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Slavery in the bible
Slavery in the bible
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We have no Biblical record of Jesus speaking against the issue of slavery. Thus, Christians on all sides of the debate used the Bible’s ambiguity on the subject to argue their own side concerning whether slavery constitutes as sin. The video lecture argues that the specific verses in the Bible that mention slavery fall into three categories: 1) verses acknowledging that treatment of slaves was unjust and stating that slaves should treat Christian masters better than non-Christian masters, 2) ambiguous verses that don’t mention slavery by name, which the reader interprets however they want, 3) or explicit regulations which promote non-Israelite slavery. Hell Without Fires discusses pro-slavery advocates justifying American slavery with The Curse
Bolt, C. (2007, July). The Slave Trade and the Unholy Triangle. Retrieved February 19, 2014, from bwa-baptist-heritage: http://www.bwa-baptist-heritage.org/gha_sl_cb.htm
In alignment with what the Bible told them, abolitionist understood that each man represented one of God’s creations and that men were part of God’s plan. If slavery was allowed to exist, then man was interrupting God’s de...
Overall, the fact that their bodies were not their own was perhaps the most terrible component of slavery for women-they were looked upon as sexual objects that existed for their masters to enact their most depraved sexual fantasies upon rather than a human being. Jacobs tries to give full emphasis to this fact in order to sway the sentiments of northern readers, particularly white women who would be most likely empathetic to her predicament. A Christian master knew the word of God or what we would call the teachings of the Bible, so he was able to intentionally misconstrue biblical verses to his advantage. Yet, white southern “Christians” committed these cruel acts, believing their behaviors were neither wrong nor immoral (BN 1).
This sort of religious distortion, used to justify man's self-serving will, is what writer and former slave, Frederick Douglass, exposes in his story of his life, which he wrote in 1845. In his story, Douglass gives us a wealth of obvious incongruities of people professing Christianity while practicing slavery: "The man who robbed me of my earnings at the end of each week meets me as a class-leader on Sunday morning, to show me the way of life, and the path of salvation..... ... middle of paper ... ...
The New Testament contrasts a bit with the Old Testament as it pertains to the subject of slavery and seems to take a backseat or a secondary focus in the New Testament writings. While slavery is not focused upon as much in the Ne Testament, it is still mentioned and spoken about. For instance, in the gospels of Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John, Slavery is spoken of as a normal part of society. The mentioning of slaves and their place in everyday life was common and Jesus Himself referenced slaves many times in parables. Slavery was so commonplace and usual, that using such allegories was an easy way to help the people understand the message that Jesus was preaching. But while Jesus spoke on slavery, His message never denounced or permitted.
How can the particularly monstrous slave owners who possess such a despicable stance towards slaves portray themselves to be fully devoted Christians? In this interpretation, Frederick Douglass attempts to address the issues between slavery and Christianity that he had to undergo during his era as a slave. He reveals how the slaveholders during that time span aimed to make a connection by linking the two in order to justify their misbehavior and wickedness towards slaves. Their behavior was undeniable to him and he was repulsed by the way they had no courtesy for the truth of religion. This made him interrogate his faith and judgment in Christianity an insufficient number of times.
Slavery in the Bible is a difficult topic to discuss because our paradigm or idea of slavery is influenced for the most part by the enslavement of Africans in the 17th-19th centuries. This, however, is not the type of slavery that is mentioned in the Bible. Slaves in recent history were more than likely tricked/kidnapped and forced to work. They received no pay and they had no human rights—they were the property of another person, no different than an animal or tool.
The black slaves in general held to a different form Christianity that was unbeknownst to traditional orthodox Christianity. As discussed in lecture on February 4, 2014, black slaves held to an interpretation of Christianity that placed emphasis on the Old Testament, and all of its hero’s and accomplishments. The slaves also reinterpreted Jesus Christ, figuring Him into the Old Testament context of an Old Testament King like King David, who achieved many victories upon this earth (Lecture 2/4/14). Due to the perversion of Christian teachings from slave master and their erroneous catechisms, the slaves reacted strongly against the New Testament and its teachings. In turn, the slaves would cling to the Old Testament, particularly due to the role that the Jews suffered in the midst of their captivity to the Egyptians in ancient times. (Covered in the Bible under the Old Testament books of Genesis and Exodus) The reality of God coming to the aid of His chosen people the Jews was a theme that encouraged and comforted the slaves, and they gladly adopted this similar idea of being God’s “chosen people.” Also, the slaves held to Old ...
