Exhaustive Study Notes on Noll's Theological Crisis and Raboteau's Invisible Institution
Biblical Authority and the Abolitionist Challenge
The Critique of Henry Van Dyke (December 9, 1860): From his Brooklyn pulpit, Van Dyke argued that abolitionism leads to "utter infidelity" through a logical process. He asserted that abolitionism's flaw is that it does not test slavery by the Bible, but rather tests the Bible by the "principles of freedom." He called the assumption that humans are capable of judging a Divine revelation beforehand a "cockatrice's egg" from which heresies hatch.
William Lloyd Garrison's Impact: The radicalism of total abolitionists like Garrison made it difficult for others to use the Bible to attack slavery. Garrison’s stance alienated many who trusted the Bible more than it attracted new sympathizers to the cause.
The Theatrical Crisis: Debate over Scripture and slavery involved passionate moral reasoning and careful exegesis.
First-order Crisis: Protestants realized the Bible they relied on to build American republican civilization was not as univocal or easy to interpret as they believed.
Second-order Crisis: Fewer believers turned to Scripture to find messages regarding race or the transformation of the American economy, despite these being the most pressing threats to biblical civilization.
The Biblical Defense of Slavery
Simplicity of the Position: In a Protestant world believing in the plenary inspiration of the whole Bible, the proslavery position was attractive because of its directness.
Thomas Thompson (early 1770s): In The African Trade for Negro Slaves, Shewn to Be Consistent with Principles of Humanity, and with the Laws of Revealed Religion, Thompson argued for a direct reading of the Bible.
He quoted Leviticus 25:45-46a: "Moreover of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy… they shall be your possession… they shall be your bondmen for ever."
He referenced the book of Philemon, where St. Paul instructed the escaped slave Onesimus to return to his master.
International vs. American Context: While biblical defenses were once widespread globally among Catholics and Protestants, by the mid-nineteenth century, they had weakened everywhere except the United States. In the U.S., the defense remained strong due to the democratic, antitraditional, and individualistic nature of American religion.
Key Scriptural Texts Used in Defense of Slavery
Genesis 9:25-27: "Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren." Because Ham exposed Noah's nakedness, his descendants through Canaan were expected to be owned as slaves by the descendants of Noah's two other sons.
Genesis 17:12: God sanctioned and regulated slaveholding for Abraham, noting those "bought with money of any stranger."
Deuteronomy 20:10-11: Sanctioned the enslavement of enemies taken in war.
New Testament Context:
Jesus never spoke against slaveholding despite abrogating other Old Testament regulations like polygamy.
1 Corinthians 7:21: Paul suggested that while a Christian slave might welcome freedom, they should not chafe if it is not given.
Romans 13:1, 7: Paul urged believers to conform to the Roman imperial system, which included harsh slaveholding.
Colossians 3:22, 4:1: Provided regulations for the master-slave relationship without questioning its existence.
1 Timothy 6:1-2: Taught that the conversion of slaves did not provide grounds for emancipation from believing masters.
Moderate Responses and Defining Publications
The Wayland-Fuller Debate (1844-1845): A direct, restrained exchange between Francis Wayland (President of Brown University) and Richard Fuller of Beaufort, South Carolina.
Fuller defended slavery's legitimacy while admitting to abuses.
Wayland defended an antislavery (non-abolitionist) stance.
Moses Stuart (1850): Argued that while the Bible pointed toward the eventual voluntary elimination of slavery, it did not categorize slavery as inherently evil.
The Cincinnati Debate (October 1845): An eight-hour-a-day, four-day public declamation between Jonathan Blanchard (abolitionist) and Nathaniel Rice (moderate).
Rice tied Blanchard in knots using specific texts.
Blanchard relied on "common sense" and "the whole scope of the Bible," linking New Testament principles to the American Declaration of Independence's claims on natural rights.
Literary and Emotive Appeals: Harriet Beecher Stowe
Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852): Stowe queried notions of the self-interpreting power of Scripture.
Augustine St. Clare: Suggested scriptural interpretation was driven by economic interest; if cotton prices dropped, a "flood of light" would suddenly reveal that the Bible opposed slavery.
