the bible and slavery

Question 2:
The Bible Question
What is the Bible?
Or: What is it for?

The new choir must
rediscover the old
rhythms and harmonies
of the Bible ... and learn
(repent) from our
mistakes in abusing the
Bible.

Slavery and the
Bible

The African slave trade spanned 450 years. It involved the kidnapping of 11.5 million
Africans. Billions of people today still profit and suffer in the aftermath of it.

“Nothing is more susceptible to oblivion than
an argument, however ingenious, that has been
discredited by events; and such is the case with
the body of writing which was produced in the
antebellum South in defense of Negro slavery.”

Eric McKitrick, Slavery Defended: The Views
of the Old South (1963).

From 1830 through the 1850’s, slavery was
defended in the Old South as just, Biblical,
and good.
Sources:
William S. Jenkins, Pro-Slavery Thought in the
Old South (1935)

Larry E. Tise, Proslavery: A History of the
Defense of Slavery in America, 1701-1840
(UGA Press: 1987)

Tise studied the writings of 275 leading pro-
slavery ministers of the day.
1. They came from all over the United States,
not just the South.
2. They came from all denominations:
Presbyterian (almost 30 percent)
Episcopalian (20 percent)
Baptist (17 percent)
Plus Unitarian, Roman Catholic, and Jewish.
3. Old South and Northern proslavery
advocates echoed British and West Indian
proslavery writers from 1770-1830.

In addition to tracts and pamphlets, there were many nonﬁction proslavery
books, such as …
An Inquiry into the Law of Negro Slavery (1858) (reprinted by
the UGA Press in 1999), Thomas R. R. Cobb (lawyer
from Georgia). Cobb authored the Confederate
Constitution and the Georgia Constitution of 1861, and
was one of the founders of the UGA School of Law. In
1860, upon South Carolina’s secession from the Union, he
painted large letters on his house:

“RESISTANCE TO ABOLITION IS
OBEDIENCE TO GOD.”
Became a general in the Confederate army, died in 1862 at the Battle of

There were also many novels, counterpart to Uncle Tom’s
Cabin, such as:

Nellie Norton: or, Southern Slavery and the
Bible: A Scriptural Refutation of the
Principal Arguments Upon Which the
Abolitionists Rely: A Vindication of
Southern Slavery From the Old and New
Testaments, (1864)

by Ebenezer Willis Warren, an obscure 44-year old Protestant clergyman
from Macon, GA. Last major defense of slavery in the U.S.

Story begins in November 1859, ends in July 1860.
Nellie Norton, beautiful young New Englander, believes slavery is cruel.
Travels with mother to Savannah to visit relatives who own a
plantation with slaves. She becomes convinced, after long arguments,
that …
Slave-owners are victims of “malignant abuse” and “wicked
and malicious slander” by ignorant, arrogant Northerners.
“the world is wrong [on the issue of human slavery],
and the South must set it right;”
“the world is in error, and is dependent upon the South
for the truth;”
“the welfare of the negro is best promoted when he is
under the restraints of slavery;”
“slavery is the normal condition of the negro.”

As the novel ends, Nellie falls in love with a wonderful slaveowner,and

5 Arguments In Defense of
Slavery

1. The Inferiority Argument:
William S. Jenkins notes: “The entire pro-slavery
thought was imbued with the belief of Negro
inferiority.”

In Nellie Norton, blacks are said to be “exceptions to
the common brotherhood” of man, and are:
“sensual and stupid, lazy, improvident, and vicious
… an ignorant, degraded, indolent people …
[could] never ... be equal with the white man.”

