Domestic Slavery Considered as a Scriptural Institution
by Francis Wayland and Richard Fuller

Nathan A. Finn and Keith Harper, editors

A reprint of the original 1845 book about the scriptural legitimacy of slavery

Domestic Slavery originated in the nineteenth century as a literary debate between two Baptist leaders over the Bible’s teachings on slavery. The chapters were originally letters published in a Baptist newspaper in Boston, Massachusetts. Southern pastor Richard Fuller and Northern educator Francis Wayland were each able defenders of their respective positions. These men were also good friends who believed that a difference of opinion about slavery should not necessitate a breaking of Christian fellowship. Unfortunately, these two Baptists leaders proved naive in this regard. Just weeks after the publication of the correspondence in book form, Fuller’s Southern Baptist Convention broke away from the larger Baptist denomination and formed a new ecclesiastical body. A number of issues factored into the division, though the slavery debate was what ultimately led to the creation of a separate Baptist denomination in the South.

Historians of Southern religion consider Domestic Slavery to be one of the major contributions to the nineteenth-century debate over the peculiar institution. This critical edition of Domestic Slavery, which includes annotations and an appendix of related documents, represents the first reprint of this important work to be published since the mid-nineteenth century. Scholars of Southern culture and religious history will benefit from a close examination of what was undoubtedly the most significant Baptist contribution to the slavery debate in the years leading to the Civil War.

NATHAN A. FINN has earned degrees from Waycross College, Brewton-Parker College, and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Finn is currently an instructor of Church History at Southeastern Seminary.

KEITH HARPER is currently professor of Church History at SoutheasternBaptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina.

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