Still Letting My People Go: An Analysis of Eli Washington Caruthers's Manuscript against American Slavery and Its Universal Application of Exodus 10:3

by Jack R. Davidson, Kathy Ehrensperger (Foreword by)

Overview

Eli Washington Caruthers's unpublished manuscript, American Slavery and the Immediate Duty of Southern Slaveholders, is the arresting and authentic alternative to the nineteenth-century hermeneutics that supported slavery. On the basis of Exodus 10.3--"Let my people go that they may serve me"--Caruthers argued that God was acting in history against all slavery. Unlike arguments guided largely by the New Testament, Caruthers believed that the Exodus text was a privileged passage to which all thinking on slavery must conform. As the most extensive development of the Exodus text within the field of antislavery literature, Caruthers's manuscript is an invaluable primary source. It is especially relevant to historians' current appraisal of the biblical sanction for slavery in nineteenth-century America because it does not correspond to characterizations of antislavery literature as biblically weak. To the contrary, an analysis of Caruthers's manuscript reveals a thoroughly reasoned biblical argument unlike any other produced during the nineteenth century against the hermeneutics supporting slavery.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781532600876
Publisher:	Wipf & Stock Publishers
Publication date:	07/11/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	244
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Jack Davidson (University of Wales) is the pastor of Alhambra True Light Presbyterian Church inJack Davidson is the pastor of Alhambra True Light Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles and has previously served churches in Oregon and North Carolina. He has taught courses in Christianity and American Religion at the university level and written numerous papers. He is the author of "Slavery" (Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Ethics, 2015). Los Angeles, and has previously served churches in Oregon and North Carolina. He has taught courses in American Religion at the university level and written numerous papers. He is the author of “Slavery” (Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Ethics, 2015).
Jack Davidson is the pastor of Alhambra True Light Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles and has previously served churches in Oregon and North Carolina. He has taught courses in Christianity and American Religion at the university level and written numerous papers. He is the author of "Slavery" (Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Ethics, 2015).

Table of Contents

Abstract vii

Foreword Kathy Ehrensperger ix

Introduction xi

Chapter 1 The Manuscript and Author 1

Manuscript 1

The Author 5

Outline of the Book 11

Chapter 2 The Claim of Exodus 10:3 15

Creation and Preservation 15

Redemption through the Covenant 24

Chapter 3 The Demand of Exodus 10:3 34

Scripture 35

Providence 46

Chapter 4 The Purpose of Exodus 10:3 57

Christianity and the Laws of Slave States 57

Slavery Hinders Service 63

Progress of Emancipation, Colonization, and Conclusion 68

Chapter 5 Presbyterians and American Slavery 77

American Presbyterians 78

Caruthers and Recent Consideration of the Slavery Question 89

Chapter 6 Caruthers and the Enlightenment 92

Sources of the Antislavery Argument 92

Interpreting Caruthers's Use of the Declaration of Independence 101

Chapter 7 The Similarity of Caruthers to Other Antislavery Literature 107

Noah's Curse 107

Abraham's Servants 113

Moses and Slavery 116

The Christian Era 119

Chapter 8 The Exodus Text in Nineteenth-Century Discourse 124

Exodus Text Conspectus (1807-1865) 126

Evaluation and Implications 158

Chapter 9 Caruthers's Method 162

Chapter 10 Caruthers and Recent Studies 175

Modern Commentaries and Slavery Texts 175

Complementary Studies to Caruthers 178

Keesmaat and Exodus in the Writings of Paul 186

Chapter 11 Review and Conclusion 194

Appendix: Evaluating Former Slave Testimony 201

Bibliography 217