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Regarding Christians and the pursuit of justice:
I've been helped by reading Gregory of Nyssa's 4th Homily on Ecclesiastes, which he preached during Lent in 379.
Jennifer Glancy calls the sermon "the most scathing critique of slave-holding in all of antiquity."
Thread --->
I've been helped by reading Gregory of Nyssa's 4th Homily on Ecclesiastes, which he preached during Lent in 379.
Jennifer Glancy calls the sermon "the most scathing critique of slave-holding in all of antiquity."
Thread --->
The sermon starts by quoting Ecc. 2:7: "I obtained servants, maidens, servants born to me."
Gregory asks:
"Do we find a person who regards himself as lord over his fellow man? Do you see here a pride which makes false pretensions? Such words as these rise up against God."
Gregory asks:
"Do we find a person who regards himself as lord over his fellow man? Do you see here a pride which makes false pretensions? Such words as these rise up against God."
Gregory proceeds to excoriate slave-holding in the strongest terms, calling it a deluded arrogance, a contradiction of God's Word, an overthrowing of God's law, and a violation of the image of God in another human being.
He bases his condemnation of slavery on two values:
1. human dignity
2. human equality
Slavery is wrong because (1) we are all made in God's imagine and thus of inestimable value and dignity; and (2) we are all equal before God, made from dust and destined to return to dust.
1. human dignity
2. human equality
Slavery is wrong because (1) we are all made in God's imagine and thus of inestimable value and dignity; and (2) we are all equal before God, made from dust and destined to return to dust.
Importantly, Gregory doesn't just condemn the mistreatment of slaves, but the institution as such. He leaves his parishioners no room to think, "but I treat my slaves well!" For Gregory, the problem is with daring to think that anyone could ever *own* another image-bearer.
It's important to understand how rare this was in antiquity. As David Bentley Hart notes, "Gregory broke with all known precedent in this sermon."
What was it that led to such a radical view?
Christian theology. Specifically, that world-shattering idea, the imago Dei.
What was it that led to such a radical view?
Christian theology. Specifically, that world-shattering idea, the imago Dei.
I find Gregory's sermon relevant to three contemporary conversations/demographics:
1) secularists (Stephen Pinker, Bill Maher) who claim that religion is inherently poisonous, oppressive, etc., and that modernity freed us from this. Gregory complicates the secular narrative.
1) secularists (Stephen Pinker, Bill Maher) who claim that religion is inherently poisonous, oppressive, etc., and that modernity freed us from this. Gregory complicates the secular narrative.
2) Christians who go full throttle with a trajectory/redemptive-movement hermeneutic, such that the church's historic position on other issues (e.g., sexuality) is regarded as out-dated and unimportant. Again, Gregory complicates the narrative.
3) Christians who are hesitant about, or even opposed to, pursuing justice today. Gregory is one example (among many others that could be referenced) that the pursuit of justice is *deeply Christian.* It's not a distraction from the gospel. It's just good theology.
There is obviously room for legitimate debate about how we best pursue justice today. But the tendency of some to regard *any* advocacy for justice as "liberal" is contrary to historic Christian instincts. (It also has some difficulty with the Bible.)
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