Their inferiority was “designed by their creator [i.e.,

2. The Southern Paradise Argument
More from Nellie Norton:
“The slaves have many rights. The right of life and limb, the right to be fed
and clothed, to be nursed when sick, and cared for in old age when
they become helplessly inﬁrm. They are rightfully entitled to
protection from ill treatment…”
Slave children are “fat and saucy, jolly and lively [and constantly enjoy]
cheerful songs and merry laughter”
Adult slaves are “happy Ethiopians” with “bright countenance[s], ...
smiling face[s], and ivory teeth” who “are fed bountifully, clothed
well, nursed when indisposed, and afforded [a] suitable diet.” They
“talk, and laugh, and sing, and pat, and dance,” and are constantly
“singing, dancing, laughing, chattering.”
Slavemasters are “highly cultivated ... men of superior general intelligence,
reﬁned, polite, [and] genteel … I know of no case where the master
lives on his plantation with his slaves but what they are treated with

3. Historical Realism Argument
“The truth is, the world never has, and never
can exist without slavery in some form…
Where is the country or the period of
history wherein slavery did not exist in
some shape or other? ... Slavery has always
existed, and will continue so long as there
is a disparity in the intellect or energy of
men.”
- from Nellie Norton

4. The Ad Hominem Argument
In Nellie Norton …
Abolitionists are “ruthless” and “fanatical.”
They take positions “which embody the worst forms
of inﬁdelity ever known to the world.”
They are sounding “the funeral knell of a pure
Christianity.”
“I tell you, [Abolitionists] an offense against God, the
Bible, religion, the peace of the Christian world,
and against common sense, and the more
enlightened experience of the age.”

5. The Biblical Argument
Probably ... the most elaborate and systematic
statement of any of the types of pro-slavery
argument.” (William S. Jenkins)

Leviticus 25:44-46 (relating to the buying,
keeping, and inheriting of slaves) was “the
rock of Gibraltar in the Old Testament”
justiﬁcation of slavery. Proslavery
characters in Nellie Norton refer to it
repeatedly.

Leviticus 25:

Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou
shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round
about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen and
bondmaids. Moreover of the children of the
strangers that do sojourn among you, of them
shall ye buy, and of their families that are with
you, which they begat in your land; and they shall
be your possession. And ye shall take them as an
inheritance for your children after you, to inherit
them for a possession; they shall be your
bondmen for ever.

Other passages in the Old Testament frequently cited by Old
South proslavers--
Exodus 21:2-6 (relating to the slavery of poor Hebrews)
Deuteronomy 15:16-17 (also relating to the slavery of poor
Hebrews)--
Genesis 9:26-27 (relating to the curse of Canaan to legitimize
racism)

“There is nothing, not one word, in the Old
Testament to condemn, but very much to
establish, enforce, and regulate slavery.”
(Proslaver to Nellie Norton)

Proslavers in Nellie Norton assert that the New
Testament conﬁrms the Old Testament
witness. The Golden Rule is not
inconsistent with human slavery, they say.

In fact, slavery is a form of neighborliness
because it puts slaves in better conditions
than in Africa, and exposes them to
Christian inﬂuences, a theme known as
“the Ennoblement of the Heathen” which
was also used to justify treatment of the
Native Peoples.

New Testament Passages in Nellie Norton:
Ephesians 6:5-8 (exhorting servants to be obedient to their
masters)
Titus 2:9-10 (also exhorting servants to be obedient to their
masters)
Colossians 3:22-24 (requiring slaves to obey their masters)

“…in the catalogue of sins denounced by the Savior
and His Apostles, slavery is not once mentioned
… not one word is said by the prophets, apostles,
or the holy Redeemer against slavery … the
Apostles admitted slaveholders and their slaves to
church membership, without requiring a
dissolution of the relation.”

Additional quotes from Nellie Norton:
“…slavery is right, and its enforcement is according to the
Scripture,”
“…slavery is taught in the Bible, and instituted in Heaven,”
“…God has ordained slavery,”
“…slavery was made perpetual by the positive enactment of
heaven,”
“…there cannot be found ... in the Bible a single injunction to
slaveholders to liberate those held by them in bondage.”
To speak against slavery “is to abominate the law of God, and the
sentiments inculcated by his holy prophets and apostles.”
A slave “cannot sunder bonds which bind him to his earthly
master, without breaking those which unite him morally to
his Redeemer.”

