Is slavery supported by the bible?

[NFrancis]

Is slavery supported by the bible? I need answers quickly. In argument with brother.

[AJTheMan]

To a slight extent it is. The bible never really makes it clear whether or not it wants you to own slaves or not but it does say that if you own slaves, you should treat them in a certain way. This way would probably mean to be fair to them and be a good master, the such. But no, the bible doesn't really come out and say "Own slaves!"

[North of Nod]

I could be wrong, but I think the Bible mentions them as servants, which I assume would be vocational (working for a wage and not "slaves" per se). If not, feel free to correct me.

[StrawberryJam]

Originally Posted by NFrancis

Is slavery supported by the bible? I need answers quickly. In argument with brother.

Yes, it does unfortunately.

[bpbasilphx]

Slavery was part of the culture and economic fabric of Biblical times.

Nowhere does the Bible say that slavery is a good thing. It was merely tolerated by Biblical writers.

When St. Paul said that Christians slaves were God's free men, and Christian slave owners were really God's slaves and brothers to their Christian slaves, this was revolutionary to people who had been used to thinking of slaves as non-human things.

[GEddie]

Originally Posted by NFrancis

Is slavery supported by the bible? I need answers quickly. In argument with brother.

Slavery existed everywhere at the time of the Bible; scripture nowhere urges its abolition. There are rules in the Bible concerning how slavery should be dealt with.

then again, Joseph was a slave, yet rises to become No. 2 in the country; and in the NT, St Paul urges that Philemon not only release his slave but accept him as an equal. While the Bible does not urge an end to slavery, it arguably is the first religious text which demands they be treated as human beings. This in itself was a giant leap upward.

[buffalo]

Slavery and Christianity

[buffalo]

Ethical Aspect of Slavery

[dashso40]

In the time that the Bible was written, slavery was part of the culture...

[NFrancis]

Originally Posted by bpbasilphx

Slavery was part of the culture and economic fabric of Biblical times.

Nowhere does the Bible say that slavery is a good thing. It was merely tolerated by Biblical writers.

When St. Paul said that Christians slaves were God's free men, and Christian slave owners were really God's slaves and brothers to their Christian slaves, this was revolutionary to people who had been used to thinking of slaves as non-human things.

Excellent point. Thank you!

[bacon man]

Moses and the Hebrews were led out of slavery.

[StrawberryJam]

Originally Posted by bacon man

Moses and the Hebrews were led out of slavery.

Was Hagar led out of slavery? Was Ishmael led out of slavery?

[Wowbagger]

I'm reading a fantastic book right now called The Civil War as Theological Crisis, by Mark A. Noll. It spends two chapters analyzing this very issue, with a third chapter dedicated to Catholic perspectives.

In my opinion, yes: the Bible (and Catholicism) suggest that there are circumstances under which it is morally permissible to strip a person of liberty and subject them to strenuous labor without pay - that is, to enslave him. The most common example of this today is imprisonment, where convicted criminals are stripped of freedom and forced to do a variety of useful tasks while they pay their debts to society. POW's often face similar circumstances. In history, another common form of this was indentured servitude, where one party willingly sold his freedom temporarily in exchange for later reimbursement.

What the Catholic Church has unequivocally condemned throughout history (with the support of the Bible, even if American Protestants north and south were too blind to realize it) is the race-based chattel slavery of the sort practiced in antebellum America. The enslavement of complete innocents has always been understood to be wrong.

Short answer: yeah, the Bible supports slavery. So does your brother, if he believes in the modern prison system. But that thing he means when he says, "slavery"? That really bad thing we had in the South before the Civil War? That is incompatible with a fair reading of the full Bible, and is certainly and clearly condemned by the official, centuries-old teachings of the Church.

[JustaServant]

The fact is, slavery was never looked at as an evil in the ancient world. It was considered part of the fabric of a healthy society.
In Biblical Israel, slavery was far more humane and was never for life, unless the slave wanted it so, they were called bondservants, slaves out of love. Many times they were criminals or debtors. There were no prisons in the ancient world where a thief would sit in a cell for ten years. He would be expected to work until re- payment was made (oftentimes in far less than ten years).
In order to understand how the ancient world viewed slavery, one has to shift thier thinking completely. It requires us to move our brain beyond the thinking of the last 2-300 years.
If that is too much for some liberal sensibilites, sorry.
But, you're not going to get a different answer.

[Gottle of Geer]

Originally Posted by NFrancis

Is slavery supported by the bible? I need answers quickly. In argument with brother.

## It's taken for granted, in both Testaments - which is not quite the same thing