Blasphemy: The Negro Bible

When we think of blasphemy, many of us think of taking the Lord’s name in vain. But very few of us understand what this means. Taking the Lord’s name in vain goes beyond the occasional “Oh My God” and towards something more substantive. It is failing to take God, and his message seriously. It is a failure to afford, not just the name of God, but his teachings the respect they deserve. And this failure manifests itself in more than just a simple slip of the tongue. Sometimes, blasphemy means re-writing, not translating, the entire Bible to suit your needs.

Christianity is replete with those who seek to re-write the Gospel and appropriate its’ moral authority to their own ends. A modern-day example is the Bible used by the Church of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) or the Mormons. In addition to their own text – the Book of Mormon which explains God's relationship with the people of the indigenous people of the Americas by placing one of the lost tribes of Israel on the American continent – they rewrote the Bible to better align with their religious beliefs.  This Bible is known as the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible. In this version, a total of 2,427 verses were added or changed by Joseph Smith; the founder of Mormonism. Smith went as far as to add a chapter to Genesis, Chapter 50. In this Chapter, Smith inserts himself into the Biblical narrative in order to make himself appear ordained and prophesied by God; just as Jesus was prophesized in Isaiah. However, this is not the most significant change Smith made to the Bible; he also eliminated one of the central tenets of the Christian faith – the Trinity – by rewriting John 1:1. The original reads: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This change was made to simplify the Gospel by addressing the confusion that, inevitably, arises when one tries to explain the unity of God, the Holy Spirit and the Son (Jesus) under the Godhead. For better or worse, these reinterpretations of the Gospel have been legitimated; Mormonism, or the Latter Day Saints, are a recognised religious order with 16.6 million adherents around the world as of 2022, including 13,000 Kenyans as of 2019. In fact, it is this very recognition that complicates any attempt to characterise the beliefs of the LDS as blasphemous. An inherent element of blasphemy, at least to my mind, is that the blasphemous object or belief runs counter to the commonly accepted interpretation. After all, this divergence is why Protestantism was considered blasphemous in its early days. But does widespread belief and recognition cancel out, what I perceive to be, doctrinal inconsistencies with the word and spirit of the Gospel? This is a question that will come into play as we examine another, blatant, example of blasphemy; the “Parts of the Holy Bible, selected for the use of the Negro Slaves, in the British West-India Islands;” otherwise known as the Negro Bible. 

The first edition was printed in London in 1807 on behalf of the Society for the Conversion of Negro Slaves; a society comprised of missionaries whose mission was to, according to Brigit Katz, “teach enslaved Africans to read, with the ultimate goal of introducing them to Christianity.” Unfortunately, the version of Christianity the Negro Bible reflected was one where freedom was only found in Christ, where God did not weep at the enslavement of his people and, where the Israelites never liberated themselves from Pharoah’s yoke. In essence, it was blasphemous and, critically, incomplete. 

According to Anthony Schmidt, an Associate Curator of Bible and Religion in America at the Museum of the Bible, “about 90 per cent of the Old Testament is missing [and] 50 per cent of the New Testament is missing." Put another way, if your standard Bible has 66 books, and your Catholic Bible has 73 books, the Negro Bible contained 14 books. This means that for every five chapters within the actual Bible, the Negro Bible could account for only one. The authors of this edition excised Psalms, Mark and Revelation from the Bible; leaving only that which would not spark a rebellion. This is because of the Haitian Revolution. 

The Haitian Revolution was, to the shock of the European and American imperial powers, the first successful revolt by enslaved peoples that resulted in the creation of the world’s first black Republic. The success of the Haitians represented a political threat to European colonial holdings in the Caribbean and the United States of America; both of which were populated by and dependent upon enslaved persons. For the first time since their enslavement, enslaved peoples could look to Haiti as a model and an example to replicate at home. Fear of copycat revolutions is why the Haitian state was killed in its cradle; from the debt, France imposed upon the green state, to the fact that the Western World refused to trade with Haiti. Moreover, the fear of copycat revolutions motivated the publishing of the Negro Bible. This was the only way the colonisers could continue their civilizing – read converting natives to Christianity – mission, without jeopardising their socioeconomic system of slavery and the wealth that results from it. Thus, the Bible was rewritten to suit the needs of man, specifically, the white man. 

This is why the authors of the Negro Bible excised Galatians 3:28 which says that "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." They took out Jeremiah 22:13 which says “Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour’s service without wages and giveth him not for his work.” And of course, Exodus 21:16 had to go. That verse says, “And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death” In their place, verses like Ephesians 6:5 were emphasized. Ephesians 6:5 says "Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ.” Clearly, this edition of the Bible was never meant to share the love of God with the enslaved peoples; it was meant to perpetuate and sanctify their enslavement while dissuading them from rebellion. Put simply, it was an attempt to colonise the mind; and a pretty ill-considered one at that. 

For if the Negro Bible was written to dissuade feelings of liberation, it failed. This failure was borne out of the reality that the need to be free is one of the most fundamental needs we all share. We start expressing this need as toddlers, when we reject the clothes our parents had put out for us and insist on picking something ourselves. To presume that the word of God would be enough to curb this desire is to either; (1) elevate the Gospel – which operates on a conscious level – above human nature, which operates subconsciously or; (2) presume the inherent malleability of the black spirit. Both of assumptions proved, of course, to be far too simplistic because, eventually, the Negro Bible fell out of use. But the beliefs that inspired the Negro Bible did not. From the desire to pervert the Gospel to suit the needs of man to the failure to recognise that the central message of the Gospel is one of love and forgiveness and the unwillingness to practice the radical love Jesus preached. Here, I feel far more comfortable proclaiming the blasphemous nature of these beliefs, in general, and those captured within the Negro Bible, specifically. It does not matter how far these beliefs have spread, nor does it matter how earnestly people believe them. Neither reach nor adoption can overwrite blasphemy. Sometimes, beliefs are just wrong, no matter how sincerely these beliefs are. But the legacy of the Negro Bible extends beyond colonialism and blasphemy, but to the very way the Gospel is treated. Especially by minority, or vulnerable, communities. According to Pastor George Moore: “For example, the idea that race and social issues should not be preached from the pulpit (i.e. “just preach the Gospel”) goes back to the principle of sharing the content of the Gospel but ignoring its scope. This is the very sentiment that the Slave Bible upholds. Telling [the oppressed] to leave their desire for justice, equality, and equity out of the church is similar to what led to the slave Bible in the first place. If we really want to rectify our past and become a true community of justice, then we must extend the message of the Kingdom to every sphere of humanity and not just the soul.” 

In essence, we must embrace the true meaning and spirit of the Gospel and give it its’ proper dues. And we must resist the urge to blaspheme God by misinterpreting the Bible to suit our own ends; especially when those ends run counter to the love God expects us to share with others.