Historically, slavery has been regulated, supported, or opposed on religious grounds.
In Judaism, Hebrew slaves were given a range of treatments and protections. They were to be treated as an extended family with certain protections, and they could be freed. They were property but could also own material goods.
Early Christian authors (except for Assyrian Christians who did not believe in slavery) maintained the spiritual equality of slaves and free persons while accepting slavery as an institution. Early modern papal decrees allowed the enslavement of the unbelievers, though popes denounced slavery from the fifteenth century onward. This denouncement of slavery did not discourage (for example) the diocese of the Anglican church from having an indirect involvement with the religious conversion of black slaves in Barbados, in which one of the main principles was the divine right of the master over the slave. In the eighteenth century, the abolition movement took shape among Christians across the globe, but various denominations did not prohibit slavery among their members into the nineteenth century. Enslaved non-believers were sometimes converted to Christianity, but elements of their traditional beliefs merged with their Christian beliefs.
Early Islamic texts encourage kindness towards slaves and manumission (legally freeing individual slaves), while recognizing slavery as an institution and permitting enslavement of non-Muslims imprisoned or bought beyond the borders of Islamic rule. Children born to slaves were also considered legally as slaves.
Slavery in the Bible
The Genesis narrative about the Curse of Ham has often been held to be an aetiological story, giving a reason for the enslavement of the Canaanites. The word ham is very similar to the Hebrew word for hot, which is cognate with an Egyptian word (kem, which means black) and is used to refer to Egypt itself, in reference to the fertile black soil along the Nile valley. Although many scholars therefore view Ham as an eponym which is used to represent Egypt in the Table of Nations,Jewish Encyclopedia (1901), article on Ham a number of Christians throughout history, including OrigenOrigen, Homilies, on Genesis 16:1 and the Cave of Treasures,(edited by Ciala Kourcikidzé), The cave of treasures: Georgian version, translated by Jean-Pierre Mahé in The written corpus of eastern Christianity 526-27, part of Scriptores Iberici 23-24 (Louvain, 1992-93), 21:38-39 have argued for the alternate proposition that Ham represents all black people, his name symbolising their dark skin colour;Goldenberg, D. M. (2003). The Curse of Ham. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, page 141. pro-slavery advocates, from Eutychius of Alexandria(edited by J.P. Migne), Complete course in Patrology…Greek series, (Paris, 1857-66), on Annals 111:917B:41-43 and John Philoponus,A. Sanda, Opposcula Monophysitica Johannes Philoponi (Beirut, 1930), page 96 to American pro-slavery apologists,Haynes, Stephen R. (2002). Noah's Curse: The Biblical Justification of American Slavery. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 71.Stewart, Matthew (2024). An Emancipation of the Mind: Radical Philosophy, the War over Slavery, and the Refounding of America. W. W. Norton & Company. Review by Harold Holzer, "Religious Retreat", The Wall Street Journal, March 31, 2024 have therefore occasionally interpreted the narrative as a condemnation of all black people to slavery.Felder, C. H. (2002). Race, Racism, and the Biblical Narratives. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Augsburg Fortress, page 8. A few Christians, like Jerome, even took up the racist notion that black people inherently had a soul as black as [their] body.Jerome, Homilies, 1:3:28
Slavery was customary in antiquity, and it is condoned by the Torah. The Bible uses the Hebrew term () to refer to slavery; however, has a much wider meaning than the English term slavery, and in several circumstances it is more accurately translated into English as servant.Jewish Encyclopedia (1901), article on Slaves and Slavery It was seen as legitimate to enslave captives obtained through warfare, but not through kidnapping. Children could also be sold into debt bondage, which was sometimes ordered by a court of law.Jewish Encyclopedia (1901), article on Slaves and Slavery
As with the Hittite Laws and the Code of Hammurabi,Peake's commentary on the Bible (1962), on Exodus 21:18-27 the Bible does set minimum rules for the conditions under which slaves were to be kept. These are written as condition statements reflective of bronze age law. A set of if/then parameters to account for specific transgressions. Slaves were to be treated as part of an extended family; they were allowed to celebrate the Sukkot festival, and expected to honour Shabbat. Israelite slaves could not be compelled to work with rigour, and debtors who sold themselves as slaves to their creditors had to be treated the same as a hired servant. If a master harmed a slave in one of the ways covered by the lex talionis, the slave was to be compensated by manumission; if the slave died within 24 to 48 hours, he or she was to be avenged (whether this refers to the death penaltyMaimonides, Mishneh Torah or notJewish Encyclopedia (1901), article on Avenger of Blood is uncertain).
