“My Travels in Nova Scotia”

Abstract

This chapter explores John Marrant’s ministry in Nova Scotia. Black Loyalist ministers organized congregations and adapted Africana ritual expressions—shouting and baptism—to Christian contexts, to inspire the growth of autonomous religious institutions. Ritual shouting and baptism attracted and accommodated diverse bodies of Black Atlantic worshippers and enabled disparate religious identities to cohabitate in a single communal space. Black churches, however, were not impervious to interdenominational rivalries. Black ministers routinely challenged one another’s authority and competed for members and communal influence. However, Nova Scotia’s unforgivingly harsh winters and recurring outbreaks of smallpox decimated Black Loyalist communities and compelled interdenominational cooperation. The chapter also analyzes Marrant’s response to communal suffering and argues that his adoption of the structural forms of Bible stories discloses Africana religious orientations regarding healing and salvation within Black Loyalist communities.