slavery

slavery
Absolute property of a person by a legal owner. Men captured in battles were often enslaved (1 Kgs. 9:21) and debtors who defaulted, together with their families, could be enslaved by the lender (2 Kgs. 4:1) or they could sell themselves (Lev. 25:39). Humane laws mitigated the severity of slavery—e.g. the Sabbath rest (Exod. 20:10), the jubilee (Lev. 25:13), and the right to asylum of foreign fugitive slaves (Deut. 23:15–16). In the NT slaves are mentioned as belonging to the Christian community, and some may have expected that liberation would be granted by Christian owners if the slaves were baptized. But this did not seem necessarily to follow (1 Cor. 7:21). Paul, however, does put on subtle pressure and requests Philemon to treat his slave Onesimus as a brother (Philem. 15–16).

Dictionary of the Bible.

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  • slavery — refers to a variety of forms of unfreedom, such as serfdom and bonded labour. However, it is normally associated with chattel slavery, in which the human being is a thing to be bought or sold, and does not have the status of personhood. Chattel… …   Dictionary of sociology

  • Slavery — Slav er*y, n.; pl. {Slaveries}. [See 2d {Slave}.] 1. The condition of a slave; the state of entire subjection of one person to the will of another. [1913 Webster] Disguise thyself as thou wilt, still, slavery, said I, still thou art a bitter… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Slavery —    Slavery played a minor role in ancient Egypt, contrary to modern expectations. There was no large scale exploitation of slavery. Most slaves were acquired as booty in war or to a lesser extent from the sale of criminals or debtors. Most slaves …   Ancient Egypt

  • slavery — index bondage, captivity, restraint, servitude, subjection, thrall Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • Slavery —    Slavery existed throughout the history of Byzantium (q.v.) as an inheritance from Roman times that the church tolerated. Prisoners of war were a common source of slaves. From the 10th century onward campaigns in the Balkan Peninsula (q.v.)… …   Historical dictionary of Byzantium

  • Slavery — was often the fate of soldiers captured on a battlefield, as well as those captured at sea by pirates. The *AS enslaved many *Britons, most of whom worked on the land. Those who worked for the AS aristocracy within the house might well have had… …   Dictionary of Medieval Terms and Phrases

  • slavery — (n.) 1550s; from SLAVE (Cf. slave) + ERY (Cf. ery) …   Etymology dictionary

  • slavery — *servitude, bondage …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • slavery — [n] state of working under duress or without freedom bondage, bullwork, captivity, chains* constraint, drudge, drudgery, enslavement, enthrallment, feudalism, grind, helotry, indenture, labor, menial labor, moil, peonage, restraint, serfdom,… …   New thesaurus

  • slavery — ► NOUN 1) the state of being a slave. 2) the practice or system of owning slaves …   English terms dictionary

  • slavery — [slā′vər ē, slāv′rē] n. 1. the owning or keeping of slaves as a practice or institution; slaveholding 2. the condition of being a slave; bondage; servitude 3. a condition of submission to or domination by some influence, habit, etc. 4. hard work… …   English World dictionary

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