The Apostle Paul on Slavery
Paul’s letter to a slaveholder outlines the case for abolition which started a revolution in thought.
I’ve spent some time reading and listening to debates on the issue of slavery in the Bible. To be honest, I understand why some people think the Bible is morally ambiguous towards slavery, at best. I think it was Sam Harris who wondered why it just doesn’t simply state that “Thous shall not keep slaves.” That’s a good question.
But what I learned reading about Paul is that there is an entire book in the New Testament that is an argument for abolition based on Christian ideals. The weirdest thing to me is that Bible supporters, that I have seen, never make that point.
Understanding Western Civilization
As I’ve gathered and read books with the central aim of understanding this thing we call Western civilization, I keep ending up at the Bible. Many of the books I have read are older books written by historians several decades ago and they talk about the Biblical origin of Western civilization in passing as if it’s just a given. It’s only more modern writers that seem to think of it as ambiguous or questionable.
And when it comes to Paul, like modern historian Tom Holland describes in this clip, you cannot understand the source of modern sentiments about humanity without understanding the life and writings of Paul.
So as I keep my eye open for books I think would be relevant to my quest of understanding our roots, often I’ll end up reading about the Bible or its main characters. Perusing a 4,000 plus collection of books in a gorgeous home prepping for an estate sale, I came across The Apostle: A Life of Paul, by John Pollock.
Written like a biography, Pollock treats Paul’s journey like a seamless life story, unlike what you would get from reading the Bible (I suppose, because I have never sat down and read it outside of much of the Torah.) I grew up going to church as a kid and am vaguely familiar with Paul’s stories but that’s really the extent of it.
When Pollock wrote about all of the places Paul travelled to during his journey and to whom he spoke, It was hard for me to follow. Eventually I stopped trying to map it out geographically or figure out what book of the New Testament he was referring to and just focused on Paul the man and getting to know him.
There is much to know about Paul, who after hunting down Christians in order to kill them, ended up having a vision of Christ on the road to Damascus and dedicating his life to spreading the Gospel. But this one specific story stood out to me.
Paul’s Letter on Abolition
The fact that this story itself became its own book of the New Testament is incredible. It consists of a personal letter Paul wrote and here are the main points he makes:
Slavery is incompatible with Christianity
Slaves are of no use to Christians because as brothers in Christ, as equals, we are of immense value.
I can, but will not command you to do what is right, because doing so of your own free will is what Christ requires.
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