Notes for 9/20/16

Paul
o
o
o

of New Testament
14 letters many likely not written by Paul but by disciples of his
ambiguous issues in undisputed letters clarified by disciples in
disputed letters
o Romans undisputed and considered to be the one letter from Paul
that gives a systematic theology
o occasional letters
Pauls Life
o Hellenist (Jew living in the Greek diaspora), Jew, Apostle of Christ
o After conversion, he goes by Paul
o Pride in his Judaism
o Paul and the author of Acts want to emphasize his Jewish education
under a famous Rabbi
o Paul became a follower and apostle of Christ on the road to Damascus
with a dramatic conversion experience through vision
o Never met Jesus, but experienced the risen Christ his mission is from
a divine call
o Message is rooted in divine revelation
o Mission to the Gentiles
his gospel is not just for Jews, Gentiles included among those
who can be saved by Jesus
Peter and James are focused on converting their fellow Jews
Paul takes on the mission to the Gentiles gets blessing from
those two
Gentile converts only have to uphold moral law, not ritual law

Critical Essay - The Bible and Conversion Therapy & Related Laws

Look at the websites of Christian conversion therapy companies

Look at politicians involved in debate over banning it
Look at sermons about lgbt and conversion therapy

9/22
David Walker and Slavery

the word slave or slavery never appears in the Constitution

3/5ths compromise slaves worth 3/5 person when counting population (free
blacks worth a full person)
free black right to vote determined by states
Alexis de Tocqueville democracy in America racism is stronger in nonslave states
1804 Haitian revolution
1807 end of the British Atlantic Slave Trade
1808 US ends importation of slaves
1816 American Colonization Society founded by those who believed that
freed blacks should be settled in Africa
1822 Liberia established as American colony
Compromise of 1820 Missouri in as a slave state, Maine as a free state; sets
boundary between slave and free territory at 36 th parallel
Shifting attitudes towards slavery
o 1740s-1790s slavery is a sin
o 1790s-1830s slavery is a necessary evil
o 1830s-1865 slavery is ordained by God
David Walker
o born in Wilmington, NC in 1785 or 86
o Father was a slave, mother was free, inherited mothers status
o traveled the country in 1820s, spending time in Charleston, SC (large
population of free blacks)
o settled in Boston in 1825
o agent for Freedoms Journal, a black abolition journal
o owned a secondhand clothing business inserted pamphlets into his
clothing to sell to black sailors who went between Boston and southern
cities they would distribute the pamphlets throughout the South
o published the appeal three different times with additions
o found dead near his show in 1830
o some argue that Nat Turner was inspired to lead his slave revolt in
Virginia by reading the Appeal
The Appeal
o conforms to some of the tenants and assumptions of Western culture
and civilizations and the condition of Africans

9/27/16

Primeval History
o Gen 1-3: Creation, transgression, forbidden fruit
o Gen 4: Cain and Abel
o Gen 6-8: Noah and the Flood, do over of creation with a new improved
Adam
o Gen 9: Noahs covenant, Curse of Ham/Canaan
o Gen 4, 5, 10, 11: Genealogies
identified whether someone was an insider or outsider and social
roles; a selected picture; account for present day relationships
by tracing them to the past; can serve as political documents
(land claims, etc.)
Table of Nations (Gen 10) sons of Noah and descendants
Age spans of the people decrease as genealogies go on early
on (1000s of yrs old), post-flood (300-200 yrs old) and then to
Abraham (120 yrs old), Kings (normal lifespans)
o Gen 11: Tower of Babel
Curse of Ham
o Noah plants a vineyard as soon as he gets off the boat, gets drunk,
gets naked in his tent
o What was Hams crime? No one fucking knows!
o Incest Laws Leviticus 20:10 uncovering nakedness
o One interpretation - all descendants of Ham will be punished
Israelites will eventually be given Canaan (Deuteronomy 7:1)
A populated area is cleared by God for the Israelites who must
utterly destroy those peoples (including Canaanites)
o Corrupt Text
Texts that are missing pieces something has been lost
Possible that we dont have the full story in this text
Discussion of Ham within American History
o The Cushite by Rufus Perry traced genealogies of Ham and
described those descendants as black through various language
o Attempt to separate Egypt from the rest of Africa and whitewash it in
order to lay claim to their heritage
Paul!!!
o Galatians 3:28 all are one in Christ Jesus, if you belong to Christ,
then you are Abrahams offspring right now or in the future of
Christ?
o Philemon
story about an actual slave who Paul considered a brother
Paul commands others to welcome him as they would welcome
Paul
Phil 16 no longer a slave but more than a slave, a beloved
brother
o 1 Cor 7 stay where you are because Jesus is coming so why bother?
o 1 Cor 21 uses language of slavery
o Household Codes Colossians and Ephesians

