Strangers in the House of God: Cotton Mather, Onesimus, and an Experiment in Christian Slaveholding.

Cotton Mather's practical experiment in Christianized slaveholding represents a significant case study for the examination of the paradox of slavery, as a form of 'kinship' in New England. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, when Mather received the African whom he named Onesimus, slavery was already well established in New England. Mather had become something of a public advocate on behalf of all slaves; however, Mather's efforts to teach Onesimus to read succeeded, his efforts to convert him to Christianity failed, resulting in the dismissal of Onesimus from the clergyman's household.