“Some legacies of enslavement in the New Testament [have worked] to justify enslavement, racism, and colonialism through the identification of enslaved persons as outsiders, idolaters, and heathens—[all terms that have] been racialized in white supremacy; deployed in colonialism with regard to non-Christians and non-Westerners; and used to justify Christian enslavers as righteous and enslavement as divinely sanctioned.
[But other legacies have worked] to develop a theology of God who shares in pain and suffering and who requires justice; to promote resistance to enslavement as an unjust institution; to tell other stories, complex stories, true stories; and for us to ask more about religion and the legacies of enslavement.”
—Karen L. King, “Enslavement in the Formation of Earliest Christianity,” Religion and the Legacies of Slavery
On Monday, January 30, 2023, Harvard Divinity School hosted an event, featuring HDS Professor Karen L. King, on the presence of enslavement in early Christian stories. The event was the first in a series of six public online conversations titled Religion and the Legacies of Slavery, which aims to build on the work of the 2022 Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery report.
Professor King challenged the audience to think about what it means that Christianity and Christian sacred texts were formed in the ancient Mediterranean where enslavement was common. She highlighted the presence of enslaved persons and ideologies of enslavement in Christian scriptures to demonstrate that there is not a single story about enslavement in the Bible. Rather, Christian stories and teachings express a variety of attitudes, aims, and assumptions about enslavement and involve complex relations between different groups in different ways. A deeper understanding of these complexities can help us address and redress legacies of enslavement and advance racial justice and healing in our own time and context.
Following the event, Jude Ayua and Emily Chaudhari, both Master of Theological Studies degree candidates at HDS, sat down together to talk about it.
Emily Chaudhari: Can you start by sharing a little bit about who you are and what you are studying at HDS?
Jude Ayua: My name is Jude Ayua. I am a lawyer, writer, and creative artist from Nigeria. One sentence that defines me is that “I am passionate about helping people find their purpose and live fulfilling lives.” Everything I do in life is tied to this purpose.
I am here at Harvard for three reasons. First, I am very inquisitive and interested in learning. Growing up, I thought I was going to be a priest and then I changed my plans along the way and decided to study law instead, but my Christian faith remains important to me. I was not very satisfied with only listening to pastors interpret the Bible or reading it myself. I wanted to learn more about Christian sacred texts from an academic perspective.
Secondly, I am interested in peace studies, peace building, and social justice advocacy. When I learned about the Master of Theological Studies program and the religion, ethics, and politics concentration, it interested me because I wanted to know more about how religion plays a role in social issues such as terrorism, gender-based violence, and other forms of violence. When I came here, I also learned that religion has influenced slavery, colonialism, and racism.
The third reason I came to HDS is because I am interested in learning about how ethics can play a role in leadership, policymaking and implementation, and other professional work.
EC: Can you tell me a bit about what you have learned about slavery during your studies at Harvard and what you learned about slavery back home in Nigeria?
JA: During my high school in Nigeria, we mostly learned about colonialism, which was presented in a good light, especially the ‘civilization’ it brought: schools, hospitals, and more. Then, during the first year of my undergraduate education, I took a history class in which they didn’t say much about slavery. They talked mostly about colonialism and how European intervention in Africa hindered economic development. It was only during my studies here at HDS that I began to dig deeper into the history of slavery, and it led me to some shocking discoveries. I didn’t know the extent to which slavery took place. The Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery report was shocking to me.
I thought slavery was carried out by people who were unenlightened. I thought maybe it was just some greedy capitalists, not necessarily those who were in academics that had slaves. I came to realize that slavery was not only about economic gain, it was also about racism. In many ways slaveholders didn’t see people from West Africa as human beings. What I knew about slavery back home was that it was a trade that people were gaining economic benefits from, but when I came here, I realized it went way beyond trade. It was about man’s hatred of another man.
“The Bible has many stories that could be told, but its multiple points and perspectives are often harmonized or narrowed into a single storyline. With enslavement, the view is often to minimize its presence or to consider enslaved persons as ‘others’ and associate them in the same clump with idolaters and heathens, immoral persons enslaved to sin and Satan. But Biblical literature has much more complex and complicated portraits of enslavement. It tells many stories, and many stories are told with it and about it.” —Karen L. King
EC: You attended the event, “Enslavement in the Formation of Earliest Christianity,” which was the first in the six-part series, “Religion and the Legacies of Slavery.” Could you tell me why you wanted to attend the event?
JA: I was interested in attending the event on Monday because I have read parts of and am still reading the Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery report, and I am interested in how slavery relates to Christian theology.
