Day 20. October 18, 2006
Movement 2. Solus Jesus
Lecture 10. Reform, Race, and the Civil War: Jesus and American Slavery (Part 2)
Sin's redefinition empowered women and the clergy to take up municipal housekeeping. The ruinous institution of slavery topped the list of social concerns. By the late 18th century, American slavery was unique in the world: permanent, inherited, and based on race. By 1800 the U.S. already had begun to divide over slavery. The American Revolution exposed slavery's hypocrisy. The North, less wedded to slavery socially and economically, was able to dismantle the institution gradually, voluntarily, with compensation, and with promise of return to Africa. In 1831, Turner's rebellion ended gradualism and provoked increasing Southern defensiveness. Abolitionists faced difficulty recruiting Jesus to their cause, however, since the Gospels are silent on the matter of slavery while Paul's letters reveal tolerance of the institution. Thus, abolitionists emphasized Jesus' humanity and the golden rule. Abolition did have a violent face in John Brown, but most abolitionists sought to raise all of society from the dead. They sought to inspire a change of heart in slave holders so they would free their slaves. Uncle Tom's Cabin, for example, was written to the wives and mothers of slavers imploring of them a change of heart. The South's defense of slavery was as passionate as abolitionist opposition to it. Slaves were said to be better off than the "wage slaves" of the North. Jesus had not directly justified the institution, but some argued that the golden rule, given a fixed set of fates, meant that slave holders should treat slaves as they would like to be treated if they were slaves themselves. But the wounds of slavery were not to be healed by argument.