After Emancipation, some Southern Protestants refused to revise their proslavery views. In their minds, slavery had been divinely sanctioned. Having split from co-denominations in the North over the theological justification of slavery in the s, southern Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches refused to reconcile themselves to a new reality in the s and s. Jemison writes in her exploration of proslavery Christianity after Emancipation. Baptist and Methodist churches had opposed slaveholding members in the early years of the Republic.
For these ministers, slavery not only had divine sanction, it was a necessary part of Christianity. This hierarchy placed white men including ministers at the top, because slaves and white women and children were incapable of ordering themselves. But we need to realize that this is a modern conviction that may have not been obvious or desirable at earlier points in human history.
Moreover, it was well-understood that freedom in the Roman world often meant a lower standard of living for freed slaves. He says, 'What evil did I suffer in my state of slavery? Another clothed me, another supplied me with shoes, another fed me, another looked after me in sickness; and I did only a few services for him.
But now a wretched man, what things I suffer, being a slave of many instead of to one. They lived under a powerful authoritarian state, and were virtually powerless to change government policies. Were any of the New Testament writers to incite slaves to rise up against their masters, they would essentially have been compelling them to death, probably by crucifixion, as was the fate of the 6, who revolted with Spartacus a century earlier.
There were also laws restricting manumission, such as the lex Fufia Caninia, instituted by Caesar Augustus in 2 BC, which set limits on the number of slaves that masters could free: only two out of three, half of between four and ten, and a third of between eleven and thirty.
Application of the ethics of the kingdom of God to the community of believers resulted in a counter-culture that transcended, and in some ways abolished, social hierarchy. Jesus himself assumed the role of a slave, and this in turn influences the way Christians related to one another. You call me teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.
It shall not be so among you. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Another dimension to the radical transformation that takes place within the Christian community is the leveling of all individuals to the level of brother and sister.
If a Christian owned a slave, the highest duty to which that master could be called was not to set the other free but to love the slave with the selfgiving love of Christ. Following the example of Christ, they plowed a counter-culture based not on worldly social stratification, but on oneness within the body of Christ. Even leadership within the church was to be based on Christian maturity, rather than connections and impressive worldly credentials.
Some commentators, following Jewish tradition Gittin 45a , restrict this to foreign slaves who have fled for refuge to Israel, claiming that the wording of verse 17 suggests this Peter C.
I remain unconvinced of this. There is no clear designation of the slave in question as a foreigner, as is the case in Lev , the only passage in the Mosaic law that speaks unambiguously of foreign slaves. Moreover, there are a variety of reasons why an escaped Israelite slave may wish to dwell in a town not his own. William W. Hallo and K.
Lawson Younger, Jr. This would have been the responsibility of the town judges to decide. Here we have one of the many reasons why there is so much stress in the Old Testament on using judges who will not take bribes or otherwise pervert justice.
As noted above, this is not what the Hebrew text says. The expression used here is much more general. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Walter Baumgartner and Johann Jakob Stamm; trans.
Richardson; Leiden: Brill, ] Nonhuman examples would include land, usually as an enduring inheritance e. Paul expects Philemon to conclude for himself what is the right course of action. At the same time, he also employs highly suggestive language to urge Philemon in the right direction. Gerald Hawthorne, Ralph P. Martin, and Daniel G. Reid; Downers Grove: InterVarsity, , — See also W. It is not beyond dispute that this is the same Onesimus from Philemon, but several scholars of considerable standing have argued that this is precisely the case: F.
Tagged with deeper , study , becker , slavery , bible. Joshua's Wars of Conquest. Statement on Racial Unity. September Statement on Racial Unity. July Should Christians Keep the Sabbath? August Love Wins Book Review. November Children in the Kingdom of God. And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: and he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.
And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. Despite some problems with this story—What was so terrible about seeing Noah drunk? Why curse Canaan rather than Ham? How long was the servitude to last? Surely Ham would have been the same color as his brothers? In addition to the topic, the students said they were attracted to the seminar by the chance to take a class structured quite differently from most. For Mason Arbery, that was appreciated. Behind him, a group of his classmates joked with one another as they closed the top of one of the display cases.
Radcliffe conference draws historians, scholars to shed light on troubling past while pondering future. Harvard Law School Professor Susan Crawford recently taught a course that included an introduction to the issues surrounding driverless vehicles. Photos by Olivia Falcigno.
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