Our Lord

[Leguleius]

Towards the end of the Western Empire slavery seems to have given way to a semi-feudal type of land service. From being the personal property of one man, rural slaves became tied to the land which was then apportioned by a great lord to his followers. Did the Christian Church have an official position on slavery which might have encouraged this shift? Was personal slavery seen as a 'pagan' institution? Or was feudalism more a concept imported by the Germanic newcomers?

 

Thanks

Edited September 30, 2006 by Leguleius

[Rameses the Great]

Towards the end of the Western Empire slavery seems to have given way to a semi-feudal type of land service. From being the personal property of one man, rural slaves became tied to the land which was then apportioned by a great lord to his followers. Did the Christian Church have an official position on slavery which might have encouraged this shift? Was personal slavery seen as a 'pagan' institution? Or was this more a concept imported by the Germanic newcomers?

 

No, the church did not encourage slavery. It taught equality and that no one is different from the other. There were indentured servants somewhat, that worked for money but they were not 'owned' by anyone. If a person works for someone, he had to be treated well and have had some sort of immediate or along the way reward or pay.

 

Later the Protestants and Anglicans would use the idea of blacks beeing cursed in terms of the 'curse of Ham' by Noah. In terms of was it ever legally allowed in the church, the answer is just no.

[M. Porcius Cato]

Although Jesus certainly had to have known that slavery existed, he never condemned the institution nor did any of his apostles, and in fact St. Paul preached on behalf of slavery in his famous "slaves obey your masters, wives obey your husbands" sermon. Christianity has never taught that all men deserve equal political rights--that is, until it was already a political fact.

[Primus Pilus]

The later catholic church did oppose the institution, while also owning slaves and allowing individual members of the clergy to do so as well. There is a good deal of contradictory evidence regarding the institution that seems to have been effected by regional and individual circumstances, as well as a need to conform to some established social conditions. I believe it was St. Gregory (late 6th and early 7th centuries) who was among the first open and vocal leaders to oppose slavery.

[caldrail]

The early church encouraged equality but I sense a lot of hypocrisy. Churchmen kept slaves without any guilt whatsoever. Slaves were a sign of status. To free slaves showed generosity and wealth and that meant having slaves in the first place. Slavery was a roman institution although christianity did dilute this somewhat.

[M. Porcius Cato]

Slavery was a roman institution although christianity did dilute this somewhat.

 

On the basis of what evidence do you make this claim? For hundreds of years, Christians owned slaves and pointed to St. Paul's sermon for theological justification. Christianity per se had no effect at all on slavery.

[caldrail]

What about gladiatorial combat? The christians were beginning to act against this in the 4th century. Without the need for fighters a whole market for slaves goes out of business.

[DecimusCaesar]

Gregory of Nyssa attacked th institution of slavery and Augustine believed him saying that man's domination over his neighbour was inherently wrong. Even so he said that there was no way of ending it and slavery was a result of the 'fall of man' but it was still conidered to be wrong. The Christian Bishops allowed people who treated their slaves kindly to keep them but in some special cases the same bishops used the money collected by the church to emanciate those slaves that were treated badly. Later on it became a rule of monasteries to oppose slavery on the grounds of morality, although the practise of using slaves still continued.