The Nathan Jacobs Podcast Is Slavery Morally Wrong? Immoralities in the Bible? Part 1 of 3
Sep 25, 2025
The discussion delves into the complexities of slavery as depicted in the Bible, contrasting it with voluntary servitude. It identifies five defining traits of immoral slavery: abduction, coercion, brutality, squalor, and dehumanization. Dr. Jacobs employs natural law to argue that true slavery violates human nature and moral responsibility. The podcast also highlights how biblical texts, rather than endorsing coercive practices, promote dignity and self-determination in servitude, urging a consideration of historical context and ethical interpretations.
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Four Levels To Analyze Ethics
- Nathan Jacobs frames ethical discussion in four layers: bumper‑sticker, explanatory, metaethics, and metaphysics.
- He argues you must go to underlying worldview to judge applied ethics like slavery.
Providence Shapes Moral Foundations
- Jacobs identifies the providentialist/anti‑providentialist split as decisive for metaethics.
- Providentialists read moral norms from an ordered nature; anti‑providentialists reduce good to pleasure/pain.
Five Traits That Make Slavery Immoral
- Jacobs lists five features that make slavery morally repugnant: abduction, coercion, brutality, squalor, and dehumanizing treatment.
- He uses those to ground a natural‑law case against slavery as violation of human nature.