ipl-logo

The Slave Bible Research Paper

797 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Christianity in african american culture

There are many versions, languages and printing types of the Christian Holy Bible and all of them are used to convey a variety of things. Some Bibles were used to be more inclusive, some were simply used to spread “the word” and others for a more sinister reason, to manipulate and oppress. This essay will explore a controversial narrative and version of the bible, one that poisoned a people for generations. This nefarious Bible is a Holy Bible approved for “Negro Slaves” known as the “Slave Bible”. This short essay will cover some recent publications, information and articles detailing the “Slave Bible” and its intended outcome and purpose.
The Museum of the Bible and National Museum of African American History (NMAAHC) and Culture in Washington D.C. is where one can find surviving copies of these …show more content…

Christianity and slavery in America is at the heart of the making of America, although there was and is supposed to be a separation of church and state. The Washington Post saw the museum and these bibles as confronting “the challenge of presenting slavery and the Confederacy”, acknowledging that the history of Christian America was/is tainted with the stain of lies and blood.
It’s imperative to know that African American slaves, no matter where they fall on the spectrum of enslaved Christians (such as Nat Turner or Phillis Wheatley), were all pacified and manipulated by the Bible and Christianity. For example, while Wheatley’s acceptance of the Bible and adaptation to Christianity, overall was almost perfect to the western world and ideal to White America, others were not. Whereas, Turner started out as a “good Negro” by taking “to the word” so good, only to do an about-face, becoming the White supremacist worst

Show More
Related
772 Words | 4 Pages

“The Civil War as a Theological Crisis” written by Mark A. Noll, presents an in-depth view on the conflicts surrounding the interpretation of the Bible, slavery and the Civil War. In addition, he explains how the opposing interpretations of the Bible, slavery and the Civil War remain connected throughout. Moreover, his work depicts the complexities regarding Bible analysis and how these accounts were formed and debated. Mark Noll, is a Historian of Christianity in America and a Professor at Notre Dame is considered an expert in the field. The major argument of this work suggests “The United States in 1860 was not uniquely religious, but was nonetheless, and by almost any standard of comparison, a remarkably religious society”.

Read More
555 Words | 3 Pages

Auld’s misinterpretation of the passage emphasizes slave owners use of religion to reinforce their power over their slaves. Christianity rationalized the concept of buying and selling human beings, and that God approved this too. In addition, Douglass used religion as a way to fuel his abolition movement. Under Master Hugh’s, Douglass began to learn how to read and write. Once

Read More
732 Words | 3 Pages

Christianity was, to the slaves of America, (something with a double meaning). In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass an American Slave, Frederick Douglass, the author, argues about how Christianity can mean one thing to a free white man and something completely different to a black slave. The slave owners follow the ‘Christianity of the Land’ while the slaves follow the ‘Christianity of Christ.’ Frederick begins to build his credibility to a, white, northern, audience by including documents from trustworthy writers and by getting into personal experiences through his writing. Throughout the narrative, he is articulate in how he writes, and it shows the reader that he is well educated.

Read More
996 Words | 4 Pages

Allen Dwight Callahan’s The Talking Book: African Americans and the Bible connects biblical stories and images to the politics, music and, religion, the book shows how important the Bible is to black culture. African Americans first came to know the Bible because of slavery and at that time the religious groups would read it to them instead of teaching them by letting them encounter it for themselves. Later the Bibles stories became the source of spirituals and songs, and after the Civil War motivation for learning to read. Allen Callahan traces the Bible culture that developed during and following enslavement. He identifies the most important biblical images for African Americans, Exile, Exodus, Ethiopia, and Emmanuel and discusses their recurrence and the relationship they have with African Americans and African American culture.

Read More
1124 Words | 5 Pages

We have Douglass and Garnet, both African Americans, as they face in a debate related to a campaign to request money to send Bibles to the slaves of the South. Lincoln wanted to achieve a union between the South and the North, and to achieve its purpose he use the argument that both, people of the South and the North read the same Bible and pray to the same God. The Bible is a set of books that contain the word of God, include rules and doctrines to follow to behave in the best way. Blacks and whites interpret the Bible differently and adjust it to their personal ideals and beliefs. In The Poison Book, Callahan offers us many examples of how blacks and whites interpreted the Bible and how these interpretations were applied at the convenience

Read More
693 Words | 3 Pages

This excerpt illustrates the difference between Christianity and the Christianity of the slaveholders and draws a daunting hiatus between them that cannot be crossed. Douglas said knowing true, pure faith necessitated the rejection of the accepted, wide-spread slaveholder religion as the “enemy”. The establishment that slaveholders called Christianity was simply not Christianity as it validated the actions of whipping, killing, and subjugation of fellow human beings. It was “hypocritical” because it allowed people to commit atrocities in the name of faulty high moral standards and was “the climax of all misnomers”. It was a ruse to call their system Christianity since it was manipulated into whatever it was needed to for, making it “corrupt”

