Видео

Thank you, Tom. I kind of went off script there but this is something I have thought a lot about. To my knowledge there are no actual scholarly analyses ranking slavery from worst to "best" (?). But we do know a lot about slavery in many cultures even down to the present day. In the Hebrew scriptures it is clear that slaves could become adopted family members and even had some upward social mobility (think of Joseph in Egypt). In Roman times there were many abusive situations but even the Roman Empire addressed some of them such as the the outlawing of the ergastulum by Hadrian in the second century. But certainly I struggle to find any society with the pervasive abuse that we tolerated in America. I think there are multiple reasons for how it got so bad and stayed so bad for so long. One is clearly racism. Slaves are very often in the "other" category in cultures that have slavery, often captured in raids and warfare. But American slavery appeared at a time when the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and the Industrial Revolution combined with other historical factors to give Europeans a sense of inevitable "superiority" that led to dehumanization and devaluation of other peoples, particularly African peoples. Racism fosters dehumanization and abuse. Our unique American slavery also appeared at a time when slavery was probably doomed due to technological advance. A horse without a horse collar is not much more efficient in terms of work output for food intake than a pair of human slaves pulling a plow. When the horse collar was invented, however, there was now an efficiency advantage in favor of the horse. As cotton gins and McCormick reapers were appearing, slavery would probably have been affected in the same way. Often institutions that are on their last legs become more brutal and savage. International law and relations were also in their infancy at that time. Present day slavery mostly exists in the shadows of the modern world and the most uncivilized regions and social niches of our world because there are multi-national forces and institutions that can bring real pressures to bear. You could also argue that American slavery was unnecessary--unlike in ancient cultures where there weren't economic mechanisms to create and support a working class. Despite the arguments of slave owners in the southern colonies that slavery was necessary, I don't think so. It may have been necessary for their wealth-building but agriculture could have been done in all parts of America without it. It was a savage shortcut driven by greed and I do believe that greed was a polluting and debasing influence on how slavery was shaped in America. It is sad for me to have this one part of our country that we got so wrong. I really do think that it is one of our worst national sins. And, even if our American form of slavery cannot be proven to be the worst, I cannot see how it would not be among the worst. And maybe it is the worst because it was so opposed to our ideals as a nation. The fact that we shaped such a great set of ideals and then ignored them for a significant percentage of our population for so long increases our national moral failure in my opinion. Sorry for the long answer but it is something we should be thinking about as Americans. Obviously I have. I hope my random thoughts are helpful for you.

Thanks for dropping in and for the encouraging words!

Thank you for the encouragement, Tom. I pray that you and Marcy are safe and well. If you send your email address to terry@agorachurch.org, I can put you on the list to receive the message notes and scripture passage for the messages. Blessings to you!