...ible. The whole idea of its existence not only violates the teachings of God but questions the religious system of the Church’s organization. The misinterpretation of the Bible and teachings of a pro-slavery America were all things Christianity, the main religion in the United States at the time, taught its followers during Sabbath and preaching of the gospel teachings of God. Douglass viewed Slavery as a non-spiritual, the unholy exercise which went against this inhumane implementation. He made these points prove “that what is inhumane, cannot be divine” (FD, 267). Douglass in through the use of eloquent words, smooth transitions and appropriate mood and tone made it clear, how vague and misinterpreted slavery was being resented in the Bible. This view that slavery is not divine and that God did not created, creates an enigma as to how this idea came to existence.
Cho, B. (2014). Subverting Slavery: Philemon, Onesimus, and Paul's Gospel of Reconciliation. Evangelical Quarterly, 86(2),
Equiano draws a fine line between those Christians who were slave owners verses Christians who were pure like himself and his Quaker friends. Despite Equiano’s efforts to show readers that slavery was wrong, slave owners were trying to use the bible to justify their actions. Although there is no actual quote in the bible about slavery itself, there are verses that slave owners used to prove their actions were “allowed”. The bible mentions “Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ”. (Ephesians 6:5) But, slave owners weren’t able to keep using this excuse once other slaves came forward with their own stories. People realized that the bible was never clarifying the mistreatment of blacks. This idea that the bible approved slavery was soon
Not only was religion used in a way to achieve grace among slaves, it was also used by slavemaster's to justify the cruel and punishing ways they treated them. During Frederick Douglass's years as a slave, he helped express the impact Christianity had on slavery. Through his own experiences he was able to show both the good and bad of Christianity, the good being the “Christianity of Christ” and the bad being the “Christianity of the land”.
Slave-owners forced a perverse form of Christianity, one that condoned slavery, upon slaves. According to this false Christianity the enslavement of “black Africans is justified because they are the descendants of Ham, one of Noah's sons; in one Biblical story, Noah cursed Ham's descendants to be slaves” (Tolson 272). Slavery was further validated by the numerous examples of it within the bible. It was reasoned that these examples were confirmation that God condoned slavery. Douglass’s master...
Christianity during “the era of slavery is not homogenous: it is extremely complex” (Davis, p. 72). Christianity ranged from one extreme to another representing the hypocrisies and horrendous uses of religion. Douglass and Jacobs both paint a striking, and unpleasant, picture of the contradictions in the Christianity of the South. Douglass illustrates how slaveowners used Christianity as one of their main strategies in keeping slaves docile and “their minds starved” to be “shut up in mental darkness” (p. 198). The passages of the Bible that “emphasized obedience, humility, pacifism, patience, were presented to the slave as the essence of Christianity” (Davis, p. 62). The idea of exposing slaves to religion was to provide
Slaveholders would explain that slavery was accepted in the bible; that God approved of it in the days of Abraham. An unknown author argued in The Negro and the Free Born Briton compared; or a Vindication of the African Slave Trade, that slavery was “completely lawful from a religious and commercial view”. Religion was extremely influential during the 18th century, and the whites were strong in their beliefs and followed the bible accordingly. Thomas Roderick Dew wrote in A Review in the Debates of the Virginia Legislature of 1831 ad 1832 that “when we turn to the New Testament, we find not one single passage at all calculated to disturb the conscience of an honest slaveholder”. The whites also cited the Bible to suggest that slaves should always obey their masters, asking who would question the Word of God when the bible said, “slaves, obey your earthly master with fear and trembling” (Ephesians 6:5) or “tell slaves to be submissive to their masters and to give satisfaction in every respect” (Titus 2:9). Therefore, this demonstrates how the whites relied heavily on Christianity and the Bible to justify