Nellie Norton:

“… the Bible is a pro-slavery Bible,
and God is a pro-slavery God,”

“… the North must give up the Bible
and religion, or adopt our views of
slavery.”

John Safﬁn, another proslaver of the period, wrote:
Since Abraham owned slaves …

… our Imitation of him in this Moral Action is
as warrantable as that of [adopting] his
Faith. God set different Orders and Degrees
of Men in the World ... some to be High
and Honourable, some to be Low and
Despicable… Servants of sundry sorts and
degrees, bound to obey; yea, some to be
born Slave, and so to remain during their
lives.

1. The Inferiority Argument
2. The Southern Paradise
Argument
3. The Historical Realism
Argument
4. The Ad Hominem Argument
5. The Biblical Argument
All ﬁve arguments …

…return to the Biblical Argument:
The Oracular Decisions of God have positively
declared that the Slave-Trade is
intrinsically good and licit, [and that the
holding of slaves] is perfectly consonant to
the principles of the Law of Nature, the
Mosaic Dispensation, and the Christian
Law … [Thus slavery has] the positive
sanction of God in its support."

Raymond Harris, Scriptural Researches on the
Licitness of the Slave-Trade.

Howard Thurman, former dean of chapel at Howard University:
My regular chore was to do all of the reading for my
grandmother – she could neither read nor write…. With
a feeling of great temerity I asked her one day why it
was that she would not let me read any of the Pauline
letters. What she told me I shall never forget. “During
the days of slavery,” she said, “the master’s minister
would occasionally hold services for the slaves …
Always the white minister used as his text something
from Paul. At least three or four times a year he used
as a text: ‘Slaves be obedient to them that are your
masters as unto Christ.’ Then he would go on to show
how, if we were good and happy slaves, God would
bless us. I promised my Maker that if I ever learned to
read and if freedom ever came, I would not read that
part of the Bible.’” (Struggling with Scripture, p. 58)

In Liberty County [Georgia, in 1833] a
group of slaves were listening to a
white minister hold forth on a staple
topic – the escaped slave Onesimus,
and his return to his master. According
to the report from Georgia, half of the
Negro group walked out when the point
of the sermon became clear, and the
other half stayed mostly for the
purpose of telling the preacher that
they were sure there was no such
passage in the Bible. (59)

Has the Bible been used for evil
purposes?
Is the proslavery way of interpreting the
Bible evil?
Is our contemporary way of interpreting
the Bible any different?
How can we be sure we aren’t perpetuating
evil today in our use of the Bible?

Meanwhile … in France:

A song lyric was written in 1847 by Placide
Clappeau, a French wine merchant, mayor
of the French town Roquemaure.
Adolphe Adam wrote the music.
Later the song was translated into English by
John S. Dwight –
It is said to have been the ﬁrst music ever
broadcast over radio.

O holy night, the stars are brightly shining;
It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth!
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.

A thrill of hope, the weary soul rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born!
O night, O holy night, O night divine!

Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His Gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother
And in His Name all oppression shall cease.

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy Name!
Christ is the Lord! O praise His name forever!
His pow’r and glory evermore proclaim!
His pow’r and glory evermore proclaim!

The Bible as
Constitution

• What purposes do constitutions (or social
contracts) fulﬁll?
• What problems arise with this approach?

Bible as Conversation

• The Bible as a cultural library
• Artifacts from stories within stories

LEGAL CONSTITUTION COMMUNITY LIBRARY

Uniformity Diversity

Preserve order Preserve diversity

agreement argument

enforcement encouragement

LEGAL CONSTITUTION COMMUNITY LIBRARY

Rules to live by Stories to live by

Conformity Creativity

Analyze, interpret, argue Enter, inhabit, practice

amendments? new acquisitions

Inspiration

• what would an inspired constitution look
like?
• what would an inspired community library
look like?

