". . . challenging and important. . . . the brave hypotheses advanced by Gordon serve to enrich the historiography of West Indian religious history. . . ." —Slavery and Abolition
". . . an important addition to the previously more prevalent white, Euro-centered missionary history. . . . Gordon should be commended for her insights into people who left few records. She not only allows their voices to be heard, but uncovers the integrity in their own motivations and contributions." —Sociology of Religion
"[H]ere is . . . the event which made not only the church in Jamaica today what it is but molded the goals, aspirations, and culture into the new history it is." —Horace O. Russell
Jamaican historian Shirley C. Gordon argues that the conversion of slaves to evangelical Christianity was achieved through black and colored proselytizers who linked Christianity to slaves' growing aspirations for freedom, and freed persons' desires for socio-political recognition in colonial society.