Christian views on slavery
aspect of history
Christian views on slavery are varied regionally, historically and spiritually. Slavery in various forms has been a part of the social environment for much of Christianity's history, spanning well over eighteen centuries. Saint Augustine described slavery as being against God's intention and resulting from sin. The earliest elaboration of abolition that survives from antiquity is Gregory of Nyssa's sermon on owning slaves and pride (380 AD), anticipating the moral groundwork of the abolitionist movement by nearly 1,500 years. In the 1700's the abolition movement took shape among Christians across the globe.
In the eighteenth and nineteenth century debates concerning abolition, passages in the Bible were used by both pro-slavery advocates and abolitionists to support their respective views.
In modern times, various Christian organizations reject the permissibility of slavery.
Biblical references
The Bible uses the Hebrew term eved (עבד) and the Greek term doulos (δοῦλος) to refer to slaves. Eved has a much wider meaning than the English term slave, and in many circumstances it is more accurately translated into English as servant or hired worker. Doulos is more specific, but is also used in more general senses as well: of the Hebrew prophets (Revelation 10:7), of the attitude of Christian leaders toward those they lead (Matthew 20:27), of Christians towards God (1 Peter 2:16), and of Jesus himself (Philippians 2:7).
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5110404. The Library of Congress control number is sh85123343. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1700.
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