Was the First Great Awakening really revival if it left slavery untouched? How do you wrestle with the legacy of George Whitefield …
11 COMMENTS
There's a movie out about George Whitefield right now, who led what many call a "Great Awakening". Yet he himself remained asleep to a terrible abuse of scriptures that was being used at the time to gaslight the human trafficking of peoples kidnapped from African nations as Biblically acceptable. The Holy Spirit is able to minister conviction regarding injustices no matter how strong an influence the twisting of Bible verses has been on a person. This conviction was resisted by Whitefield and others, possibly due to some sort of sin they were clinging to, or perhaps they were actually wolves in shepherd's garb used to perpetuate the institution of slavery. There is no need to excuse or mitigate this in order to defend the Gospel. Excusing or mitigating it actually does a great disservice to the Gospel. Whitefield so strongly advocated for slavery that he is responsible for getting the state constitution in Georgia to legalize it!
GW is the GOAT of preachers. Stop complaining about the treatment of people 400 years ago. You did not have to go through it. You should be thankful you live in America.
Scale and Location: In 1830, about 3,776 free Black people owned roughly 12,907 slaves, with numbers increasing by 1860. Significant numbers of black slaveholders lived in Louisiana, Maryland, South Carolina, and Virginia. Prominent Owners: Individuals such as William Ellison of South Carolina and Antoine Dubuclet of Louisiana owned over 100 slaves each, with the latter being among the wealthiest in the state. Motivations: While some historians note that some Black slaveholders were motivated by family ties (purchasing spouses or relatives), research by historians like Larry Koger and others suggests many others did so for economic profit. Demographics: A large number of urban Black slave owners were women, often holding slaves inherited or emancipated by white father's.
Blacks owned slaves.well after the imansipation proclamation. George instated slaves to make a place for lonely babies to thrive.
Did Paul condemn slavery? That was not his calling, it was to preach the gospel. Did he condemn slavery in the Roman Empire? There is no record of it. The societal norms and laws of the land, were not his focus and he really didn’t address them. Slavery was much bigger in the Roman Empire. Social justice was not his focus. But as a Christian society in many form, looked at this, it was more and more condemned as unjust, initially in England, and then the US. Two nations, one which fought a civil war about it, led the way in not only condemning it and making it illegal around the world as much as possible. We can criticize Whitfield because he supported and used it. But in his day is was accepted and legal around the world.
What scares me about these arguments is, with the rise of Christian Nationalism, there might be people who are quietly trying to bring back a form of slavery under Biblical guise. Remarks like "The Bible says slavery is a good thing. We are slaves to Christ," may seemingly mean well, but they can also be used to provide aid and comfort to those who support actual chattel slavery.
Because the abolitionist side "won", they are considered the good guys. We don't hear the arguments FOR slavery that the other side voiced unless we go digging into the history books. But there were plenty of arguments for slavery and plenty of scripture verses that were used to support slavery. One of these arguments was that the enslavers were actually doing the enslaved a favor by bringing them over here and civilizing them. Sadly, America's first Black poet, Phyllis Wheatley, endorsed this idea and often used it in her poetry.
We are told that Biblical slavery was not as bad as slavery practiced in the United States. Although how anyone can say that considering we have NO first-hand records of what it was like to be a slave in Biblical times (a period spanning at least three millennia), I don't know. We DO know that American slavery was bad because we DO have eyewitness testimony and accounts. Even so, there are people today who insist that American slavery wasn't all that bad, either. I'm not naming names here, but I'm pretty sure you can all figure out whom I'm referring to.
Now you may call me a fearmonger, and pooh-pooh what I have to say. I don't care. Quite frankly, I hope you all are right. But I never thought that I would hear prominent Christian religious leaders openly speak out against the 19th Amendment and women voting. And if I recall correctly, one of them, Pastor Doug Wilson, has also made statements implying that he would not be averse to seeing American slavery make a comeback.
John Wesley was against slavery. On his death bed he wrote a letter to William Wilberforce, to encourage him to keep working towards the abolition of slavery.
George Whitefield owned slaves yes but he condemned the abusive nature of it. Although he wasn't an abolitionist like Wilberforce, Newton and Wesley. He still viewed all people worthy of God's grace. I think looking back on these men of God they did have differing views on the topic but so did the early church. Paul's letter to Philemon did not call for abolition but told him to accept the slave back as a brother in Christ and not just merely property. I personally think Whitefield was wrong and generally agree with the abolition movement. However, I don't base my opinion of Whitefield on his wrong stance of slavery. I think he was extremely instrumental in the great awakening and God still used him to bring many souls to Christ. Man is flawed and we all make mistakes but God is gracious and unmistakable if He chooses to use anyone to bring lost souls to Himself.
If you study ancient history around the world in reguard to labor the job market options surely wasn't as plentiful as they are now. Slavery was a means of shelter, food and water and any other need to sustain life. The type of treatment that many slave owners administered is what Whitfield condemned!
