Bible Research Challenge

The following blog post was a collaborative writing assignment between myself and Lauren Pujolar. Slight edits have been made to Pujolar's writing for clarity, but the style and content are untouched. The sections have been marked with their authors.

Written by Lauren Pujolar Slavery was a controversial issue that haunts the history of the world. It was not only an issue in society but also an issue in religion and in the Bible. As Professor Dean wrote on the page, “they based arguments both for and against slavery on religion usually on the Bible” (Smith). 

In Christianity, the argument about if slavery was right or wrong was a big debate, especially in America’s earlier years as a country. The Bible supports slavery and also looks down on it. The debate of what was right and what was wrong in the eyes of God was a big part of deciding whether slavery should be abolished or not in the US Constitution. And the opposite views based on the Bible caused division in early America and why the decision of abolishing slavery was delicate in the eyes of Christianity. 

Christianity is a religion that preaches loving your neighbors, forgiving your enemy, as well as forgiving those who have wronged you. From the outside looking in, a religion with these values would never support slavery. Slavery is considered a sin in Christianity based on the belief of treating people the way you wanted to be treated. 

The Bible follows these values by stating: “Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death.” (Exodus 21:16) As a Christian, the only higher power is God and all men and women are created equal regardless of skin color. According to the Bible, “slaveholders cannot be Christian because slavery is a sin.” (Hosmer) In the beginning of the 16th century, many Popes declared slavery a sin and that made it against religion. 

A huge advocate for anti-slavery was Henry Ward Beecher, he claimed that “while the fundamental feature of the Roman system was that he was a chattel and not a man.” (American Historical Association) He and many other Christians believed that slavery was sinful, against the Bible, and unchristian because it put the well-being and selfish needs of some above others. 

It also put the slave owner above the slave which would make him closer to God/above someone else which wasn’t prohibited in the Bible. Slavery was against the Bible and that is why so many Christians were pushing for the Constitution to get rid of slavery based on the fact that it was sinful. 

Written by Parker Nyboer

While the idea of modern forms of Christianity condoning slavery is ludicrous, the denominations of the Christian religion have not always been anti-slavery. In fact, many Christian thinkers and leaders have been staunchly pro-slavery. While Christian views are obviously different today, there is no denying that Christianity once condoned slavery.

The slave trade in America brought about the need for theological justifications in the Christian world. If slaveholders were Christian, either they or someone else would have to confront the issue of slavery from a religious standpoint. Many theologians and church leaders did, and many reached a conclusion in support of slavery.

Bishop John Henry Hopkins

For example, John Henry Hopkins, who was an Episcopalian bishop, strongly believed in the idea of slavery and used the Bible to defend it. He stated that while the Bible did establish that blacks and whites had a common ancestor through Noah, they were not equal. In one of his pamphlets he wrote, “why should not the African race be subject, and subject in that way to which it is best adapted?” (Burrell 4)

Said biblical arguments usually stemmed from the story of the Curse of Ham, in which Noah condemns his grandson and son of Ham, Canaan, along with Canaan’s descendants to be “servants” to Ham’s other brothers. English Bishop Thomas Newton heavily used the “Hamitic Hypothesis” (Burrell 4.1) in his publication, Dissertation on the Prophecies, in defense of slavery.

As with all other religions’ beliefs, Christianity’s beliefs are fluid. While slavery was once accepted by a sizeable amount of Christians, the abolitionist movement was also heavily influenced by Christianity. There may be religious practices today that will end up mirroring this story in the coming years.

Source Slavery, the Hebrew Bible and the Development of Racial Theories in the Nineteenth Century by Kevin Burrell