I can say all that because Greco-Roman slavery was much more like indentured servitude than American chattel slavery. That is why Paul doesn't condemn it outright. I agree with Paul. Paul would have condemned American chattel slavery.
To say that "Slavery was once part of the social construct. The institution itself was neither evil nor good" is one of the most profoundly deconstructionist, relativistic, anti-Christian things I have ever seen on Free Republic. Congratulations!
PS - To say that Paul didn't condemn the slavery of his day and therefore the slavery of American origin is also not to be condemned is to make the same mistake that American theologians who used the Bible to justify slavery did.
PSS - I have yet to subjectively judge anyone. I have not yet condemned a slave owner. Most of them were caught up in something in which they did not have the capacity to transcend. But we are certainly called to condemn or not condemn any person's actions, including entire cultures.
Southern slavery is worthy of condemnation and the fact that we still have people saying that the institution was a social construct neither good nor bad shows that we still have work to do.
PSSS - With regards to how slaves who are brutalized should be treated, you are right. Scripture gives guidelines on what to do. They should be let go or run the risk of getting the treatment of plagues from the Lord of Hosts. Let the people go!
Why is this so hard?
I can say all that because Greco-Roman slavery was much more like indentured servitude than American chattel slavery. That is why Paul doesn't condemn it outright. I agree with Paul. Paul would have condemned American chattel slavery.To say that "Slavery was once part of the social construct. The institution itself was neither evil nor good" is one of the most profoundly deconstructionist, relativistic, anti-Christian things I have ever seen on Free Republic. Congratulations!
The Roman Empire was a slave society, one of the most slavery-dependent cultures in history. Slavery was everywhere and existed in many forms. Slave labor could be found in virtually every line of work: industrial, agricultural, military, domestic. POWs were routinely enslaved by the thousands, and, unlike the vast majority of Confederate soldiers, it was not unusual for low-ranking Roman soldiers to own slaves.
And Slaves were constantly brutalized. While there were exceptions, I would have to say that plantation slavery in the antebellum South was, on the whole, relatively mild compared to what many slaves had to endure in ancient, pagan Rome: drafted into military service, prostitution, mass crucifixions, fighting to the death in the Colosseum, etc.
