Reading the Bible Responsibly in a Polarized Church & World – Part 9

Opening Prayer

In the silence of the morning, we are alive to the new day’s light, alert to the early stirrings of the wind and the first sounds of the creatures. In the silence of our heart, we hear the yearnings that are in us and the fears, the hopes that rise from within and the doubts that trouble our soul. In the beginnings of this day, O God, before night’s stillness is lost to the day’s busyness, open to us the treasure of our inner being that in the midst of this day’s busyness, we may draw on wisdom. Assure us again of our origins in you, assure us again that our true depths are of you.

• John Philip Newell, Sounds of the Eternal – A Celtic Psalter, p. 14.

Reading the Bible Responsibly in a Polarized Church & World:

The Bible’s content in many ways engages its readers – puzzling, angering, challenging, and inspiring them. How has the Bible historically been used, including with the issue of slavery? Can readers navigate the use of biblical texts that are quoted across the political spectrum? What principles exist for interpreting these texts that support conflicting viewpoints? Together, we will explore a way forward: reading the Bible with each other, guided by the rule of love.

The Bible and Racism in the United States (cont’d)

“What was more difficult for proslavery Christians was finding biblical support for the enslavement of Africans. Slavery based on race is not found in the Bible and only began to appear in Christianity around 1500. In the Hebrew Bible, there are different rules for the treatment of Israelite and non-Israelite slaves, but there was no idea of biological ‘race’ in antiquity. It’s a product of Western European and North American thought in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Consequently, proslavery Bible readers turned to one of the Bible’s more arcane stories to justify African slavery, the drunkenness of Noah in Genesis chapter 9.”

[Reading from Genesis 9:18-27]

“Proslavery Bible readers made two important interpretive moves to see this text as justification for African slavery.”

“First, they read the statement in Genesis 9:19, which states that Noah’s three sons were the ancestor’s of the world’s people, alongside the list of their descendants in Genesis 10 that is known as the Table of Nations. There, Ham’s sons are named as ‘Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan.’ Although it is difficult to connect ancient place names with modern locations, Cush has long been seen as reference to what is now Ethiopia and Put to modern-day Libya. Putting these two alongside Egypt gives us three regions on or near the African continent (Canaan refers to the territory of the modern state of Israel and the Palestinian Authority). This made Ham the ancestor of Africans. This particular reading was not created by proslavery Americans but comes out of the early Christian tradition. Ambrose of Milan (d. 397) understood the curse of Ham to be the introduction of slavery into the world, and the ninth-century Alexandrian patriarch, Eutychius, argued that the descendants of Ham are the Africans. Neither of these ancient authors, however, argued for the enslavement of Black Africans on the basis of these texts; that practice would not appear until several centuries later.”

“Second, the proslavery Bible readers viewed the curse of Canaan in Gen. 9:25-27 as God’s decree that all of Ham’s descendants would be slaves to the other peoples of the Earth for all time. This made all Black Africans subject to a perpetual biblical punishment and their enslavement a fulfilling of God’s will.”

“While modern Bible readers would agree that certain parts of the Bible contain some amount of historical information, this particular interpretation is strange to most of us because it rests on assumptions we are not prepared to agree to: that Noah and his sons were historical people; that the biblical stories about them are factual; that Noah’s three sons are the literal ancestors of all the peoples of the world; that Ham is the ancestor of Africans; that the curse of Canaan as punishment for his father’s sin also extended to his three brothers, Cush, Egypt, and Put. Nevertheless, this reading has a long history of use by White Americans. [Author] Stephen Haynes details how proslavery readings of Genesis 9-10 also played into the Southern fears of dishonor, sexual transgression, and a disordered society, which reappear in the debate around the Civil Rights movements in the 1950s and 1960s.”

(Thomas M. Bolin, An Inspired Word in Season – Reading the Bible Responsibly in a Polarized World, 2025.)

For this week: For reflection: Do you recall hearing or reading this Bible passage, which follows the Noah’s Ark story? Have you personally experienced anyone call for the enslavement of Black Africans on the basis of this Bible passage?

An invitation to our virtual participants: Discussion and comments are very much encouraged and welcomed. Online discussions can be held in the comments section in the upcoming post on Social Media for this week’s Deacon’s Reflection, which is part of adult formation at St. Francis Episcopal Church.

Some Suggested Study Resources:

• The New Oxford Annotated Bible, NRSV, with the Apocrypha; 5th edition.
• The Harper Collins Study Bible, NRSV, Fully Revised and Updated (Including Apocryphal Deuterocanonical Books); Society of Biblical Literature; (e-book).
• The Jewish Annotated New Testament, NRSV, 2nd edition, Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler, editors; Oxford University Press.

Closing Prayer – Prayer of Blessing

Like an infant’s open-eyed wonder and the insights of a wise grandmother, like a young man’s vision for justice and the vitality that shines in a girl’s face, like tears that flow in a friend bereaved and laughter in a lover’s eyes, you have given us ways of seeing, O God, you have endowed us with sight like your own. Let these be alive in us this day, let these be alive in us.

May the light of God illumine the heart of my soul.

May the flame of Christ kindle me to love.

May the fire of the Spirit free me to live this day, tonight, and forever. Amen.

• John Philip Newell, Sounds of the Eternal – A Celtic Psalter, p. 17.

“Reading the Bible Responsibly in a Polarized Church & World,” Deacon Joe Dzugan, St. Francis Episcopal Church,
2026.