Deep-Dive on Servanthood and Slavery in the Classical World
Added 2022-03-28 06:49:51 +0000 UTCThis is another one of those places where we have to dig into some of the historical and cultural assumptions Jesus' audience would have brought with them in order to understand what he was saying better. Anytime we're talking about slavery, we are getting into an ugly aspect of human history, but it's an important one and thinking about this will get us to some interesting places.
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Comments
I had a friend from Sudan who was amused by the new-world understanding of slavery and the assumed comparisons to biblical slavery. He came from an upper-middle class family (despite being Christian) and had a compound full of servants. Except they weren't really servants. They lived on the compound and were on call 24 hours a day for whatever needed done. They weren't owned, but it would not be easy for them to find employment elsewhere. As the next generation of the "servant families" became adults, it was assumed by both sides that they would be given tasks to do, a place to live, and an allowance. That was very different from the American slave trade where families were routinely split up and harshly treated, but not exactly people free to leave and find another job that suited them better. There is a significant grey area between chattel slavery and free-market employment. I'm looking forward to the discussion.
Michael Steeves
2022-03-28 11:07:49 +0000 UTC
