of the Native Baptists in having local leadership was carried out by the Jamaica Baptist Union. As you know now, the JBU now has local leadership for individual churches as well as the wider denomination.
The JBU were among the first to go the route of having local leadership rather than depend on European leadership, European liturgy and European thinking.
What were your primary sources?
First, there were the annual reports of the Jamaica Native Baptist Missionary Society. These are the reports they wrote about themselves. The first report came out in about 1840.
Second, the hymn book found on Paul Bogle which had some marked hymns. It was a hymn book written by Isaac Watts. The theory I am carrying forward is that those that he marked were significant to understand his theological orientation and thinking. There was not much in the newspapers on Bogle as he was seen as a rabble-rouser. That hymn book was found in Regent's Park in Oxford. I have made a copy available to the Spanish Town archives.
Third, the speeches of George William Gordon in the House of Assembly. Unfortunately, not many have been recorded in any book form, but these speeches gave a very good idea of his thinking.
Why did you want to study Native Baptists in the first place?
I really was interested in Paul Bogle - his thinking and theology. But my thesis supervisor turned down that study proposal saying he didn't feel there was enough information on Paul Bogle to make it a PhD study. The idea to study the Native Baptist evolved out of a series of events and soon, I just got caught up trying to figure out who were the Native Baptists.
Are the Native Baptists still in existence?
The demise of the Native Baptists started after the Native Baptist War as the English Baptist Union started dissociating themselves from the Native Baptists. They were seen as radical, rabble-rousing, murderous. Nobody wanted to identify with the Native Baptists. They were seen as illiterates, and inciting people to do wrong. Also, the leaders of the Native Baptists were executed or otherwise killed. The English Baptists soon took over the congregations of the Native Baptists. By 1895, there were no more references to Native Baptists in official documents.
From your study of Native Baptists, how should this inform modern hermeneutics?
I have claimed in this study that the Native Baptist way of interpreting scripture was an anticipation of the reader-response approach. They took certain values and understanding to the reading of scripture. They were primarily interested in the historical cultural background. They were more interested to see how what happened then relates to now.
They would look at the story of Moses and say, for example, that their day of liberation would come. This has tremendous legacy for us, for too often, scholarship emphasises exegesis and does not move on to interpretation and application to certain contexts.
Still effective
If these persons could come up with some authentic themes and they transform in themselves and help to transform society, without having seminary training, without having any knowledge of what the scripture writer meant then, and what the readers then understood - and they were still effective - it means that Church does not have to be clergy centred.
Ordinary persons within the pews, they too have a story. They too can interpret the Bible, they too can preach, they too can lead. I am not knocking those who have an understanding of the original language and those who can give you the background to it. But there is an important place for interpretation and application. So the reader has something to offer.
What did you learn about the Native Baptists' view of God in your study?
For them, God was a God of justice. God will deal with people on issues of justice now and in the future. There was also this emphasis on equality. These guys saw that they were equal to their white counterpart.
What are the hermeneutics of liberation?
It is a view which the Native Baptists had in which they believed that both the oppressed and the oppressor needed to be liberated. The Native Baptists in that regard, could not, in protesting, enslave the oppressors.
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Rev Dr Dick
