Biblical Accounts of Slavery

In the Hebrew Scriptures, instances of slavery could be either a voluntary or an involuntary condition. A person indebted to another could offer himself as a slave for a period of up to six years in order to satisfy the debt. Similarly, such individuals could be sold from one household to another. In the seventh year, however, Hebrew slaves owned by Hebrews were required to be released according to the words of Moses in Deuteronomy 15:12-18. Upon his release, the former slave was to be furnished with food and drink as a remembrance of the blessings which have been bestowed by God during the period of servitude, as well as a reminder that the children of Israel were also once slaves in Egypt and providentially released through the activity of God.

But according to this passage, if the servant loved his owner and desired to remain in his household, he or she could voluntarily be made a permanent slave. In all cases, servants were required

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Perhaps the greatest defect of Christianity in the modern era was its tacit, if not explicit, approval of slavery in the western hemisphere through the nineteenth century. Not until the early years of the nineteenth century was there significant recognition of "slavery and the tensions it created [which] touched all aspects of U.S. society in the years prior to the Civil War, especially in religious life" (Adams, 1992, p. 683). Of all the Christian denominations firmly established in America by the eighteenth century, only the Society of Friends (Quakers) forbade owning slaves. In Adams' estimation, it was a possibility that "united and assertive churches might have averted the disaster of civil war" (p. 683). Instead, Protestant churches were torn apart over the issue of slavery--the Presbyterian church in 1837-38, the Methodist and Baptist churches in 1845 (p. 683). The three great Protestant churches split over the same issues which would later divide the fledgling nation. Pro-slavery theologians and writers of the early nineteenth century "thrived on [a] literal interpretation of Scripture" (Freehling, 1991, p. 388). Presbyterian minister James Henley Thornwell is described by Freehling as "the slavocracy's most imp
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Presbyterian Church, South South, Onesimus Rapske's, Moses Deuteronomy, Hebrew Scriptures, According Athenian, According Rapske, Empire Paul's, Civil War, Catholic Noonan, smith 1994, freehling 1991, poole 1992, nineteenth century, fugitive onesimus, civil war, 1991 388, freehling 1991 388, prior civil war, voluntary involuntary, padgett 1992, presbyterian church,
Approximate Word count = 1986
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)

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