SLAVERY AND THE NEW TESTAMENT
(compiled by M.J. Duran)
(From Mark Twain's autobiography); "In my school days, I had no aversion to slavery.
I was not aware that there was anything wrong with it. No one said anything against it
in my hearing; the local pulpit taught us that God approved it, and that the doubter
need only look in the Bible if he wished to settle his mind. If the slaves themselves had
an aversion to slavery, they were wise and said nothing." - Mark Twain
"... Judaism's ethics and morality were incompatible with the hallowed Roman institution of slavery on
which the aristocracy fed, lived and ruled." (Abelard Reuchlin, 'The True Authorship of the New
Testament')
"Those who did not have full citizen rights (in Rome and the empire) were either foreigners or slaves.
There were numerous foreigners, naturally. Slaves had no rights.
The number of slaves in the last century of the republic and in the first century of the empire almost
passes belief. It is estimated that in Rome alone, under the empire, there were 400,000 slaves.
The out-of-works had no slaves. But an ordinary man could not make do with less than eight slaves.
The upper middle-class and the rich kept hundreds. They were first divided into country and city
slaves. City slaves were further divided into indoor and outdoor slaves and then divided into groups
of ten, such as the sweepers, the litter-bearers, the cooks, and so on. Pliny the Younger, a gentleman
(sic) of moderate tastes, owned at least 500 slaves. A contemporary of his, the freedman Caelius
Isidorus, when he died, left behind him 4,116 slaves. The emperors had households of at least 20,000
slaves." (W.G. Hardy, 'The Greek and Roman World', pg. 86-87)
"With the fragmentary nature of ancient statistics, demographic certainty is
impossible, but perhaps a third of the inhabitants of imperial Rome were slaves and
many of the free population were descended from slaves." (Thomas W. Africa, 'Rome
of the Caesars', pg. 5)
There are many passages in the New Testament that can be seen as devices to placate
and/or reassure slaves to be content with their 'lot in life', as well as many other passages
about the relationship between 'master' and 'slave'. There is nothing at all stated in the
New Testament about slavery being 'bad' or wrong; only statements to make it
seem/appear to be 'normal' and accepted, as well as 'reasons' for it to be perpetuated or
'preserved'. Therefore, it can be concluded that one of the 'hidden' reasons for the New
Testament was for this relative purpose regarding the issue of slavery. It was
Pro-slavery, written at least in part, for the purpose of preserving slavery.
Ref. 'Life in Egypt under Roman Rule', N. Lewis, 1983.
|