I learned a lot from the event, especially regarding different interpretations of St. Paul’s writings. The event was about Christian perspectives on slavery. Professor King talked about how different narratives of slavery in the Bible, both in the physical sense and also, if I may use the word, metaphorical sense, are interpreted in many ways. In summary, what I took away from the lecture is that there are multiple stories and many different perspectives on slavery in the Bible.
From my perspective, people who use St. Paul’s writings to justify slavery, racism, and other forms of discrimination are misinterpreting the scriptures as I understand them. In my opinion, St. Paul did not approve of slavery but was only trying to give hope to those already enslaved through his letters. But I know not everyone would agree with me about that.
The whole message of Christianity as I understand it, is that we have freedom in Christ. From my perspective, God is a loving God who does not discriminate, and wants everyone to be free. That is why it is shocking to me that so many people that took part in enslavement and colonization were Christian.
EC: Can you talk a little bit about how you see the January 30th event relating to your studies at HDS? How does it inform some of the classes you are taking this semester and some of the things you have been thinking about?
JA: I mentioned earlier that one of the reasons I came to HDS was to get a deeper understanding of how people in academia interpret scripture in ways that may be a bit different from how ministers in the church interpret them. Ministers in the church may have one particular narrative in mind, but in academic settings you learn to look at texts critically and explore some of the nuances and diverse perspectives about them. The lecture answered many of my questions about interpretation of sacred texts. It also helped me think about addressing social issues such as racism and other forms of discrimination.
This semester, I am taking a class called “Black Political Thought.” During the first two classes we focused on the foundational principles that shaped the thoughts of Black rights activists in America. One thing I find fascinating is that Black activists relied on Christian texts to oppose slavery and enslavers relied on those same texts to justify it. It all depends on one’s interpretation. One set of people used the text to justify slavery and another set of people found the hope of freedom within that same text.
“Those who read and live out of this text bear a deep responsibility and accountability for how we live out of this text, for what stories we tell, for what we do with it. It's clear that one does not have to walk away from this text with a pro-slavery position; there is much too much in this text against these kinds of cruelties.” —Karen L. King
EC: Do you think enslavement in the formation of early Christianity matters for us today? If so, why?
JA: Learning about enslavement in the formation of early Christianity still matters today because it shows people that what happened in the early church, even though we may not correctly interpret it, has lasting impacts. I think one thing that stuck out to me about Professor King’s talk was that how people interpret texts form their opinions and inspires their actions. I think that Paul’s writings are so controversial because they can be interpreted in many ways.
EC: I want to go back to something you said earlier. One of the reasons you came to Harvard was because you wanted a broader perspective on scriptures. Why do you think that is important?
JA: I loved Professor King’s reference to Chimamanda Adichie’s Ted Talk, “The Danger of a Single Story.” She said,
“The stories of Jesus have been told over and over. In the New Testament, alone there are four narratives of Jesus, four Gospels, not just one. Within scripture itself are many different scripturalizing practices . . . W.E.B. DuBois’ story [“Jesus Christ in Texas”] reminds me of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's teaching on the danger of a single story. She says, ‘Stories matter . . . Stories have been used to dispossess and malign, but stories can also be used to empower and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of people, but stories can also mend that broken dignity.’ . . .
The Bible has many stories that can be told, so it's incredibly important to ask, ‘From whose perspective are we reading? Who are we trying to hear in the story? Who is telling the story?’ . . . Once we start paying attention, we notice what Bible stories are being told, for what purposes, and to what ends. . . .
I know people like the stability of truth, and I think truth is there. But for us, as human beings, getting to it is hard. This critical constructive engagement is a way to, hopefully, help us do that—respecting all the other kinds of voices and opinions and points of view, taking them in, listening, listening, listening.”
We are very sentimental as human beings, and we don’t want to lose whatever we hold dearly. It can be hard for people to hear anything different from what they grew up knowing. For me, even though I grew up Catholic and learned from my childhood about the faith, I have always had a longing to learn more. It is important to hear different perspectives because what you may think is most correct may not necessarily be so. I am not saying that my Christian teachers all along have been wrong, however, as human beings we may misinterpret scriptures. I am only saying that hearing diverse perspectives will help me have a broader understanding of these texts. I also like to learn from people who might disagree with me because they help me with my convictions. Some things become stronger when they are tested, so for me I am not afraid of my faith to be challenged by different perspectives.
—by Emily Chaudhari, MTS ‘23, RPL Graduate Assistant
Visit the “Enslavement in the Formation of Earliest Christianity” transcript to watch the first session of the Religion and the Legacies of Slavery series with Karen King.