Letting the Bible Story be Told

Back in 2013 we visited New York City and while there we saw the powerful film 12 Years a Slave. I happened to be sitting next to a young African American woman who I realized was quietly weeping near the end. I was unsure of what to do or say so, being Canadian, simply kept to myself. 

You might recall that there was a lot of religion, good and bad -- very bad -- in the story. When the central figure, Solomon Northrup, is sold to Edwin Epps, the vicious owner of a cotton plantation he quotes Luke 12:47 to his slaves: “And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.” He then shuts the Bible and says, “That’s scripture.” Epps takes this verse literally and whips the slaves who pick the least amount of cotton each day. When he has a good harvest, Epps attributes it to “righteous living”; when the crops die, he claims it must be a “biblical plague” brought on by his slaves’ unrighteousness.



This came to mind when I read that there is a new exhibit at the Museum of the Bible in Washington DC called The Slave Bible: Let the Story Be Told. It includes one of only three surviving copies of the bible given to enslaved Africans in British colonies in the 19th century as a way to convert them to the Christian faith. The first version of the Bible was published in 1807 and was heavily censored.

Any verses that could inspire Africans to rebel were removed. Verses that supported slavery were kept. As an example, Ephesians 6:5 says, “Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ.” “There are 1,189 chapters in a standard Protestant Bible. This Bible contains only 232,” Antony Schmidt, the senior curator at the Museum of the Bible, said in an interview with NPR.


It is terribly sad that the supposedly Living Word of God which some claim to take literally has been used to suppress, denigrate, and abuse women, LGBTQ2 persons, the poor, those of other religions and people of colour. I suppose I should add that scripture has also been used to justify desecrating Creation and creatures other than human. It is a sorry history of which we need to be aware and constantly vigilant. Most of us have found ways to make our bibles smaller and self-serving, and "diving deep" into the expansive, healing pool of God's justice and the fullness Christ's love will always be our blessed challenge.

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