Tag Archives: Slavery

Frederick Douglass on the Devilish Decision of the Supreme Court

In March 1857, the US Supreme Court announced their decision in Dred Scrott v. Sandford, written by Chief Justice Taney, a decision that I suppose has long been in the lead on most people’s “worst decisions” lists. It “settled” the issue of slavery in favor of the pro-slavery argument, finding slavery enshrined in the USContinue reading “Frederick Douglass on the Devilish Decision of the Supreme Court”

Slavery in the Pentateuch

I’ve been reading Peter Garnsey‘s very helpful book Ideas of Slavery from Aristotle to Augustine (Cambridge, 1996), and I’ve finally gotten to the good part. Well, okay, the whole thing is good, very helpful, but now that I’m done with the section on general ideas (pp. 1–101) and have entered in the study of specificContinue reading “Slavery in the Pentateuch”

Ancient Roman Slavery: Entry Points

The Bible mentions slaves a number of times, in both the Old Testament (e.g., Exod 21:1–11) and the New Testament (e.g., Eph 6:5–9), so the study of ancient slavery is certainly relevant to a study of Christian Scripture. Fortunately—or, actually, rather dauntingly—there is a ton of scholarship available on ancient slavery. To get a handleContinue reading “Ancient Roman Slavery: Entry Points”