Providentialist Theology as a Justification for Slavery in the Civil War Era
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Authors
Gold, Greyson
Date of Issue
2023-04-28
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Abstract
My research examines providentialist theology and its relation to slavery in sermons from Southern pastors in the Antebellum and Reconstruction eras. Providential justifications for slavery generally took three forms: first, the Hamitic hypothesis and Genesis arguments; second, evangelism arguments––that God ordained slavery for the evangelization of Africans; and third, mutual prosperity arguments––that God ordained slavery for the prosperity and progress of the South and the material benefit of Africans. My research specifically examines the third: Providential prosperity arguments for slavery from before and after the war and how these interpretations provided additional justification for racism amongst Southern Christians. I argue that many Southern ministers and theologians in the Antebellum and Reconstruction eras used Providential prosperity arguments to encourage and maintain a white-dominated social hierarchy.