First Abolitionist Single
06:10 Share

Hi, John Dixon with a quick Undeceptions single. Whenever a human being is for sale, nothing less than the owner of the earth is led into the sale room. What folly! These are words from history's first full-throated argument against slavery.

They were spoken around the year 380 by a bishop from Cappadocia in central Turkey. Gregory of Nyssa was one of the intellectual giants of early Christianity. We don't know if he attended the famed Academy of Athens where his brother Basil went,

who was also a noted intellectual, but Gregory somehow eclipsed his big brother in philosophical sophistication as well as rhetorical style. His catechetical lectures, which were designed to instruct newcomers in the faith, display an almost unbelievable subtlety and rigor. His thought remains a topic of research in the history of philosophy today.

There's even an international colloquium on Gregory of Nyssa that meets every few years. The next one is in Exeter in 2022, in case you're interested. But as a local bishop, Gregory of Nyssa also preached weekly sermons. And one of these sermons left us with history's first speech against slavery. So far as we can tell, it had no impact beyond his region.

But I've often wondered how different the world might have been if his argument had taken off. 1500 years before William Wilberforce and Frederick Douglass, Gregory denounced slavery for the scourge that it is. His argument is a bright beam of light in the dark history of humanity and the church. His argument was the obvious one, obvious to us now anyway.

Human beings, he said, are made in the image of God. They are therefore equally and inestimably precious and can't belong to anyone. This is precisely the argument that would win the day for abolition in 18th century England and 19th century America. But Gregory saw these connections in the 4th century. Here is just a portion of his remarkable speech.

You condemn man to slavery when his nature is free and possesses free will and you legislate in competition with God, overturning His law for the human species. The one made on these specific terms that he should be the owner of the earth and appointed to government by the Creator, Him you bring under the yoke of slavery as though fighting against the divine decree.

By dividing the human species in two with slavery and ownership, you have caused humanity to be enslaved to itself and to be the owner of itself. For what price tell me? What did you find in existence worth as much as this human nature? What price did you put on rationality? How many obols did you reckon was the equivalent of the likeness of God?

How many staters, more expensive coins, did you get for selling the being shaped by God? God said, let us make man in our image and our likeness. Whenever a human being is for sale, therefore, nothing less than the owner of the earth is led into the sale room.

But has that scrap of paper and the written contract and the counting out of obols deceived you into thinking yourself the master of the image of God? What folly! As I said, I've often wondered how different history might have turned out if Gregory of Nyssa, rather than some of the other bishops I could mention, had risen to chief prominence in the empire in the 4th century.

had gained the ear of the emperor and changed the lives of millions. Slavery still exists for millions today. Just go to the website of my friends at the International Justice Mission and you'll see the awful facts and figures for yourself. Even today, the owner of the earth is led into the sale room. What folly. Lord have mercy. MUSIC

You've been listening to the Eternity Podcast Network.