Question 10: What
do we do now?

A way of thinking
about
organizational
change

Coral: holy people
__________
Ultraviolet: compassionate communities
Violet: globally-networked individuals
__________
Indigo: “citizens of the world”
Blue: nation-states/democracies
Green: kingdoms/empires
Yellow: warlords
Orange: agricultural chiefdoms
Red: hunter/gatherer band

Coral: one with God
__________
Ultraviolet: holistic, unifying
Violet: integral, systemic, otherly
__________
Indigo: pluralist, relativist, globalist
Blue: individualist, rationalist, ideologue
Green: nationalist, rules, codes
Yellow: feudal, power-oriented
Orange: tribal, magical, animist
Red: survival, instinctual, “reptilian”

Coral: Quest for theosis
__________
Ultraviolet: Quest for sacredness
Violet: Quest for ubuntu (otherliness)
__________
Indigo: Quest for honesty
Blue: Quest for Individuality
Green: Quest for Independence
Yellow: Quest for power
Orange: Quest for security
Red: Quest for survival

Cultures may include two
or more zones, but will
have a center of gravity in
one.
They may regress.

Development =

1.Differentiate/Transcend

2.Integrate/Include

If we don’t differentiate or
transcend, we experience
stagnation, fixation and
stuckness.

If we don’t integrate and include,
we experience disassociation
and a backward attack-focus.

First tier zones think in terms
of right/wrong and good/evil.

Other zones are evil/wrong:
our zone is good/right.

Second tier zones think in terms of
appropriate and adequate.

Other zones are adequate for
their times and situations; we seek
the zone that is appropriate for us
here and now.

Think of climbing a ladder.
You gain a new and wider view from each
rung.

Your earlier view was not wrong - only
partial.

Early zones truly describe the way the
world looks to people at that vantage point.

You couldn’t get to the higher rungs if it
weren’t for the lower rungs.

This approach is not absolutist.
It doesn’t claim one view is right and
previous (or later) ones are wrong.

Nor is it relativist.
It doesn’t say that no views are truly
right, but only think they are.

It says all views are partial and that
greater wholeness is better than lesser
wholeness.

St. Paul seems to agree:

When I was a child, I spoke and thought
and reasoned like a child,
But when I became an adult,
I gave up childish ways.

For now we see in a mirror dimly,
But then face to face.
Now I know in part; then I shall
understand fully,
Even as I have been fully
understood.

So faith, hope, and love abide, these
three;
But the greatest of these is
love.

I will show you the most excellent
way.
Follow the way of love.
Amen.

Exercise:
Consider the following in light of the spiral
dynamics schema: Coral: one with God
__________
Your life Ultraviolet: holistic, unifying
Violet: integral, systemic, otherly
Your church __________
Indigo: pluralist, relativist, globalist
Your denomination Blue: individualist, rationalist, ideologue
Green: nationalist, rules, codes
Your nation Yellow: feudal, power-oriented
Orange: tribal, magical, animist
The world Red: survival, instinctual, “reptilian”

Where is the center of gravity?
Where are the points of tension?
Where are breakthroughs happening?

How can we help our communities move
forward?
What will cause people to entrench?
What cost will we pay for stimulating
forward movement?

With Kindness
From “Songs For a Revolution of Hope, Vol. 1: everything must change.”
Words and music by Brian McLaren.
2007, Brian McLaren. Publishing, Revolution of Hope Music Group SESAC 2007.
All rights reserved. Registered with CCLI.

Christ has no body here but ours.
No hands, no feet, here on earth
but ours.
Ours are the eyes though which
he looks
On this world
With Kindness

Ours are the hands through which
he works.
Ours are the feet on which he
moves.
Ours are the voices through
which he speaks
To this world
With Kindness.

Through our touch, our
smile, our listening ear,
Embodied in us, Jesus is
living here.
Let us go now
Filled with the Spirit
Into this world
With Kindness

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