Is there a case for slavery reparations?

Lord Nigel Biggar is Regius Professor Emeritus of Moral Theology at the University of Oxford, and a well-known author on moral and ethical issues. He has just published Reparations: Slavery and the Tyranny of Imaginary Guilt (Swift, 2025), challenging the current narrative within and beyond the Church of England about the need for reparations for slavery. I had the chance to ask him about it.

IP: Why do you think the issues of reparations has become so important in recent years? What has sparked your interest in this issue?

NB: The topic of reparations for slavery is a distillation of the larger topic of ‘colonialism’. I first became interested in that issue during the 2014 referendum on Scottish independence. As an Anglo-Scot, I had a unionist dog in the fight and was viscerally opposed to the disintegration of the United Kingdom, which, according to the then British ambassador to the UN “would have had a devastating impact on the UK’s standing in the world, much greater than withdrawal from the EU ever would”.  

Nevertheless, as a Christian, I could not regard the UK as divine. Nations and states come and ago. Before 1800 the United Kingdom did not exist. In the 1860s the United States almost ceased to exist. In 1993 Czechoslovakia did cease to exist. It was possible, therefore, that the Scottish nationalists were right and that the UK had come to the end of its justifiable shelf-life. So I felt morally obliged to consider nationalist arguments. And one I came across amounted to this equation: Britain equals Empire equals Evil. Therefore, Scotland needs to repudiate Britain’s bloodstained imperial past and sail off into a bright, new, shiny, sin-free future.

Should the Church Commissioners pay slavery reparations? Further questions

Project Spire is the name that has been given to the Church Commissioner’s decision to put aside £100m of their investments to be directed to working with and for communities affected by historic transatlantic slavery, with the intention that it creates a lasting legacy. The £100 million, which will be built up over the 9-year … Continue Reading

Is Church of England ministry sustainable?

Bishops and dioceses are finally rebelling against the central control of decision making imposed by the Church Commissioners (and the Archbishops’ Council) upon them. At least that is the impression you might get from reading the Church Times this week. Dioceses ready to take back purse strings from centre, Dr Gibbs tells Rochester synod The … Continue Reading

The Church of England’s Historic Links to the Transatlantic Slave Trade

Robert Tombs and Lawrence Goldman write: The Church Commissioners have pledged £100 million over nine years in reparation for what are claimed to be their eighteenth-century predecessors’ involvement in and large financial gains from slavery and the slave trade. They argue that the Church, through Queen Anne’s Bounty (a corporation created by statute in 1703-4 for ‘the … Continue Reading

Once again: should clergy be paid more?

I have just returned from the second session, in London, of the new Synod which first met last November. Some commented that the agenda looked rather dull, but (to coin a phrase) ‘the devil is in the detail’, and in amongst the boring-but-important discussions about faculties, boilers, and internet cabling, there were some startling insights … Continue Reading

Three vital statistics from General Synod

This week saw the first meeting of the new General Synod following elections last month. It was designed to be a largely uncontroversial first session, not least because around 60% of the members were new—something fairly unprecedented, which resulted in a surprising number of established members not being re-elected. Most of the items of business … Continue Reading

In which direction is Leicester leading the Church of England?

On 9th October, Leicester Diocesan Synod voted to move to what they call a ‘Minster communities framework’ for ministry: The Diocese of Leicester Synod has voted in favour of a Minster Community framework with an amendment that the stipendiary (paid) leadership team of at least four people (including lay and ordained roles) in each of … Continue Reading