Slavery, Morality and Counter-Culturalism
26th September 2006
Recently, my wife read aloud Romans chapter 1 to the family. As I listened to her, I was struck by how Paul addressed himself as a “servant of Jesus Christ“. It is not a common phrase used today, but the New Testament is filled with such references used either by the writers themselves or in referring to a group of Christ followers. In some translations, the phrase used is “bond-servant”, which is likened to the practice of the Hebrew who took on bond servants in their households.
These servants are sometimes also known as slaves, but I believe they have some key differences between slavery in biblical times and slavery as we understand it today. I recall Parableman once did an extensive study of the morality of slavery. While the study was insightful and I am sure highlighted many valid points, I also remember being quite uncomfortable with some of his conclusions. I am not sure if the claims he made are widely held among scholars, but basically (if I remember correctly) it goes something like this: Read the rest of this entry »
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