Read More
1534 Words | 7 Pages

Kaitlyn Triplett BLS 365-01 Dr, Matthew McKinnon 9 April 2023 The Civil War as a Theological Crisis Historians often argue that the political and social tensions that existed between Northerners and Southerners and the connection to the legalization of slavery are commonly referred to as the fundamental conflicts that provoked the American Civil War. However, in Mark Noll’s book The Civil War as a Theological Crisis, he examines how the differing religious thought surrounding God’s approval or rejection of slavery created more tensions, division, and was a major landmark shift in American religious thought. In the text, Noll examines differing perspectives of what the Bible has to say about slavery.

Read More
1538 Words | 7 Pages

The Life of a Slave Slavery a name known since the beginning of time but I will be focusing on the year of 1619 to 1865. When Africans first arrived at the colonial America and how they got there. They greatly influenced the lives throughout the thirteen colonies. People failed to realize they were humans just like them.

Read More
707 Words | 3 Pages

David Spencer writes a brilliant book titled “We Shall Not Be Moved” which includes a chapter about the use of black spirituals in the United States south. Spencer explains how “Africans sang of their experiences as slaves and infused them with messages of Christian redemption in the thousands of songs they created for themselves, known collectively as spirituals.” Spencer continues by explaining how the topics of spirituals included the horrors of racial exploitation and messages of liberation associated with their masters’ Protestant Christian views. M. Shawn Copeland argues that “on plantations, religion was the sphere in which the enslaved Africans were able to exercise some measure of autonomy and freedom.” He claims that slaves would risk punishment for freedom in religion as they regularly held independent and unsupervised worship services.

Read More
197 Words | 1 Pages

Throughout the “Narrative of Fredrick Douglass”, Douglass develops an image between true and false Christianity. Douglass elaborates his point in the opening appendix, calling the former “the Christianity of Christ” and the latter “the Christianity of this land.” Douglass describes the ordeal that slaveholders’ Christianity is not a given evidence of natural goodness, but an artificial state of self-righteous brutality. To tackle this distinction, Douglass states a basic contradiction between the charitable, peaceful beliefs of Christianity and the violence from the immoral actions of slaveholders. The character that is described as a good example for this theme is Thomas Auld.

Read More
559 Words | 3 Pages

In the narrative “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave”, Frederick Douglass shows the religious irony in southern slaveholding culture. Douglass gives the reader personal accounts of how brutally some slaves were treated on the plantations. Douglass also contrast the differences between southern and northern slaveholding culture. In the appendix, Douglass argues that there a major differences between Christianity shown to us in the South and Christianity shown to us in the Bible. Douglass gives us personal insight to the life of a slave and their treatment.

Read More
1049 Words | 5 Pages

It is a common argument for Christian slaveholders to make “…that God cursed Ham, and therefore American slavery is right…” (5). this argument exposes their hypocrisy as it conveys how they attempt to stretch small pieces of scripture to justify the violence of the American slavery. Douglass thus asks if it is humane to use a small piece of writing to damn an entire race to hardship and subhuman treatment. This case of blasphemy is amplified by the observation that Douglass makes of one of his slave masters, Mr. Covey, in that “he seemed to think himself equal to deceiving the almighty” (61).

Read More
1141 Words | 5 Pages

Evangelical preachers, in keeping with their social doctrine that targeted the disadvantaged in society, attempted to convert slaves and Native Americans. Prior to the Awakening no one had made a serious effort at their conversion for fear that Christianity was “a step towards freedom” (357). Slaves attended evangelical sermons en masse, wary of the Anglican ministers who supported their masters. Evangelical Christianity offered moments of release and equality from the perpetual suffering of a slave’s life. This did not mean, however, that the evangelists actively opposed slavery.

Read More
692 Words | 3 Pages

Douglass has shown how religious slaveholders are the worst especially when entertainment comes into play. The first being from one of his slaveholders Master Thomas, he whipped a young woman while reading a quote from the scripture to explain his reason for whipping her. The next example was with his other Master Mr.Covey, he would go to church and preach the word but come back beating slaves and going against the almighty God. The last example that is shown is again shown with Mr.Covey, he was guilty of compelling his woman slave to commit the sin of adultery. All of the examples illustrate that religious slaveholders are worst than non-religious slaveholders.

Read More
927 Words | 4 Pages

Religion and its relationship to slavery is a contradictive subject, whether it was forced upon slaves or was a form of hope and freedom is still commonly debated about to this day. However, these individuals were devoted Christians in the abolitionist movement who all

Read More

More about The Slave Bible Research Paper

Related Topics

Open Document