Theodore Parker and Roman slavery
While this blog is on the intersection of Roman slavery and American abolition generally, at the moment much of my energy is dedicated to examining how a particular American abolitionist used Roman slavery, the Unitarian minister Theodore Parker. Parker makes for a good case study for a number of reasons:
1) Although a full time parish minister, Parker was also a commited scholar of the bible and antiquity
2) As a minister, Parker participated in the debates on the biblical justifications of slavery and abolition
3) Parker’s abolitionism was not limited to the pulpit: he raised money for John Brown’s attack on Harper’s Ferry
4) Parker’s abolitionism was of his time: all though he believed that slaves needed to be freed immediately, he nonetheless considered peoples from Africa inferior to whites
Today I’m going to look at how Parker uses Roman slavery in his piece, “A Letter on Slavery to the Fellow-Citizens of the United States”. This is an open letter, in which Parker presents himself as a humble man with no particular station or learning. In other words, he is interested in convincing his readers of the evils of slavery, noticeably he chooses to downplay, or even hide, his own thoughts on religion and Christianity for the sake of advancing his argument.
Nonetheless, in this letter Parker takes full advantage of his knowledge of antiquity. One of his key points is that even though the Romans were pagans, or as he labels them, heathens, nonetheless they were kinder to their slaves than American Christians are. Consider these two passages:
“Girls, the children of mulattoes, are sold at great price, as food for private licentiousness, or public furniture in houses of ill-fame. Under the worst of the Roman emperors this outrage was forbidden, and the prefect of the city gave such slaves their freedom. But Republican [i.e. Americans] parents not rarely sell their own children for that abuse.” (in Slave Power, 1969: 55-6)
“Yet, more than fifteen hundred years ago, a Roman emperor forbade the separation of families of slaves, and ordered all which had been separated to be reunited. “Who can bear,” said the Emperor to his heathen subjects, “who can bear that children should be separated from their parents, sisters from their brothers, wives from their husbands?” (in Slave Power, 1969: 59)
Parker’s thoughts on Roman slavery are also directed connected to his belief that the bible is fallible and not absolute. While the precise placement of the bible in Parker’s theology is a complex question, this following quote is a good demonstration of Parker’s overall approach:
“Now some tell us that Paul said, “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers,” meaning “law of the land”- “for the powers that be are ordained by God.” Did Paul do so? Not at all; he resisted the very religion established by the powers that were. But it will be said that, he did not war directly with slavery, yet lived in the midst of slaveholders. Paul had work enough to do, no doubt, without that of abolishing slavery; perhaps he had not his eyes open to this great sin, - not seeing it as a sin. This is certain, that he thought the world was to end in his own lifetime, and therefore if he did see the wickedness of the “institution,” he may have thought it not worth while to attempt to remove what would so soon perish, at the “coming of the Lord.”
Parker is quoting from Romans 13.1: πᾶσα ψυχὴ ἐξοθσία ὑπερεχούσιαις ὑποτασσέσθω, οὐ γάρ ἐστιν ἐξουσία εἰ μὴ ὑπὸ θεοῦ, αἱ δὲ οὖσαι ἐξοθσίαι ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ τεταγμένι εἰσίν.
While this blog is on the intersection of Roman slavery and American abolition generally, at the moment much of my energy is dedicated to examining how a particular American abolitionist used Roman slavery, the Unitarian minister Theodore Parker. Parker makes for a good case study for a number of reasons:
1) Although a full time parish minister, Parker was also a commited scholar of the bible and antiquity
2) As a minister, Parker participated in the debates on the biblical justifications of slavery and abolition
3) Parker’s abolitionism was not limited to the pulpit: he raised money for John Brown’s attack on Harper’s Ferry
4) Parker’s abolitionism was of his time: all though he believed that slaves needed to be freed immediately, he nonetheless considered peoples from Africa inferior to whites
Today I’m going to look at how Parker uses Roman slavery in his piece, “A Letter on Slavery to the Fellow-Citizens of the United States”. This is an open letter, in which Parker presents himself as a humble man with no particular station or learning. In other words, he is interested in convincing his readers of the evils of slavery, noticeably he chooses to downplay, or even hide, his own thoughts on religion and Christianity for the sake of advancing his argument.
Nonetheless, in this letter Parker takes full advantage of his knowledge of antiquity. One of his key points is that even though the Romans were pagans, or as he labels them, heathens, nonetheless they were kinder to their slaves than American Christians are. Consider these two passages:
“Girls, the children of mulattoes, are sold at great price, as food for private licentiousness, or public furniture in houses of ill-fame. Under the worst of the Roman emperors this outrage was forbidden, and the prefect of the city gave such slaves their freedom. But Republican [i.e. Americans] parents not rarely sell their own children for that abuse.” (in Slave Power, 1969: 55-6)
“Yet, more than fifteen hundred years ago, a Roman emperor forbade the separation of families of slaves, and ordered all which had been separated to be reunited. “Who can bear,” said the Emperor to his heathen subjects, “who can bear that children should be separated from their parents, sisters from their brothers, wives from their husbands?” (in Slave Power, 1969: 59)
Parker’s thoughts on Roman slavery are also directed connected to his belief that the bible is fallible and not absolute. While the precise placement of the bible in Parker’s theology is a complex question, this following quote is a good demonstration of Parker’s overall approach:
“Now some tell us that Paul said, “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers,” meaning “law of the land”- “for the powers that be are ordained by God.” Did Paul do so? Not at all; he resisted the very religion established by the powers that were. But it will be said that, he did not war directly with slavery, yet lived in the midst of slaveholders. Paul had work enough to do, no doubt, without that of abolishing slavery; perhaps he had not his eyes open to this great sin, - not seeing it as a sin. This is certain, that he thought the world was to end in his own lifetime, and therefore if he did see the wickedness of the “institution,” he may have thought it not worth while to attempt to remove what would so soon perish, at the “coming of the Lord.”
Parker is quoting from Romans 13.1: πᾶσα ψυχὴ ἐξοθσία ὑπερεχούσιαις ὑποτασσέσθω, οὐ γάρ ἐστιν ἐξουσία εἰ μὴ ὑπὸ θεοῦ, αἱ δὲ οὖσαι ἐξοθσίαι ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ τεταγμένι εἰσίν.