Beginning with a careful analysis of St. Paul’s letter to Philemon, we examine attempts to ameliorate slavery by religious groups and by individuals inspired by their religious beliefs – focusing on Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, with some attention to Buddhism and Hinduism. To “ameliorate slavery” is to make the lives of slaves better in some way, but without challenging the legitimacy of slavery as such. We organize the many ways in which religious groups have tended to ameliorate slavery into four categories. First, various religions have exhorted their adherents to treat slaves well. Second, religious leaders have given their flocks moral exhortation to free and ransom slaves. Third, religious groups have promoted changes in the law of slavery that tended to make life better for some slaves. And fourth, the three major monotheisms have espoused doctrines of human spiritual equality and shared eternal destiny which provided slaveholders with additional reasons to adopt a more humane attitude to slaves and which may have given believing slaves a greater sense of worth, purpose, and hope for the future.

Chapter 1 begins with the founding of Dorchester in order to explain the roles, responsibilities, and expectations set by towns in both civil and ecclesiastical affairs. The first generation began with the utopian ideal of an association of saints, with men and woman as spiritual equals in the eyes of God. Dorchester’s founding minister, Richard Mather, provides a window into the challenges of first-generation congregants and ministers. Mather played a key role in making recommendations for congregational procedures, rules, and practices during the first generation and the transition in membership for the second generation. Because of his influence and adherence to strict church membership, he offers a compelling comparison of the ideas of ministers and laymen. This chapter then expands to explore towns and congregations throughout New England in order to illustrate the connections between civil and religious authorities and church discipline in implementing and enforcing a godly social order. Although church discipline was central to maintaining Puritan standards, the practice also created fissures between ministers and the laymen who controlled the process.