I left class today thinking about what is it that the slaves were holding on to when discussing Christianity. The class roughly mentioned reading from the bible and gospel hymens as the ideas that are keeping the slaves in a mindset of triumph. For most of the slaves that couldn't read, I believe it was mostly the gospels that gave them hope.
When thinking about Christianity it reminds me of another discussion we had about this religion in the "gift" giving sense. Connecting it to the discussion from today's class, their thoughts on Christianity begin to make sense. When the slaves did not know how to read or were not allowed to be taught how to read the gospels were the only form of their religion that they could understand. When the hymens are what brought the slaves together and are what made them stronger, how could they not see Christianity not as a "gift." I definitely think in a case where slaves could not read, the meaning of Christianity became a "double edged sword."
Their inability to learn how to read is what creates the double meaning of Christianity. Its hard to believe that everyone (the whites and the slaves) is happy with the thoughts and feelings about Christianity by the end of the day. The slaves think that Christianity gives them hopes which lets them hold on to their dreams and the whites slave owners feel as if they are teaching and giving them the gift of Christianity. This issue makes me wonder, what are the slaves going to think once they understand and comprehend other parts of the religion, like the other sections in the bible that mention slavery?
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Chesney- I think you bring up some interesting points, particularly your last sentence about what slaves thought once they understood and comprehended other parts of the religion.
ReplyDeleteI think what is interesting is in many of the pieces written by former slaves with literary knowledge, they actually appear to know and understand the bible much better than the slaveholders trying to justify their actions. Equiano, Walker, Jacobs, Douglass, Harper and many other African American authors use extensive references to the bible. Many slaves were able to find comfort and peace from the words of the Gospels, which speak of God's love to all people. I think they were also able to find comfort from some of the stories from the Old Testament, for instance, the passages of the Jews fleeing from the Egyptians in the book of Exodus (which several authors such as Walker reference).
Some slaveholders, such as Phillis Wheatley's owners, sincerely felt they were giving their slaves a "gift" by exposing them to Christianity. However, I do not think this was even close to being the over-arching belief of all "Christian" slaveholders. For the most part, I think many pro-slavery people cherry-picked passages from the bible and interpreted them to suit their own interests and justify their actions. For example, when people reference the "mark of Cain" and assume this meant black people. It creates a large assumption, and according to Genesis, the mark God put on Cain was to ensure that no one could harm him- " 'Not so, if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over. ' Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him" (Gen. 4:15). This immediately puts to rest the argument about the mark of Cain, and shows it to be exaggerated and taken out of context.
My point is, once slaves learned how to read the bible for themselves they were able to form their own opinion, rather than the opinion or interpretation of their slaveholders. Many were able to see more of the truth from the bible, instead of another human being's interpretation.
Even if some passages in the bible reference slavery, such as Ephesians 6:5-7, which instructs slaves to "obey their earthly masters with respect" (a favorite of many slaveholders), the owners conveniently left out the following verse "And master, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him" (Eph 6:9).
Slavery has always been a part of history, in biblical times as well. Even Equiano speaks about slavery existing in Africa, yet they were not treated nearly as horribly as the slaves were in the Atlantic slave trade. Slaves were treated as human beings, not as animals like in the Atlantic slave trade. The cruelty and inhumane treatment that the Atlantic slave trade demonstrates in the 18th and 19th Century cannot be justified with true Christian concepts-no matter how hard the slaveholders may have tried.