Book contents
- Slavery in the Late Antique World, 150–700 CE
- Slavery in the Late Antique World, 150–700 CE
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Preface
- A Note on Abbreviations and Sources Used
- Introduction Late Antique Studies and the New Polyphony for Slave Studies
- Part I Moral and Symbolic Values of Slavery
- 1 Masters and Slaves in Early Christian Discourse
- 2 Slavery and Religion in Late Antiquity
- 3 (Il)Legal Freedom: Christ as Liberator from Satanic Debt Bondage in Greek Homilies and Hymns of Late Antiquity
- 4 Late Roman Ideas of Ethnicity and Enslavement
- Part II Slavery, Cultural Discourses, and Identity
- Part III Slavery, Social History, and the Papyrological and Epigraphical Sources
- Part IV Social and Religious Histories of Slavery on the Borders of the Empire and Beyond
- Bibliography
- Index
1 - Masters and Slaves in Early Christian Discourse
from Part I - Moral and Symbolic Values of Slavery
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 January 2022
- Slavery in the Late Antique World, 150–700 CE
- Slavery in the Late Antique World, 150–700 CE
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Preface
- A Note on Abbreviations and Sources Used
- Introduction Late Antique Studies and the New Polyphony for Slave Studies
- Part I Moral and Symbolic Values of Slavery
- 1 Masters and Slaves in Early Christian Discourse
- 2 Slavery and Religion in Late Antiquity
- 3 (Il)Legal Freedom: Christ as Liberator from Satanic Debt Bondage in Greek Homilies and Hymns of Late Antiquity
- 4 Late Roman Ideas of Ethnicity and Enslavement
- Part II Slavery, Cultural Discourses, and Identity
- Part III Slavery, Social History, and the Papyrological and Epigraphical Sources
- Part IV Social and Religious Histories of Slavery on the Borders of the Empire and Beyond
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
At the heart of Christianity lies an imperative to change. Following Jesus, becoming part of the movement, is about transformation: changing oneself, changing communities, indeed, changing the world. But then, we are all also subject to the imperative to survive: to accept, to adopt and adapt, to conform and to continue, to compromise, and to let be. Nothing reveals this paradoxical nature of the early church more clearly than the history of early Christianity and slavery.
Jennifer Glancy points out that scholars of early Christianity tend to have two distinct perspectives on slavery, the church, and society. While not contradictory, the two views, in essence, depict different trajectories of which one can be characterised as of descent and the other of ascent. According to one view, the Christian movement in the earliest years was a golden age for relations between women and men, slaves and slaveholders.
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- Slavery in the Late Antique World, 150 – 700 CE , pp. 15 - 42Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022