Very interesting post on history and the Bible

The argument here is that Christians had to set aside the Bible to oppose slavery, not turn to it. I met a young grad student who was working on this very topic. He made the argument (as someone who had grown up fundamentalist) that the pro-slavery people had far more biblical support than those opposing. Those who opposed had to appeal to broad themes of what Jesus stood for, but those who supported it could pull out numerous verses supporting this institution. Makes you think, doesn't it?

Many conservative Christians like to see the Bible as all-knowing and infallible, but the Bible does not transcend time and place. It is read through a lens of cultural and personal experience. People in the 18th and 19th century read it to justify all manner of racism, just as Southern evangelicals found Biblical support to oppose desegregation or inter-racial marriage. Those who are so adamant that their reading is clear on the homosexual issue might keep that in mind.

whatskeezelblogging: The Right Reverends Sherman and Grant: "In the 1850s we find America as this bustling, Protestant country, having experienced phenomenal church growth since the revolution, church growth built on a literal biblical POV. Americans were into their churches – attendance at church was remarkable by today’s standards.

We find a nation really cranking up an argument over slavery – an argument that readily spilled into the churches. Clergy on both sides of the issue went full bore to back up their worldview. At first blush, it probably seems unseemly to think of ordained clergy trying to back up a justification for slavery with the Bible. But yeah, they justified slavery with the Bible. And here’s the thing – the slavers had the stronger biblical argument. The texts that endorse slavery are very clear:

The Hebrew Scriptures tell us that if you are an Israelite, you may beat your slaves as long as you didn't damage the teeth or eyes of the slave. You could also beat them to death – as long as it took at least 24 hours for the slave to die from the beating. We learn that Hebrew slaves will be set free in six years – but if you gave the slave a wife – then the wife and any children of the union remain your property. You may have consensual sex or even rape any female slave that is not engaged. If she is engaged then you must make an offering at the temple to atone for your actions – she will be whipped.

Lest you think slavery was just one of those cranky, Old Testament deals – the Christian Scriptures make no attempt to condemn the practice either. Jesus instructs slave owners on the proper amount of lashings one may administer to a slave for misbehavior. Paul tells slaves more than once to be obedient to their masters. Interestingly, the Bible relates a Hebrew law that instructs Israelites to protect escaped slaves – to allow them freedom. Paul – the new Christian – does the opposite and returns an escaped slave to his master.

For the abolitionists, any condemnation of slavery must be arrived at through biblical interpretation – not through straight readings of the text. Bottom line – the Bible never condemns outright the institution of slavery. The slavers had the much easier job in the pulpit than the abolitionists. As the debate raged, European Catholics pointed out smugly that what these American Protestants needed was a pope to settle the issue. Well, we didn’t get a pope – we got the theological hammer of Sherman and Grant to settle the issue.

And thus, one of the great casualties of the Civil War became Biblical Authority…"