Abolition and Abolitionism

William Wilberforce is often invoked in today’s abortion debate. To some, he is the great model of incremental reform: a Christian statesman who accepted partial victories while patiently working toward the final goal. To others, he is the uncompromising abolitionist who refused to regulate evil and insisted that justice must not be deferred.

Both claims contain something true. Both can also become caricatures.

In this short volume, Rev. Dr. Peter Barnes and Brett Lee-Price examine Wilberforce’s legacy with care, distinguishing the abolition of the slave trade from the abolition of slavery itself, and both from immediate emancipation. Rather than offering a simple formula, these essays consider the harder questions: when does compromise become complicity, when does refusal to compromise become posturing, and when might partial measures genuinely weaken evil rather than merely make it more tolerable?