The Historical Role of Leviticus 25 in Naturalizing Anti-Black Racism

Leviticus 25:39-46 describes a two-tier model of slavery that distinguishes Israelites from foreign slaves. It requires that Israelites be indentured only temporarily while foreigners can be enslaved as chattel (permanent property). This model resembles the distinction between White indentured slave...

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Bibliographische Detailangaben
1. VerfasserIn: Watts, James W. 1960- (VerfasserIn)
Medienart: Elektronisch Aufsatz
Sprache:Englisch
Verfügbarkeit prüfen: HBZ Gateway
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Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Veröffentlicht: MDPI 2021
In: Religions
Jahr: 2021, Band: 12, Heft: 8
weitere Schlagwörter:B Slavery
B Colonialism
B Bible
B Whites
B Blacks
B Native Americans
B Leviticus 25
B indenture
B chattel
B Racism
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Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:Leviticus 25:39-46 describes a two-tier model of slavery that distinguishes Israelites from foreign slaves. It requires that Israelites be indentured only temporarily while foreigners can be enslaved as chattel (permanent property). This model resembles the distinction between White indentured slaves and Black chattel slaves in the American colonies. However, the biblical influence on these early modern practices has been obscured by the rarity of citations of Lev. 25:39-46 in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century sources about slavery. This article reviews the history of slavery from ancient Middle Eastern antiquity through the seventeenth century to show the unique degree to which early modern institutions resembled the biblical model. It then exposes widespread knowledge of Leviticus 25 in early modern political and economic debates. Demonstrating this awareness shows with high probability that colonial cultures presupposed the two-tier model of slavery in Leviticus 25:39-46 to naturalize and justify their different treatment of White indentured slaves and Black chattel slaves.
ISSN:2077-1444
Enthält:Enthalten in: Religions
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.3390/rel12080570