Roundup: The Bible & Slavery w/ Doug Wilson, B. Loritts, & T. Anyabwile
Reformed pastor and author, Doug Wilson, wrote a controversial book called Black and Tan. One of Wilson’s major points in the book is that slavery as practiced in the U.S. was not abolished according to biblical standards. As a result, we continue to experience the ongoing effects of that sin.
Wilson states,
“That our nation did not remove slavery in the way it ought to have been removed helps explain many of our nation’s problems in dealing with contemporary social evils. Those evils include abortion-on-demand, radical feminism, and rampant sodomy.”
Although the book was published in 2005, a resurgence of debate has recently occurred. Bryan Loritts read and reviewed Wilson’s book critiquing Wilson for “extreme insensitivity.” Wilson responded with his own article. Then Thabiti Anyabwile entered the conversation after someone on Twitter asked him what he thought.
RAAN has collected the flurry of articles posted in the last week by Loritts, Wilson, and Anyabwile in one place so you can follow the discussion.
Discussion Question: Given the controversy and potential offensiveness of the author’s opinions, do you think there’s value in reading a book like Black and Tan? Why or why not? Click the following link to respond: The Forum
The Other | Bryan Loritts
Bryan Loritts Critiques Doug Wilson | Phillip Holmes
With a Bit of Menthol | Doug Wilson
What 2013 Already? | Doug Wilson
Why Respond Publicly to Doug Wilson’s “Black & Tan” | Thabiti Anyabwile
Doug Wilson’s Views on Race, Racism, Slavery, and the Bible | Thabiti Anyabwile
Does the Driving Logic of “Black and Tan” Hold Up? | Thabiti Anyabwile
Patrick “Nostradamus” Henry | Doug Wilson
Slavery and the Bible: The Perspective of This Abolitionist | Thabiti Anyabwile
UPDATE
Love Is Never Later | Doug Wilson
How Koinonia Conquers | Doug Wilson
The Designated Ambition Pole | Doug Wilson
Sometimes the Exceptions Reveal How Far We’ve Gone with the Rule | Thabiti Anyabwile
Adoni-bezek’s Thumbs and Toes | Doug Wilson
The Cost of Our Chosen Entanglements | Thabiti Anyabwile
Water Is Thicker Than Blood | Doug Wilson
Resisting the Slavers | Doug Wilson
The Histories of the American South: A Caution Against Hegemonies | Thabiti Anyabwile
With Jello in My Hair | Doug Wilson
Another Point Where Wilson and I Almost Entirely Agree: On Doing History and Multiculturalism | Thabiti Anyabwile
A Good Luck Wave Won’t Cut It | Doug Wilson
Illustrating Racial Insensitivity in Black and Tan | Thabiti Anyabwile
Harder Than It Looks | Doug Wilson
A Theology of Apology | Doug Wilson
I Can Be Insensitive, Too | Thabiti Anyabwile
Once More Into the Breach | Thabiti Anyabwile
A Trigger Alert Study Bible | Doug Wilson
Oh, So Close… And Yet So Far Away | Thabiti Anyabwile
Another Rose Hedge Awaits | Doug Wilson
Hecklers Gonna Heck | Doug Wilson
What Do the Noseguard and the Center Talk About? | Thabiti Anyabwile
Nothing In My Experience Like It | Doug Wilson
JGD
The debate focuses on Pastor Wilson’s book “Black and Tan”, but remember that he had an earlier book, “Southern Slavery As It Was”, for which he has never apologized or admitted any errors in. Some of the more inflammatory quotes from that work:
“Slavery produced in the South a genuine affection between the races that we believe we can say has never existed in any nation before the War or since.”
“Slavery as it existed in the South was not an adversarial relationship with pervasive racial animosity. Because of its dominantly patriarchal character, it was a relationship based upon mutual affection and confidence. There has never been a multi-racial society which has existed with such mutual intimacy and harmony in the history of the world.”
“One could argue that the black family has never been stronger than it was under slavery. It was certainly stronger under the southern slave system that it is today under our modern destructive welfare state.”
“Ironically, if slavery had not been so pleasant an experience for the majority, this mentality would not likely have such a strong hold upon the minds of some of their descendants today.”
“And nothing is clearer — the New Testament opposes anything like the abolitionism of our country prior to the War Between the States. The New Testament contains many instructions for Christian slave owners, and requires a respectful submissive demeanor for Christian slaves.”