Esau McCaulley - October 13, 2024
The Gospels and the Anti-Slavery Movement
During the 19th-century, there was extensive theological and biblical debate around the issue of slavery in North America. The scholarly consensus seems to suggest that the pro-slavery faction had the better biblical argument, but the pro-abolitionist side had the better moral argument. In addition, many contend that abolitionists searched frantically and often in vain for biblical support for abolition, especially in the gospels. Dr. McCaulley challenges that consensus by focusing on the use of the Jesus tradition in the slavery and abolitionist debates by demonstrating that abolitionists made extensive use of the Jesus tradition in their reasoning and were much more confident in their position than later scholars and clergy recognize.
