Faith or Culture?

[TomS]

I wonder why Orthodox theologians, traditionalists, and biblical scholars explain away the acceptance and outright support of slavery in both the Old and New Testaments as cultural and/or economically required, yet adhere strictly to the ancient teachings referring to woman in the Church?

[Justin Kissel]

Personally, I would say that it was because slavery was something that was a part of the culture at large--and something that they fought against (e.g., many Saints purchased the freedom of slaves, while biblical and church laws/canons did not outlaw slavery, they did create contexts in which it was more humane, etc.) If we read the New Testament--especially the letters of Paul--we see little concern for earthly stations of life... and thus Paul says "if you were born a slave, do not try to free yourself" (and we have an entire letter about Paul sending a slave back to his master). The point was not Paul's liking slavery, but only that Paul tolerated slavery as a fact of life (like we accept all sorts of taxes and fees today as a fact of life, even if some of them are little better than legalized theft). I'm not sure what you are getting at regarding women? Surely you would not want them to lose their cherished position the Church recognizes for them, and bring them down to the level of westernized women???

[bogoliubtsy]

I had a religion professor a number of years back who suggested it was the eschatology of St. Paul and his expectation that Christ would be returning soon which led him to say the things he did about slavery. If the return of Christ is imminent, why waste time breaking free from human slavery?
I'm not sure if the Church would agree with his opinion, but it's an interesting thought.

[Justin Kissel]

Yeah, now that you mention it, there might be something to that.