Perkins, Mather, and Slavery: A Theological and Historical Reassessment of Reformed Thought in Early America
Abstract (Full Overview)
This thesis offers a rigorous, source-based examination of a contested historical claim: that Reformed theology, and Puritan thought in particular, served as an ideological foundation for race-based chattel slavery in early America. Grounded in a close reading of both 16th-century and 18th-century primary texts, William Perkins, Cotton Mather, and Slavery evaluates whether Puritan theology produced, justified, or challenged the transatlantic slave trade and its attendant racial ideologies.
At the center of the study are two theological heavyweights whose influence shaped not only the moral imagination of their respective generations but also the perception of Protestant thought in the modern era: William Perkins (1558–1602), a leading English Puritan theologian, and Cotton Mather (1663–1728), the prominent New England pastor and progenitor of American Puritanism.
By Luke Walker | Reformed Baptist Seminary | June 2024
1. Did Reformed Theology Birth American Slavery?
This thesis arises from a question often posed in both historical and theological circles: Did Calvinist or Reformed theology provide theological cover for the emergence of slavery in the New World?
Public intellectuals like Ibram X. Kendi have answered yes. In his widely cited work Stamped from the Beginning, Kendi argues that William Perkins, through his Christian Oeconomie (1590), laid a theological groundwork that later Puritan leaders like Cotton Mather used to rationalize and sanctify slavery. By presenting slavery as part of a divinely ordered family structure, Kendi asserts, Perkins and his heirs baptized hierarchy and racial servitude in the language of Christian piety.
But is that true?
Luke Walker’s thesis invites readers to re-examine that claim—historically, theologically, and ethically. What emerges is a more nuanced portrait of Puritan thought and a theological tradition that is as internally diverse as it is complex.
2. A Tale of Two Puritans: From England to New England
William Perkins: The Cornerstone Misread
Perkins’s Christian Oeconomie does acknowledge the existence of slavery, but rather than endorsing it uncritically, he places strict limits upon it—limits that, if taken seriously, would exclude nearly every feature of American chattel slavery.
Perkins writes that slavery must not be lifelong, must not be based on race, must not involve cruelty, and must not destroy families. He explicitly rejects Aristotle’s climate theory (which argued that southerners were naturally suited to slavery) and denies that any nation is “born unto bondage.” In his theological system, slavery is permissible only as a regulated, civil institution under strict biblical constraints—constraints that, in practice, condemn the racialized, hereditary slavery that developed in the Americas.
Walker carefully unpacks Perkins’s views, drawing from his Commentary on Galatians and other sources to show that the Reformed framework, at its root, is not inherently racist or pro-slavery. In fact, Perkins’s theological anthropology insists on the spiritual equality of master and servant—a teaching that, if upheld, undermines the dehumanization necessary for race-based slavery.
Cotton Mather: The Theological Drift Toward Accommodation
A century later, Cotton Mather’s 1706 treatise The Negro Christianized reveals a stark departure from Perkins’s carefully bounded doctrine. Though Mather advocates for the evangelization of enslaved Africans, he simultaneously assures slaveowners that baptism will not disrupt their property rights.
Mather’s pastoral strategy—encouraging Christian piety among enslaved people without challenging their bondage—essentially spiritualizes the institution of slavery. In doing so, he offers theological comfort to slaveholders and shifts the moral conversation from justice to soul-winning.
This shift marks a turning point. Whereas Perkins sought to restrain slavery under divine law, Mather reorients Christianity to accommodate slavery within colonial economics and racial hierarchy.
3. Historical Context: Slavery in New England and Massachusetts Law
Walker situates these theological shifts within broader colonial history. By the early 18th century, Massachusetts had begun passing race-specific laws and formalizing African slavery. Puritan households—including Mather’s own—frequently owned slaves, and religious leaders became entangled in the legal and spiritual contradictions of owning souls for Christ while owning bodies for profit.
Through legislative records, personal writings, and sermons, Walker reconstructs the moral landscape that allowed Mather and others to bifurcate the human person—saving the soul while chaining the body. In this climate, the early Reformed emphasis on individual dignity and spiritual equality was diluted by the socio-economic structures of New England.
4. Theological Legacy: The Cost of Compromise
The thesis does not offer hagiography for either figure. Perkins is not portrayed as a proto-abolitionist, nor is Mather demonized. Rather, Walker invites readers into the ethical complexity of history. He acknowledges that Reformed theology, like all human traditions, has been misapplied, misread, and at times co-opted for injustice.
Yet the key claim stands: The theological seeds of American slavery were not planted by Perkins. If anything, his writings, when read carefully and contextually, refute the racialization and perpetuation of slavery that came later. It was not the cornerstone, but the builders—Mather among them—who added slavery to the Puritan structure.
5. Who Should Read This Thesis?
This work will be of particular interest to:
Theologians and seminarians exploring the ethical boundaries of biblical servanthood
Historians studying Puritanism, colonial America, and the development of racial ideology
Students of Reformed theology seeking to understand how theological ideas evolve in practice
Public intellectuals and educators critiquing the legacy of Christianity in American slavery
Church leaders seeking to engage their traditions with integrity and historical humility
6. Why This Work Matters Now
In an age when historical injustices are being reassessed through both secular and spiritual lenses, William Perkins, Cotton Mather, and Slavery provides a rare gift: clarity without caricature.
It neither exonerates Reformed theology from complicity nor indicts it wholesale. Instead, it offers a path toward discerning which theological convictions should be carried forward—and which misapplications must be repented of. In doing so, it models the kind of historical and theological honesty that the church, the academy, and the public square desperately need.
Conclusion: The Indelible Question
If Reformed theology did not birth American slavery, how did some of its heirs come to baptize it? What can this teach us about doctrinal drift, cultural accommodation, and the need for prophetic correction within religious traditions?
This thesis does not merely revisit the past. It challenges us to imagine a better future—one in which spiritual equality is not just professed, but practiced.