Abstract
While one can isolate several significant themes in the life and work of James W. C. Pennington, this investigation focuses on religion and
slavery. These two themes constitute major focal points in the life of this black minister whose public life spanned the period of “militant
abolitionism” and much of Reconstruction. To demonstrate the inter-relationship between religion and slavery in his life, we shall discuss
Pennington’s (1) refutation of the religious proslavery argument and (2) his defense of affiliating with a denomination with slaveholders. This essay will show that Pennington based his opposition to slavery on a rational interpretation of Biblical literature and defended his affiliation with the Presbyterian denomination as a right of individual conscience. Since no detailed biographical account of this black religionist has been published, a very brief sketch of his life seems in order.