Slavery and the Bible: A Tract for the Times
Overview
Slavery incited tension, division, and eventually for the United States, a full-fledged Civil War. What does the Bible say about slavery? How was slavery perceived in Greek and Roman culture? Can the New Testament be used to legitimize slavery? Such questions split the United States as much as they split churches, as theology became twisted to justify oppression.
In Slavery and the Bible, Schaff responded to urgent requests for clarification and advice. The volume is derived from a sermon delivered at the Lutheran Church in Hagerstown, Maryland in the early days of the United States Civil War.
With Logos, this important work by Philip Schaff is easier to read than ever before! The Scripture texts link to your Greek and Hebrew texts and English translations. And your digital library gives you the ease and flexibility to read Schaff alongside the primary texts of the key figures in church history, such as Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, and the Church Fathers.
Key Features
- Clarification and advice on slavery
- Examination of the origin of slavery
Praise for the Print Edition
In the development of the discipline of church history in the United States, few scholars played a more important role than the Swiss-born, German-educated immigrant Philip Schaff. His model of careful, accurate, comprehensive, and irenic scholarship . . . remains worthy of admiration and emulation.
—R. Graham, professor of American church history, North Park Theological Seminary
No scholar of his generation has interested me so much. He was broad, powerful, a man of great genius.
Philip Schaff wanted to be remembered as a Christian scholar, and he pursued this scholarship in the context of his grand and optimistic ecumenical vision . . . Schaff was, in his own words, an inveterate hoper.
—George Shriver
Product Details
- Title: Slavery and the Bible: A Tract for the Times
- Author: Philip Schaff
- Publisher: M. Kieffer & Co.
- Publication Date: 1861
- Pages: 32
About Philip Schaff
Philip Schaff (1819–1893) was born in Chur, Switzerland. He was educated in Germany at Tübingen, Halle, and Berlin, where he studied under August Neander. In 1843, he moved to America and became a professor of church history and biblical literature at the German Reformed Theological Seminary in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania.
During that time, he edited a hymnal, worked on the liturgy in the German Reformed Church, and edited a translation of the Heidelberg Catechism. The English translation of his History of the Apostolic Church appeared in 1853. Schaff remained at Mercersburg until 1863, when the Civil War forced the seminary to close.
In 1870, Schaff became a professor at Union Theological Seminary. During his tenure there, he held the chair of theological encyclopedia and Christian symbolism, the chair of Hebrew and cognate languages, the chair of sacred literature, and the chair of church history. He also served on the committee that translated the American Standard Version.
Schaff also authored or edited the History of the Christian Church, Early Church Fathers, and the New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge. He is remembered as one of America’s foremost church historians of the nineteenth century.
Top Highlights
“Slavery then takes its rise in sin, and more particularly in war and the law of brute force” (Page 4)
“In the language of a distinguished English commentator, ‘the woman was made of a rib out of the side of man; not made out of his head, to top him—not out of his feet, to be trampled upon by him—but out of his side, to be equal with him—from under his arm, to be protected—and from near his heart to be beloved.’” (Page 3)
“Roman slavery then was far worse than Jewish servitude. It regarded and treated the slaves as chattles and things, while the latter still respected them as persons, provided for their moral and religious wants, and cheered them with the hope of deliverance in the year of jubilee.” (Page 18)
“sixty millions, or at least one half of the entire population of the empire under the reign of Claudius” (Page 16)
“original motives, kidnapping, conquest in war, and purchase by money were the original methods” (Page 4)
- Title: Slavery and the Bible: A Tract for the Times
- Author: Philip Schaff
- Publisher: M. Kieffer & Co.
- Print Publication Date: 1861
- Logos Release Date: 2011
- Era: era:modern
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Slavery › United States; Slavery in the Bible
- Resource ID: LLS:SLVRYANDBBL
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-02-12T06:03:54Z
Philip Schaff (1819–1893) was one of the most distinguished church historians who ever lived. He was educated at Tübingen, Halle, and Berlin, and was professor of church history and biblical literature at German Reformed Theological Seminary. When the Civil War forced the seminary to close, Schaff moved to Union Theological Seminary. Schaff had an enormous influence on German Reformed churches in America, and he wrote History of the Christian Church, Creeds of Christendom, and The Principle of Protestantism.
Reviews
1 rating
Glenn Crouch
6/12/2018
This sermon, turned into a tract, was preached in 1861 - which is the same year that the US Civil War started. So it is a fascinating insight into what was being said about slavery in the churches at that time (admittedly this is a Northern sermon). Whilst I do not fully agree with Schaff's interpretation or understandings (such as the use of the term "inferior races"), I was impressed that he does quite a thorough examination of both Scripture and of History - both of Ancient Israel, and of Roman / Greek times. I also found it interesting, that whilst this could rightly be called an "anti-slavery" tract (as well as an apologetic treatment of slavery in the Bible), it also points out flaws in the Abolitionist movement. Schaff also warns of the danger of quick emancipation, arguing that this may not be the best way to show forth Christian love, rather that slave-owners should be educating and preparing their slaves so that gradual emancipation can take place. That the preacher is trying to find some middle ground between North and South is admirable.