Profiles in Africana Religion – Part 6: Moses Baker, Ethiopianism and the Native Baptist Church

One of the most important aspects of this series of essays is the focus on individuals and groups that have helped to make Africana Religion in the New World what it is.  That is to say, this is an effort to shed light on the hidden (or at very least, lesser known) institutions, characters, and personalities that have contributed to the development of Africana Religion.  Essentially, this is an effort to provide more girth to the historical narrative.  Fittingly, the period of revolution seemed to spark in many the spirit change and growth, which contributed to the overall zeitgeist of revolution that enveloped the Atlantic world from Canada to the Caribbean and from Sierra Leone to Sussex.  We have already dealt with a number of individuals whom were connected to George Liele during his time in Georgia before he sought refuge in Jamaica; we will now deal with Liele’s liaison on the isle of Jamaica: Moses Baker. 
              The early life of Moses Baker is somewhat of a mystery.  Given the lack of records there is not much information on his family or the circumstances and conditions of his early life, save for the fact that born free in New York City.[1]  He was educated at a young age by the British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG), the same organization that aided Andrew Bryan.[2]  As a young man he married Susannah Aston and fathered three children: Polly, Charles and John.  Though Baker and his family were not enslaved, the coming Revolutionary War would force them migrate from the New York to Jamaica with the help of the British government and the SPG.  Again, Jamaica, a long time British colony, was a prime place of embarkation for hundreds of people who were fleeing the war and/or American enslavement.  George Liele, who absconded with the retreat of the British garrison of Georgia, had established himself and began forming the foundations of the Ethiopian Baptist Church by the time Baker and his family arrived on the island.[3]
              What the establishment of the Ethiopian Baptist Church represents on the Isle of Jamaica, is essentially the beginnings of Ethiopianism.[4]  Principally, Ethiopianism is a relgio-political belief system informed in large part by a fascination with the ancient Ethiopian empire that developed out of growing knowledge of the Bible by enslaved Africans in the 17th and 18th century.[5]  Charles Price author of Cleave to the Black: Expressions of Ethiopianism in Jamaica argues, “Black people's fascination with Ethiopia grew out of the many references to it throughout the Bible, their understanding of Christianity's roots in ancient Ethiopia, and later, the recognition that Ethiopia had never been completely colonized by Europeans.”[6]  For many enslaved Africans the only spiritual nourishment provided for them by their enslavers was Christianity.  But, the lessons they received from their oppressors only reinforced their subjugated status; there was very little offered to them that would help bolster their pride or uplift their spirits.  Those who could read had to search the scripture for any passages that pushed against the condition of their oppression, the image of Ethiopia presented in the Bible provided that push.  That is to say, the imagery of Ethiopia in biblical scriptures - the power of the nation, the beauty of the people - filled many with a sense of pride that prompted a powerful movement in Jamaica.[7]
              Once Baker arrived in Jamaica he worked closely with Liele[8] to help develop and grow the Ethiopian Baptist Church.[9]  Their efforts attracted a sizable following and even attracted the attention of British officials who were concerned that the Ethiopianism being introduced by Baker and Liele did not teach the approved Christian narrative and could therefore fuel the fire of dissidence among the enslaved.[10]  This “explicit ethiopianism” as termed by Ennis Edmonds, author of Rastafari: From Outcast to Cultural Bearers, accomplished a number of things for Jamaica’s African occupants; first, it help to organize the Black Baptists of Jamaica into a syncretic politico-religious movement which blended an African-centered perspective with Biblical messianism and apocalyticism.[11]  Meaning, it placed the needs and perspectives of African people at the center of its philosophical outlook combined with the notion that people of African descent were chosen by the divine.[12]  Second, it laid the foundation for the development of Rastafarianism and Garveyism which took solid hold of Jamaica in the 20th century.  These philosophies grew out of a notion of African exceptionalism that argued that African people throughout the world are to be united under a Pan-African banner and are the true descendants God’s chosen people: the Israelites.  
              However, before the Rastafarians and Garveyites had their name and reputation established as the cornerstone of Jamaican religious identity, it and the Ethiopian Baptist Church likely received its inspiration and philosophical foundation from the Native Baptist Church.[13]  This church, according to Leonard Barrett, “grafted Christianity to the African ethos of the slaves and took on a messianic-millenarian fervor.  This spiritual combination became the energizing force behind the slaves in their demand for freedom as a command from God.”[14]  Both Baker and Liele wrote the covenant for the Native Baptist Church sometime in the late 1779s and early 1780s; many adaptations of this covenant circulated among the enslaved in Jamaica throughout the 19th century.[15]  Moreover, the Native Baptists through their philosophy became very popular among African Jamaicans; however, the British colonists, still quite fearful of revolt on the island, felt that the Native Baptists were merely a coven for those plotting insurrection.[16]  Regardless Baker’s involvement was very significant in accompanying Liele in the development of the Baptist tradition for Africans of Jamaica.  Again, despite the institution of enslavement, Africans in the Western hemisphere development lasting institutions of their own, in order to educate, protect and nurture others of their lot.  The efforts of Baker and Liele cemented a lasting legacy in Jamaican religious history both of the brick-and-mortar variety (Native Baptist Church and the Ethiopian Baptist Church) as well as the more au natural type (Rastafarianism).  What is critical for both types of institutions is a philosophy centered on an African cultural identity.    


