Scholarship on the abolition of the slave trade and slavery has given little attention to specifically theological factors behind the movement. This article seeks to interrogate three themes that underpinned the activism of the British abolitionists, namely, deliverance/liberty, love of neighbor, and imago Dei. These are examined, first, within their own biblical-theological frame of reference and, second, in relation to other intellectual currents of the era as well as, anachronistically, in the light of some key features of liberation theology. The article considers whether the British abolitionists, whose rhetoric oscillated around apologetics and emancipation and was marked by imperial paternalism, developed a form of proto-liberation theology.

废除奴隶贸易和奴隶制的奖学金很少关注运动背后的具体神学因素。本文旨在探讨支持英国废奴主义者行动主义的三个主题，即拯救/自由，对邻居的热爱和依玛歌·狄（Imago Dei）。首先，在他们自己的圣经神学参照框架内对这些问题进行考察；其次，根据解放神学的一些关键特征，与时代其他知识流以及过时的观点进行考察。这篇文章考虑了英国废奴主义者是否发展了一种原始解放神学。