By Christopher Kellerman SJ. Provides a rigorously researched, era-by-era history of the Catholic Church’s teachings and actions related to slavery — including stories of enslaved Catholics and Catholic slaveholders. By analyzing arguments of theologians who either defended or condemned slaveholding, and by examining documents of popes and councils, the book reveals the Church’s role in the history of slavery — especially in the Atlantic slave trade. Shows how religion can be used both to oppress and to liberate and provides a detailed account of the Church’s slaveholding past while issuing a call for the Church to take the necessary steps to reconcile with its history. Read more.