Honestly, this was definitely one of the more upsetting lectures to discuss and listen in on. I knew nothing of the existence of a “slave bible” prior to learning about it in this class, but with the time period, it sadly matches up with the time period of slavery being legal in the US. The proponents of slavery didn’t want their slaves to rebel by reading sections of the Bible that could justify why slavery is wrong and could cause them to rebel. Due to this, only about half of the New Testament remained, while the majority of the Old Testament was omitted.
In addition to the slave bible, slavery itself was debated in relations to the Bible over whether or not slavery is a sin. In the reading attached to the lecture, brothers “O.B. and J.B.” were at odds over slavery was sinful or not. Brother O.B. stated that yes indeed it was sinful because slavery itself goes against the Golden Rule of the Lord. While J.B. stated that nowhere in the Rule does it imply or state that slavery is wrong. Obviously, in modern times, this debate has long passed since the abolition of slavery. However, it’s very interesting to note all of the ties to religion over the issue of slavery,