John Van Trompe: A character who joined the church only after finding Hebrew and Greek experts who could attack slavery using the same academic tools used to defend it.
Mary Bird vs. Senator John Bird: When John Bird argued that feelings should not run away with judgment regarding the Fugitive Slave Law, Mary countered with the Bible's command to "feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and comfort the desolate," asserting that obeying God never brings public evil.
Henry Ward Beecher (January 4, 1861): Argued against "pedantic literalism," claiming that those who used the Bible to justify slavery were spinning cords to bind people out of a book meant for deliverance.
African American Biblical Commentary on Slavery
General Biblicism: The Christian Recorder (African Methodist Episcopal Church) was "evangelically Scripture-saturated." By April 13, 1861, it argued that "errors of faith always lead to errors of life."
Daniel Coker (1810): Dialogue between a Virginian and an African Minister.
Coker argued from Genesis 17:13 that as Abraham's slaves were circumcised, they were incorporated into the covenant and nation of Israel.
He cited Leviticus 25:42 and 54 to show that Israelites could not enslave other Israelites; therefore, the children of circumcised slaves could not be sold as slaves.
He concluded that this passage clearly condemned the practice of enslaving African children.
David Walker (1829): Appeal… to the Coloured Citizens of the World.
Predicted the destruction of the U.S. due to its sins.
Challenged the racial hypocrisy of the "Great Commission" (Matthew 28:18-20), asking if white Americans had really taught Africa the words of Jesus or simply the "art of throat-cutting."
Frederick Douglass (1861): Argued that the North only defended slavery via the Bible because of the "color distinction."
Lemuel Haynes (1813): Used Jonathan Edwards’s theory of "true virtue" (treating objects according to their quality of being) to attack slavery.
He highlighted the hypocrisy of President Madison feeling for impressed sailors while ignoring the (343,796) human beings held in bondage in Virginia in 1800.
The "Invisible Institution": Slave Religion
Definition: The folk religion of the slave community, existing outside the institutional church's control, hidden from the master's eyes.
Setting: Meetings occurred in slave cabins, secluded woods, gullies, or "hush harbors" (brush arbors).
Contrast with "Vitiated Gospel": Slaves rejected sermons by masters' preachers that focused solely on obedience (e.g., "Obey your masters" or "Don't steal your master's turkey").
Frank Roberson recalled a preacher saying there would be a wall in heaven between masters and slaves with holes for slaves to look through.
Secrecy Techniques:
Wet Quilts: Hung to form a room and deaden sound.
Water Vessels: Speaking into a vessel of water to drown out the voice.
The Iron Kettle: Turning a pot or wash kettle upside down on the cabin floor to "catch the sound" of singing and praying. Patsy Hyde noted this also showed that "Gawd waz wid dem."
Risks and Punishments:
Isaac (brother-in-law of Moses Grandy) was flogged and had his "back pickled" for preaching in the woods.
Charlotte Martin’s brother was reportedly whipped to death for participating in religious ceremonies.
Focus of Prayer: Slaves prayed for deliverance and compared themselves to the children of Israel in Egypt. Mingo White noted an "instinct" that they were going to be free.
The Shape of the Theological Crisis
Racial Bottleneck: Proslavery forces never mounted a successful counterargument to the fact that biblical slavery was colorblind. However, the American certainty of black racial inferiority was so fixed it overwhelmed biblical testimony about race.
Revolution Requirement: To carry the country in 1860, an argument for racially discriminatory slavery being different from slavery per se would have required a commitment to racial antiprejudice that the nation did not accept until the late twentieth century.
Conclusion of the Crisis: The crisis was defined by:
Failure to biblically examine the dangers of individualistic capitalism.
A blow to Christian orthodoxy caused by the abolitionist flight to the "spirit" of Scripture.
Total inability to act on biblical teaching regarding the full humanity of all races.
Confusion between the actual Bible and the "common sense" of the cultural era.
Legacy: For the freed black community, the church became the bedrock of hope, identity, and continuity during the chaos of Reconstruction, remaining the one institution they were allowed to control.