Christian abolitionism
Although many
Ancient times
Paul, the author of several letters that are part of the New Testament, requests the manumission of a slave named Onesimus in his letter to Philemon,[3] writing "Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back forever—no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother" (Philemon 15-16). In addition, the Book of Revelation condemns the slave trade on the basis that it involves the marketing of human souls and their bodies as if they were cargo.[4] The views that Paul and Revelation had are not the only ones in ancient Judaism to oppose slavery. The Essenes, a radical Jewish sect in Israel which rejected much of the institutions of civilization, also rejected slavery, for violating the free equality of man.[5]
In the fourth century, the bishop Gregory of Nyssa articulated a fundamentally Christian conception of the world that embedded a thorough rejection of the notion that one human could be owned by another and a condemnation of the institution of slavery. The historian Kyle Harper writes:
Humans were granted mastery over the animals by God. But in practicing slavery, humans overstepped the boundaries of their appointment. Gregory proceeded to attack slavery by questioning, philosophically, the paradigmatic act of the slave system: the sale. With penetrating insight, he asked how the human being, the rational creation of God, could be given a “price.” What, he asked, could have the same market value as human nature? “How much does rationality cost? How many obols for the image of God? How many staters did you get for selling the God-formed man?” Here Gregory offers a logic that was entirely novel in the ancient world but would reverberate in later centuries with tremendous consequence.[6]
Christian abolitionism in the United Kingdom
In particular, the effects of the
In 1787 the
Quaker abolitionists
Christian abolitionism in the United States
In the United States, the abolition movement faced much opposition. Bertram Wyatt-Brown notes that the appearance of the Christian abolitionist movement "with its religious ideology alarmed newsmen, politicians, and ordinary citizens. They angrily predicted the endangerment of secular democracy, the mongrelization, as it was called, of white society, and the destruction of the federal union. Speakers at huge rallies and editors of conservative papers in the North denounced these newcomers to radical reform as the same old “church-and-state” zealots, who tried to shut down post offices, taverns, carriage companies, shops, and other public places on Sundays. Mob violence sometimes ensued."[12]
A postal campaign in 1835 by the
Many evangelical leaders in the United States such as
Despite such determined opposition, many Methodist, Baptist, Adventist, and Presbyterian members freed their slaves and sponsored black congregations, in which many black ministers encouraged slaves to believe that freedom could be gained during their lifetime. After a great revival occurred in 1801 at Cane Ridge, Kentucky, American Methodists made anti-slavery sentiments a condition of church membership.[22] Abolitionist writings, such as "A Condensed Anti-Slavery Bible Argument" (1845) by George Bourne,[23] and "God Against Slavery" (1857) by George B. Cheever,[24] used the Bible, logic and reason extensively in contending against the institution of slavery, and in particular the chattel form of it as seen in the South. In Cheever's speech entitled, "The Fire and Hammer of God’s Word Against the Sin of Slavery", his desire for eliminating the crime of slaveholding is clear, as he goes so far as to address it to the President.
Other Protestant missionaries of the Great Awakening initially opposed slavery in the South, but by the early decades of the 19th century, many Baptist and Methodist preachers in the South had come to an accommodation with it in order to evangelize the farmers and workers. Disagreements between the newer way of thinking and the old often created schisms within denominations at the time. Differences in views toward slavery resulted in the Baptist and Methodist churches dividing into regional associations by the beginning of the Civil War.[25]
Catholic abolitionism
Roman Catholic statements against slavery also grew increasingly vocal during this era. In 1741, Pope Benedict XIV condemned slavery generally. In 1815, Pope Pius VII demanded the Congress of Vienna to suppress the slave trade. In the Bull of Canonization of Peter Claver, one of the most illustrious adversaries of slavery, Pope Pius IX branded the "supreme villainy" (summum nefas) of the slave traders;[26]
In 1839 Pope Gregory XVI condemned the slave trade in In supremo apostolatus;[27] and in 1888 Pope Leo XIII condemned slavery in In Plurimis.[28]
Preceding such, and while not explicitly expressing an abolitionist point of view, the Portuguese Dominican Gaspar da Cruz in 1569 strongly criticized the Portuguese traffic in Chinese slaves, explaining that any arguments by the slave traders that they "legally" purchased already-enslaved children were bogus.[29]
In 1917, the Roman Catholic Church's canon law was officially expanded to specify that "selling a human being into slavery or for any other evil purpose" is a crime.[30]
References
- ^ a b "The Abolition of the Slave Trade: Christian Conscience and Political Action". Archived from the original on 8 February 2009. Retrieved 12 September 2009.
- ISBN 9780080253671. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
- ^ Byron, John. "Paul and the background of slavery: the status quaestionis in New Testament scholarship." Currents in Biblical Research 3.1 (2004): 129
- ^ Vasser, Murray. "Bodies and Souls: The Case for Reading Revelation 18.13 as a Critique of the Slave Trade." New Testament Studies 64.3 (2018): 397-409.
- Philo of Alexandria, Every Good Man is Free, 75-79
- ISBN 978-1107124585.
- ^ quoted in Piper, 2002, p. 37)
- ^ The Christian Cabinet, December 14, 1859
- ^ Thoughts Upon Slavery, John Wesley, Published in the year 1774, John Wesley: Holiness of Heart and Life, 1996 Ruth A. Daugherty
- ^ London Yearly Meeting minutes, Vol. 6, 457–458
- ^ London Yearly Meeting minutes, Vol. 17, 298–307
- ^ Wyatt-Brown, Bertram. "American Abolitionism and Religion". Teacher Serve. National Humanities Center. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
- ^ "American Abolitionism and Religion, Divining America, TeacherServe©, National Humanities Center". NationalHumanitiesCenter.org. Retrieved 24 June 2017.
- ^ Jennifer Rose, The Culture of Honor: How Slaveholders Responded to the Abolitionist Mail Crisis of 1835, p. 60
- ^ David S. Mussey, "The American Adventure" Archived 2010-06-14 at the Wayback Machine, 2 vols. New York, 1980
- ^ David Grimsted, American Mobbing, 1828–1861
- ^ Schlesinger Age of Jackson, p. 190
- ^ Charles G. Finney, Memoirs (New York: A.S. Barnes, 1876), 324
- ^ President Finney, "Guilt modified by ignorance—anti-slavery duties", 1852
- ISBN 978-1-61025-078-8.
- ^ Finney, Charles Grandison. Lectures on Revivals of Religion. Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library. p. LECTURE XV. HINDRANCES TO REVIVALS. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
- ^ "Kentucky's Underground Railroad: Passage to Freedom". KET.org. Archived from the original on 5 February 2009. Retrieved 24 June 2017.
- ^ "George Bourne, 1780-1845. A Condensed Anti-Slavery Bible Argument; By a Citizen of Virginia". docsouth.UNC.edu. Retrieved 24 June 2017.
- ^ See also "The guilt of slavery and the crime of slaveholding, demonstrated from the Hebrew and Greek scriptures"
- ^ Dooley 11–15; McKivigan 27 (ritualism), 30, 51, 191, Osofsky; ANB Leonidas Polk
- ^ Allard, Paul (1912). "Slavery and Christianity". Catholic Enycyclopedia. Vol. XIV. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved 4 February 2006.
- ^ "In supremo apostolatus". 3 December 1839. Retrieved 12 September 2009.
- ^ "In Plurimis: On the Abolition of Slavery". 5 May 1888. Retrieved 12 September 2009.
- C.R. Boxer's comments)
- ^ "The final abolition of slavery in Christianity lands". www.ReligiousTolerance.org. Retrieved 24 June 2017.