9/29/16

Pro- and Anti-Slavery Arguments from the Bible

o Radical Pro-slavery Christians: Submission to Biblical Interpretation
Revival and Biblical Reform
Saw slavery as ordained by God
Attempted to reform slavery according to Household Codes in
Ephesians and Colossians
John Henry Hopkins, Episcopal Bishop of Vermont
Thorton Stringfellow, Baptist minister from Virginia
Charles B. Hodge, Presbyterian minister and Princeton professor
Several denominations organized missions to slaves
Catechism used in those missions indoctrinate slaves from
their own theology to a doctrine of willful obedience
o Moderate Pro-slavery Evangelicals: Supporters of the American
Colonization Society
Robert Finley, Presbyterian minister and Princeton grad
Saw free blacks as problematic and supported colonization of
blacks to Africa
Supported by some moderate abolitionists and some free blacks
who supported colonization
Supported by both northern and southern whites who supported
slavery
Some radical pro-slavery supporters also supported ACS
Supported by T. Jefferson, A. Jackson, and (early on) A. Lincoln
o Northern Anti-Slavery Moderates
Opposed slavery but gradually
Concentrated on stopping the spread of slavery
Slaveholders would be compensated for their loss
Supporting various black emigrationist schemes
Lyman Beecher, Congregationalist minister (Father of Harriet
Beecher Stowe and Henry Ward Beecher)
Benjamin Lundy, NJ businessman
A. Lincoln
o Radical Abolitionists: Abolition from Political Action to Violence
Immediate, unconditional, and total abolition
The use of multiple means: moral suasion, religious conversion,
political activism, literary effort, support of the underground
railroad, even violence
Theodore Weld, Angela and Sarah Grimke, Harriet Beecher
Stowe, Frederick Douglass, Charles Finney, Harriet Tubman, John
Brown
Moral Suasion
Influence by Quaker movement
William Lloyd Garrison, Lydia Childs, Frederick Douglass
(early on)

disregarded the American Constitution because of its

support for slavery
Garrison was called an anarchist.
Bibles Pro-Slavery Case
Slavery was divinely sanctioned among the patriarchs
Slavery was incorporated into Israels national constitution
Slavery was recognized and approved by Jesus and the apostles
Slavery is a merciful institution
Anti-slavery case
Slavery of patriarchs does not justify slavery in the US
Gods deliverance of Israelites from Egyptian slavery shows that
God hates and condemns slavery
Hebrew servitude in the time of Moses was voluntary, merciful,
and of benefit to the servant (not slavery)
Israels history and the prophetic oracles confirmed that
oppressive slavery did not exist in Israel; if it existed, God would
have condemned it
Neither Jesus nor the apostles approved or condoned slavery

10/4/16
Women and the Bible

Genesis 1:26-27
o haadam translation as humankind instead of mankind?
o Hebrew poetry has parallelism male and female is parallel to in
the image of God, arguing that they were both created in the image of
God (Tribble) within the divine being there are male and female traits
Relationship b/n Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 & 3
o order of creation in Gen 1 is different than the order of creation in Gen
2&3
Gen 1 is an overview, Gen 2&3 is a focused expansion on
creation
o haadam could be gendered as male OR as an androgynous earth
creature and only when the rib is taken from them is gender/sexuality
established (Tribble)
only in the next verse does the Hebrew shift from haadam to
ish (man) and ishah (woman)
o helper the literal translation is a helper as opposite to him how
do we interpret that?
the way we interpret helper indicates the way we interpret the
divinely ordained purpose of woman
some understand this as woman being subordinate to man
other places, God is described as a helper maybe she is
better than him?
only after woman and man eat from the tree is the hierarchy
established patriarchy is an aspect of the Fall
o 3:16 punishments
the womans crime is not named there are multiple
possibilities wherein she is not guilty
she may not have been there for the command, she was tricked
by the serpent, etc.
her punishment has to do with her reproductive capacity and her
pain
mans punishment has to do with agriculture and his pain
these are setting up expectations for gender roles from hereon
out
the same word for labor is used in both punishments textual
parallel
listened to your wife that conversation is not included and
then could be filled in by future interpreters active
seductress/temptress trope is created later by MEN (ugh)
end of Gen 3 expulsion all pronouns are singular God is
afraid of the man becoming like Him
Old Testament vs. New Testament

women in the OT were oppressed but Jesus was a liberator so all the
NT women are equal and not oppressed
women were among Jesus followers
Jesus crossed ritual boundaries (healing a menstruating woman)
Jesus defends a woman accused of adultery and about to be
stoned
a BIG dichotomy that doesnt always apply
theres a real anti-Semitic potential to this dichotomy Jews
were terrible to women and Christians were not
Historical Jesus and Historical Paul vs. the Authors of the Gospels/DeuteroPauline Letters
o we dont necessarily have the words of historical Jesus and he was
more of a feminist than the Gospels are reporting
o Paul in his own writing entertains notions of equality b/n men and
women, and those writing in the name of Paul introduce the gender
hierarchy
Supporting ones own views
o Translation haadam, helper, deacon, etc.
o Authorship authored by men who are inconsistent vs. authored by a
consistent God; Pauline letter dissension
o Historical Context the Bible was written in a different historical
context and is expressing cultural view from that time period
o Appeal to broader scripture argument that helper doesnt have to
be subordinate, etc.
Genesis 2&3 in other contexts
o has also been used against homosexuality and trans-ness
o creation of woman (2:22) an etiology (explains the origin of a
practice) of marriage
man marries a woman bc she is created from him and they are
one flesh
used against queer ppl bc heterosexuality is a God-ordained part
of paradise
one reading this is a command that all men should marry a
woman
appeal to broader scripture what about other biblical figures
with multiples wives and slave-wives?
o Gen 1 used against trans people
God creates through His word and after each creative moment
He sees that it is good
after He creates everything (including male and female), He
sees that it is very good
trans people are implying that God made a mistake which is Not
Chill and is experiencing a disorder and needs to be ministered
to
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o