Sam Sharpe: political leader or preacher?

Last Saturday, just before I chaired a panel discussion on religion and culture at the Caribbean Reasoning Conference, UWI, on the work of Gordon K. Lewis, I was involved in a conversation with Brian Meeks, professor of social and political change, and Anthony Maingot, professor emeritus of sociology, Florida International University. Anthony made the point that in Caribbean scholarship, religion has not been given its rightful place.

Thankfully, this seventh conference made space for discussion on the place of theology in Caribbean thought. Gordon Lewis, a Marxist, recognised that religion played a role in the development of Caribbean thought. However, I disagree with Lewis that Sam Sharpe was a political leader rather than a preacher (See The Main Currents in Caribbean Thought).

My research of archival materials discovered that Sam Sharpe (1806-32) was a deacon within the First Baptist Church, Montego Bay, of English Baptist missionary, Thomas Burchell. However, he functioned as a pastor with "several free men", some of whom claimed that "they had been for several years professedly connected with the Baptist Society; but they had never seen a white Baptist minister ... the only instruction which they had received being that which they had obtained from Sharpe". Sharpe operated as a preacher and pastor in an outstation. (See Cross and Machete: Native Baptists of Jamaica-Identity, Ministry and Legacy). Sharpe was a preacher and his political activism was an outworking of his Christian faith.

Therefore, the distinction of dividing Sharpe between political leader and preacher is artificial. It is like trying to understand Bob Marley as a reggae artiste outside of his Rastafarian faith or Paul Bogle's fight for justice outside of his native Baptist tradition or Barack Obama's thinking and positions, outside of his grandparents' Christian faith, his father's Muslim faith and his mother as an atheist, or the colonial oppressors' support for slavery outside of their interpretation of scriptures and understanding of God.

Religious outlook

In fact, to understand the orientation and policies of our Jamaican politicians, one needs to understand their religious outlook. In a country dominated by churches, it could be argued that the philosophy of the political system of the country could be traced to the way churches have preached, sang and taught in Christian education, and the way in which fellowship has been experienced.

It is instructive that political conferences and campaigns are infused with hymns and gospel songs. It is a feeling that God endorses that political party and the leader is the anointed one of God, and the people expect the leaders to rule by divine right and they should not be challenged for leadership but wait until the leader gives up.

Furthermore, to criticise a leader or to ask one to resign is perceived as similar to an affront to God! Additionally, when Jamaicans think of an institution agitating for justice, they do not normally think of the Jamaican Church but of Jamaicans for Justice. However, for Sharpe, it was a natural product of his understanding of God to agitate for freedom, justice and equality. His reading of the Bible, which I called a "hermeneutic of liberation", was always seeking the liberation of those who were oppressed, similar to the prophet Isaiah and his saviour Jesus the Christ, who perceived their role as "to preach good news to the poor" and "to proclaim freedom for the prisoners" andthe "release the oppressed" (Luke 4:18).

In this National Heritage Month, Jamaica would be more in the will of God if Christians, like Sharpe, perceived their activism for justice as a natural outworking of our Christian faith.

Devon Dick is pastor of Boulevard Baptist Church and author of 'The Cross and the Machete: Native Baptists of Jamaica - Identity, Ministry and Legacy'. Feedback may be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com.