There's a movie out about George Whitefield right now, who led what many call a "Great Awakening". Yet he himself remained asleep to a terrible abuse of scriptures that was being used at the time to gaslight the human trafficking of peoples kidnapped from African nations as Biblically acceptable. The Holy Spirit is able to minister conviction regarding injustices no matter how strong an influence the twisting of Bible verses has been on a person. This conviction was resisted by Whitefield and others, possibly due to some sort of sin they were clinging to, or perhaps they were actually wolves in shepherd's garb used to perpetuate the institution of slavery. There is no need to excuse or mitigate this in order to defend the Gospel. Excusing or mitigating it actually does a great disservice to the Gospel. Whitefield so strongly advocated for slavery that he is responsible for getting the state constitution in Georgia to legalize it!
The Bible says slavery is a good thing. We are slaves to Christ.
GW is the GOAT of preachers. Stop complaining about the treatment of people 400 years ago. You did not have to go through it. You should be thankful you live in America.
Scale and Location: In 1830, about 3,776 free Black people owned roughly 12,907 slaves, with numbers increasing by 1860. Significant numbers of black slaveholders lived in Louisiana, Maryland, South Carolina, and Virginia.
Prominent Owners: Individuals such as William Ellison of South Carolina and Antoine Dubuclet of Louisiana owned over 100 slaves each, with the latter being among the wealthiest in the state.
Motivations: While some historians note that some Black slaveholders were motivated by family ties (purchasing spouses or relatives), research by historians like Larry Koger and others suggests many others did so for economic profit.
Demographics: A large number of urban Black slave owners were women, often holding slaves inherited or emancipated by white father's.
Blacks owned slaves.well after the imansipation proclamation. George instated slaves to make a place for lonely babies to thrive.
Did Paul condemn slavery? That was not his calling, it was to preach the gospel. Did he condemn slavery in the Roman Empire? There is no record of it. The societal norms and laws of the land, were not his focus and he really didn’t address them. Slavery was much bigger in the Roman Empire. Social justice was not his focus. But as a Christian society in many form, looked at this, it was more and more condemned as unjust, initially in England, and then the US. Two nations, one which fought a civil war about it, led the way in not only condemning it and making it illegal around the world as much as possible. We can criticize Whitfield because he supported and used it. But in his day is was accepted and legal around the world.
What’s the evidence that he notoriously supported slavery?
What scares me about these arguments is, with the rise of Christian Nationalism, there might be people who are quietly trying to bring back a form of slavery under Biblical guise. Remarks like "The Bible says slavery is a good thing. We are slaves to Christ," may seemingly mean well, but they can also be used to provide aid and comfort to those who support actual chattel slavery.
Because the abolitionist side "won", they are considered the good guys. We don't hear the arguments FOR slavery that the other side voiced unless we go digging into the history books. But there were plenty of arguments for slavery and plenty of scripture verses that were used to support slavery. One of these arguments was that the enslavers were actually doing the enslaved a favor by bringing them over here and civilizing them. Sadly, America's first Black poet, Phyllis Wheatley, endorsed this idea and often used it in her poetry.
We are told that Biblical slavery was not as bad as slavery practiced in the United States. Although how anyone can say that considering we have NO first-hand records of what it was like to be a slave in Biblical times (a period spanning at least three millennia), I don't know. We DO know that American slavery was bad because we DO have eyewitness testimony and accounts. Even so, there are people today who insist that American slavery wasn't all that bad, either. I'm not naming names here, but I'm pretty sure you can all figure out whom I'm referring to.
Now you may call me a fearmonger, and pooh-pooh what I have to say. I don't care. Quite frankly, I hope you all are right. But I never thought that I would hear prominent Christian religious leaders openly speak out against the 19th Amendment and women voting. And if I recall correctly, one of them, Pastor Doug Wilson, has also made statements implying that he would not be averse to seeing American slavery make a comeback.
Is slavery sin?
John Wesley was against slavery. On his death bed he wrote a letter to William Wilberforce, to encourage him to keep working towards the abolition of slavery.
George Whitefield owned slaves yes but he condemned the abusive nature of it. Although he wasn't an abolitionist like Wilberforce, Newton and Wesley. He still viewed all people worthy of God's grace. I think looking back on these men of God they did have differing views on the topic but so did the early church. Paul's letter to Philemon did not call for abolition but told him to accept the slave back as a brother in Christ and not just merely property. I personally think Whitefield was wrong and generally agree with the abolition movement. However, I don't base my opinion of Whitefield on his wrong stance of slavery. I think he was extremely instrumental in the great awakening and God still used him to bring many souls to Christ. Man is flawed and we all make mistakes but God is gracious and unmistakable if He chooses to use anyone to bring lost souls to Himself.
If you study ancient history around the world in reguard to labor the job market options surely wasn't as plentiful as they are now. Slavery was a means of shelter, food and water and any other need to sustain life. The type of treatment that many slave owners administered is what Whitfield condemned!