{"id":1802,"date":"2011-09-03T13:01:21","date_gmt":"2011-09-03T18:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"In our honors section this first week, we explored the ideas Dr. Beck presented in his lecture. We discussed obstacles to critical thinking or those things that make critical thinking difficult. I introduced the concept of the \"hermeneutics of suspicion\" "},"modified":"2011-09-03T13:05:20","modified_gmt":"2011-09-03T18:05:20","slug":"critical-suspicion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/cornerstonef13\/2011\/09\/03\/critical-suspicion\/","title":{"rendered":"Encouraging a Critical Suspicion"},"content":{"rendered":"

In our honors section this first week, we explored the ideas Dr. Beck presented in his lecture. We discussed obstacles to critical thinking or those things that make critical thinking difficult. I introduced the concept of the “hermeneutics of suspicion” and notions of “thin” and “thick” description and \u00a0invited students to consider an illustration from the American political landscape.<\/p>\n

The following outline presents a familiar argument presented by religious and political speakers across the country in the 19th century \u00a0(adapted from W.M. Swartley,\u00a0Slavery, Sabbath, War, and Women<\/em>).<\/p>\n

QUESTIONS:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0How would similar arguments be received in churches or public squares today? On the surface, this is a highly logical argument. What type of evidence is presented and how is it used? What assumptions or biases within the text need to be addressed more directly?<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

Case Study<\/h3>\n

Thesis 1 \u2013 Slavery was divinely sanctioned among the patriarchs<\/h4>\n

A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Noah\u2019s curse upon Canaan (Gen 4:9:24-27) \u2013 first appearance of slavery in the Bible is the wonderful prediction of Noah.<\/span><\/h4>\n

B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Abraham is our Godly example \u2013 Abraham possessed and willed slaves to his children.<\/span><\/h4>\n

C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Joseph \u2013 God approved slavery; commanded that Joseph buy people and enslave them.<\/span><\/h4>\n

Thesis 2 \u2013 Slavery was incorporated into Israel\u2019s national constitution.<\/h4>\n

A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Israel was allowed to take foreigners as slaves.<\/span><\/h4>\n
B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 God provided that the Hebrews might sell themselves and their families for a time.<\/div>\n

Thesis 3 \u2013 Slavery was recognized and approved by Jesus Christ and the apostles.<\/h4>\n

A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The apostles approved slavery while disapproving of its abuses.<\/span><\/h4>\n

B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The apostles teach that the church has no authority to interfere with slavery as a political system.<\/span><\/h4>\n

C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The distinction between master and slaver are not an impediment to faith and are thus insignificant.<\/span><\/h4>\n

D.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Slaveholders were accepted and affirmed not only as church members, but also as church leaders.<\/span><\/h4>\n

E.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The apostles gave no exhortation that Christian masters should free their slaves, but said that they should remain in their existing state, for masters have a right to their slaves\u2019 labor (1 Cor 7:20- 24).<\/span><\/h4>\n
\n

F.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In 1 Timothy 6:1-6 Paul declares that his doctrine of slavery is based on the words of Jesus Christ himself.\u00a0 \u201cSlaves are to honor unbelieving masters, these are the words of our Lord Jesus Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n

G.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Paul\u2019s own example indicates that the biblical apostolic writings fully support slavery.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

Thesis 4 \u2013 Slavery is a merciful institution.<\/h4>\n
Through the practice of slavery prisoners taken in war through the centuries have been spared death, and through slavery those enslaved are \u201cbrought within the range of the gospel influence.\u201d<\/div>\n

Conclusions<\/h4>\n
The bible\u2019s defense of slavery is very plain.\u00a0 St. Paul was inspired, and knew the will of the Lord Jesus Christ, and was only intent on obeying it.\u00a0 And who are we, that in our modern wisdom presume to set aside the Word of God\u2026 and invent for ourselves a \u201chigher law: than those holy Scriptures which are given to us as \u2018a light to our feet and a lamp to our paths,\u201d int eh darkness of a sinful and a polluted world?\u201d \u2013 John Henry Hopkins (1864)<\/div>\n

Those arguing the Pro-Slavery side:<\/p>\n

\n
    \n
  • John Henry Hopkins, DD, LLD, bishop of the Episcopal diocese of Vermont.<\/li>\n
  • Albert Taylor Bledsoe, LLD, professor of mathematics at the University of Virgnia.<\/li>\n
  • Thornton Stringfellow, DD, Richmond, Virginia.<\/li>\n
  • Charles B. Hodge, DD, distinguished Princeton professor.<\/li>\n
  • George D. Armstrong, DD, pastor, Presbyterian church of Norfolk, Virginia.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    In our honors section this first week, we explored the ideas Dr. Beck presented in his lecture. We discussed obstacles to critical thinking or those things that make critical thinking difficult. I introduced the concept of the “hermeneutics of suspicion” and notions of “thin” and “thick” description and \u00a0invited students to consider an illustration from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3460,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1934,1815],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faculty-post","category-featured"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3T2tB-t4","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/cornerstonef13\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/cornerstonef13\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/cornerstonef13\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/cornerstonef13\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3460"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/cornerstonef13\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1802"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/cornerstonef13\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1808,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/cornerstonef13\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1802\/revisions\/1808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/cornerstonef13\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/cornerstonef13\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/cornerstonef13\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}