With a focus on Europe, webinar will remember victims of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade

While most conversations on the transatlantic slave trade focus on the Americas and the Caribbean—and sometimes on Africa—it is less common to engage in a conversation focusing on Europe and on European churches. Questions guiding this conversation will include: “In what ways did Christians contribute to the emergence of white supremacist ideology and whiteness in Europe?” and “What are the legacies of the transatlantic slave trade on present day European society and churches – political, economic, religious, social, and cultural?”

Speakers and participants will also discuss whether Christian churches can atone for their role in the mass enslavement of Africans—and what form that atonement could potentially take.

Speakers will aim to unpack the intersectionalities between white supremacist ideology and whiteness and Christian theology on sin, holiness, and person. They will also highlight the legacies of the transatlantic slave trade in Christian churches and mission agencies. A portion of the webinar will be an interactive question and answer session to propose strategies for rehabilitation and atonement.

Panellists

Rev. Dr Peter Cruchley, WCC director of the Commission for World Mission and Evangelism (Moderator)
Prof. Heleen Zorgrader, Protestant University of the Netherlands
Rev. Chris Kellerman, SJ, author of All Oppression Shall Cease: A History of Slavery, Abolitionism, and the Catholic Church
Rt. Rev. Dr David Walker, deputy chair of the Church Commissioners, Church of England
Rev. Dr Susan Durber, WCC Europe president
Ulrike La Gro, consultant of the Ecumenical Federal Working Group on Asylum in the Church, Germany