[1] Junius Rodriguez.  The Historical Encyclopedia of World Slavery, Vol. 1.  (ABC-CLIO, 1997) 64.

[2] Ibid., 64.  Sandy Dwayne Martin. "Andrew Bryan (1737-1812)".  (Georgia Humanities Council and the University of Georgia Press).

[3] Anthony Pinn, ed.  African American Religious Cultures, vol. 1.  (Oxford: ABC-CLIO, 2009), 324.  Walter H. Brooks. "The Evolution of the Negro Baptist Church." The Journal of Negro History 7, no. 1 (1922), 15-17.

[4] Charles Reavis Price.  "’Cleave to the Black’: Expression of Ethiopianism in Jamaica.” New West-Indian Guide, 77, no. 1-2, (2003), 34-36.  Arthur C. Dayfoot, The Shaping of the West Indian Church 1492-1962 (Kingston, Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press, 1999), 100, 107-8.  Dale Bisnauth, History of religions in the Caribbean (Kingston, Jamaica: Kingston Publishers, 1996, 3rd reprint), 61.  Keith Hunter, 'Protestantism and Slavery in the British Caribbean', Armando Lampe (ed.), Christianity in the Caribbean (Barbados: University of the West Indies Press, 2001), 97.

[5] Leonard E. Barrett.  The Rastafarians.  (Boston: Beacon Press, 1997), 76.

[6] Ibid., 36.

[7] This movement eventual inspired the development critical cultural movements on the island.

[8] G. A. Catherall. "The Native Baptist Church." Baptist Quarterly 24, no. 2 (1971): 67.

[9] Ennis Barrington Edmonds.  Rastafari: From Outcast to Cultural Bearers.  (London: Oxford University Press, 2002), 29

[10] Ibid., 30.

[11] Ibid., 30-31.

[12] Leonard E. Barrett.  The Rastafarians.  (Boston: Beacon Press, 1997), 68.  The author argues: “The emergence of the Rastafarians will remain a puzzle unless seen as a continuation of the concept of Ethiopianism which began in Jamaica as early as the eighteenth century.”

[13] Ibid., 40.

[14] Ibid., 40.

[15] G. A. Catherall. "The Native Baptist Church." Baptist Quarterly 24, no. 2 (1971): 67.

[16] Doreen Morrison. "George Liele and the Ethiopian Baptist Church: The First Credible Baptist Missionary Witness to the World.”  (Birmingham, England © Doreen Morrison).  Accessed via: bwa-baptist-heritage.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Liele-Morrison.pdf.