Israelite slaves were automatically manumitted after six years of work, and/or at the next Jubilee (occurring either every 49 or every 50 years, depending on interpretation), although the latter would not apply if the slave was owned by an Israelite and was not in debt bondage. Slaves released automatically in their 7th year of service, which did not include female slaves, orJewish Encyclopedia (1901), article on Law, Codification ofPeake's commentary on the Bible (1962), on Exodus 21:2-11 did, were to be given livestock, grain, and wine, as a parting gift (possibly hung round their necks). This 7th-year manumission could be voluntarily renounced, which would be signified, as in other Ancient Near Eastern nations,Thomas Kelly Cheyne and John Sutherland Black, Encyclopaedia Biblica (1903), article on Slavery by the slave gaining a ritual ear piercing; after such renunciation, the individual was enslaved forever (and not released at the JubileeThomas Kelly Cheyne and John Sutherland Black, Encyclopaedia Biblica (1903), article on Slavery). Non-Israelite slaves were always to be enslaved forever, and treated as inheritable property.
In New Testament books, including the First Epistle of Peter, slaves are admonished to obey their masters, as to the Lord, and not to men; and the Epistle to Philemon was used by both pro-slavery advocates as well as by abolitionists;Religion and the Antebellum Debate Over Slavery, by John R. McKivigan, Mitchell Snay in the epistle, Paul returns Onesimus, a fugitive slave, back to his master.
Judaism
More mainstream forms of first-century Judaism did not exhibit such qualms about slavery, and ever since the second-century expulsion of Jews from Judea, wealthy Jews have owned non-Jewish slaves, wherever it was legal to do so; nevertheless, manumissions were approved by Jewish religious officials on the slightest of pretexts, and court cases concerning manumission were nearly always decided in favor of freedom, whenever there was uncertainty towards the facts.The Minor Tractates, Abadim 9:6
The Talmud, a document of great importance in Judaism, made many rulings that made manumission easier and more likely: The costly and compulsory giving of gifts was restricted to the 7th-year manumission only. The price of freedom was reduced to a proportion of the original purchase price rather than the total fee of a hired servant and could be reduced further if the slave had become weak or sickly (and therefore less saleable). Voluntary manumission became officially possible, with the introduction of the manumission deed (the ), which was counted as prima facie proof of manumission. Verbal declarations of manumission could no longer be revoked.Gittin 1:6 Putting phylacteries on the slave, or making him publicly read three or more verses from the Torah, was counted as a declaration of the slave's manumission. Extremely long term sickness, for up to four years in total, could not count against the slave's right to manumission after six years of enslavement.
Jewish participation in the slave trade itself was also regulated by the Talmud. Fear of apostasy lead to the Talmudic discouragement of the sale of Jewish slaves to non-Jews,Gittin, 4:6 although loans were allowed;Gittin, 46b similarly slave trade with Tyre was only to be for the purpose of removing slaves from non-Jewish religion.Jewish Encyclopedia (1901), article on Fairs Other types of trade were also discouraged: men selling themselves to women, and post-pubescent daughters being sold into slavery by their fathers. Pre-pubescent slave girls sold by their fathers had to be freed-then-married by their new owner, or his son, when she started puberty; slaves could not be allowed to marry free Jews,Gittin 4:5 although masters were often granted access to the services of the wives of any of their slaves.Kiddushin 22a
According to the Talmudic law, killing a slave is punishable in the same way as killing a freeman, even if it was committed by the owner. While slaves are considered the owner's property, they may not work on Sabbath and holidays; they may acquire and hold property of the owner.Encyclopedia Judaica, 2007, vol. 18, p. 668
Several prominent Jewish writers of the Middle Ages took offense at the idea that Jews might be enslaved; Joseph Caro and Maimonides both argue that calling a Jew slave was so offensive that it should be punished by ex-communication.Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, 6:14Joseph Caro, Shulkhan Arukh, Yoreah De'ah 334 However, they did not condemn enslavement of non-Jews. Indeed, they argued that the biblical rule, that slaves should be freed for certain injuries, should actually only apply to slaves who had converted to Judaism; additionally, Maimonides argued that this manumission was real punishment of the owner, and therefore it could only be imposed by a court, and required evidence from witnesses. Unlike the biblical law protecting fugitive slaves, Maimonides argued that such slaves should be compelled to buy their freedom.
At the same time, Maimonides and other halachic authorities forbade or strongly discouraged any unethical treatment of slaves. According to the traditional Jewish law, a slave is more like an indentured servant, who has rights and should be treated almost like a member of the owner's family. Maimonides wrote that, regardless of whether a slave is Jewish or not, "The way of the pious and the wise is to be compassionate and to pursue justice, not to overburden or oppress a slave, and to provide them from every dish and every drink. The early sages would give their slaves from every dish on their table. They would feed their servants before sitting to their own meals... Slaves may not be maltreated of offended—the law destined them for service, not for humiliation. Do not shout at them or be angry with them, but hear them out." In another context, Maimonides wrote that all the laws of slavery are "mercy, compassion and forbearance".Encyclopedia Judaica, 2007, vol. 18, p. 670
Christianity