The Bible is the best-selling book of all time, and with good reason. For the stories written in it have changed the way many think and even believe when it comes to the power greater than this world. The Bible holds very specific opinions on things such as slavery, who humans should treat each other, and ultimately social justice. It has been one of the most important foundations for allowing social reform to occur in modern day history as well as the history of the whole world. However, it is forgotten in history class how prominent the ancient texts have changed the people. When looking at the history, it is discovered to be the strength of great people who have used its wisdom to bring about a change for those who could not do it on their own. Through the examination of the Bible as well as other assigned readings the focus will be on how slavery and the Bible are related. It is related to the dominion over men as well as the enslavement of one’s own soul. The goal is to accurately show how the Bible has been used throughout our history as part of the defense for the oppressed to achieve their justice and philosophically to free one’s own soul. Ideas that will be taken into consideration will be origins of movement, how slavery was dealt with in the Bible, how it has impacted the biblical worldview, and how across time it has changed things cultural. The importance of why slavery and the Bible are connected is to look at how it is part of social justice.
In order to grasp the relation, the origins of movement have to be brought to light for all to understand. It is known by most that slavery exists in the Bible, but that it justifies the act is not correct. In fact it has the opposite effect. The stories found in exodu...
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... It is possibly acknowledging the freeing of one’s soul to God from the chains of their spiritual slavery from within themselves instead infliction of other people. The two concepts more clearly being the first, slavery of people by people, and the second, slavery people may have on themselves by not surrendering to God’s love. Just as it was done here people have contemplated the texts for years creating either a negative or positive outlook of what they truly mean.
Works Cited
Cahill, Thomas. The Gifts of the Jews: How a Tribe of Desert Nomads Changed the Way Everyone Thinks and Feels. New York: Nan A. Talese, 1998. Print.
Anderson, Bernhard W. The Unfolding Drama of the Bible. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1988. Print.
Coogan, Michael D., ed. The New Oxford Annotated Bible New Revised Standard Version with the Apocrypha. 4th ed. New York: Oxford UP, 2010. Print.
Carson, D. A. New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition. 4th ed. Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994.
The English Standard Version Bible: Containing the Old and New Testaments with Apocrypha. New York: Oxford UP, 2009. Print.
Slavery is an economic, legal system where humans are sold and treated as property. The history of slavery spans nearly almost from every culture, religion and nationality from ancient to present days. Slavery in the United States is identified as one of the darkest periods of the human kind where people from the African continent were sold to the white settlers in the United States. Based on research it was evident that the white Christianity supported the establishment and the continuation of slavery in America. This paper is a study of the history on how white Christianity helped and also offered support to American slavery. The paper will discuss how the black community was oppressed and the tools used to support the establishment and continuation of slavery. The research will adopt the use of the book titled “the cross and the lynching tree” written by James Cone.
Bolt, C. (2007, July). The Slave Trade and the Unholy Triangle. Retrieved February 19, 2014, from bwa-baptist-heritage: http://www.bwa-baptist-heritage.org/gha_sl_cb.htm
The controversies surrounding slavery have been established in many societies worldwide for centuries. In past generations, although slavery did exists and was tolerated, it was certainly very questionable,” ethically“. Today, the morality of such an act would not only be unimaginable, but would also be morally wrong. As things change over the course of history we seek to not only explain why things happen, but as well to understand why they do. For this reason, we will look further into how slavery has evolved throughout History in American society, as well as the impacts that it has had.
In alignment with what the Bible told them, abolitionist understood that each man represented one of God’s creations and that men were part of God’s plan. If slavery was allowed to exist, then man was interrupting God’s de...
The bible, also, condemns many aspects of our current day society and allows for slavery. Rather than taking the bible literally, one should consider the historical context and then adjust to today’s norms.
The New Oxford Annotated Bible. Herbert G. May and Bruce M. Metzger, ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1957.
The New Oxford Annotated Bible: New Revised Standard Version with the Apocrypha. Eds. Michael D. Coogan, et al. 3rd Ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Even today history of slavery is still being taught and learned, this is not a new topic that is being talked about. In all actuality slavery, has been talked about since 1619. It was a major year and turning point for slavery because it was made aware that “Africans” were being caught and transported to Jamestown to tend to tobacco crops, indigo crops and many other crops. Among all the information pertaining to slavery, there is many studies being conducted to enhance the understanding of slavery and how it has impacted the past and present societies. Slavery, has made a huge impact on today’s society and it will continue to impact future societies. The purpose of the extensive research is to help restore history. Slavery has a very harsh past and even today hundreds of years later it still has a huge
Slavery, the “Peculiar Institution” of the South, caused suffering among an innumerable number of human beings. Some people could argue that the life of a domestic animal would be better than being a slave; at least animals are incapable of feeling emotions. Suffering countless atrocities, including sexual assault, beatings, and murders, these slaves endured much more than we would think is humanly possible today. Yet, white southern “Christians” committed these atrocities, believing their behaviors were neither wrong nor immoral. Looking back at these atrocities, those who call themselves Christians are appalled. In Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself, Harriet A. Jacobs describes the hypocrisy of Southern, Christian slave owners in order to show that slavery and Christianity are not congruent.
Slave-owners forced a perverse form of Christianity, one that condoned slavery, upon slaves. According to this false Christianity the enslavement of “black Africans is justified because they are the descendants of Ham, one of Noah's sons; in one Biblical story, Noah cursed Ham's descendants to be slaves” (Tolson 272). Slavery was further validated by the numerous examples of it within the bible. It was reasoned that these examples were confirmation that God condoned slavery. Douglass’s master...
New International Version: Containing the Old and New Testaments with Apocrypha. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2009. Print.
[1] In the movie Sankofa, Haile Gerima does not hesitate to show the audience the horrors of slavery. Not only does he show the brutal and humiliating practices used by slaveholders to subjugate slaves but he also shows how slaveholders used Christianity to control and manipulate slaves. He demonstrates the huge impact of slavery on today’s society and the importance of looking back to slavery to understand the present. Traditionally, history textbooks have hesitated to talk about any of these aspects of slavery. Present history books have begun to describe the brutalities of slavery but still refuse to explain slavery’s impact or to mention Christianity’s role in slavery. There are three main reasons for this hesitance to be truthful about all aspects of slavery when writing history textbooks. These are patriotism for the United States, cultural bias towards the white race, and a bias towards Christianity.