Episode 101: The Slave Bible

Mar 10, 2025

Explore the controversial Slave Bible, a severely edited version of scripture aimed at enslaved people, designed to omit messages of liberation. Delve into the motivations behind teaching a faith that conflicted with the essence of humanity. The hosts also tackle the nuances of wealth in biblical texts, questioning if Jesus truly blessed the poor or the 'poor in spirit.' They dissect early Christianity's economic roots and critique the rise of prosperity gospel, exposing its pitfalls and the exploitation of believers.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Books

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

What The Slave Bible Was

The Slave Bible (1807) was a heavily redacted selection made to teach enslaved people Christianity while removing passages about freedom.
It removed about 90% of the Hebrew Bible and 50% of the New Testament to avoid inspiring ideas of deliverance.

INSIGHT

Museum Framing Can Oversimplify

Museum of the Bible's presentation risked framing the Slave Bible as an outlier rather than part of broader Christian negotiations over slavery.
Jill Hicks Keaton cautions against treating the redaction as a simple aberration detached from wider historical practice.

INSIGHT

Psalms Omitted Intentionally

Contemporary letters recommended using Psalms and Proverbs in teaching enslaved people, yet the Slave Bible omitted Psalms entirely.
That omission suggests intentional avoidance of lament and complaint texts that could foster resistance.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

Christians have had a missionary zeal since the beginning. From the dawn of Christianity, the mandate to share the "good news" has been a central theme of Christian life. But what is a Christian to do when it is clear that the audience they want to share the gospel with would react poorly to much of what's in the Bible? Well, at least in one case, the solution was just redact the heck out of it.

On this week's show, we're talking about "The Slave Bible," a heavily truncated version of the good book, created for white enslavers to share with the black people they had enslaved. Why did they cut most of the book out? What parts did they see fit to leave in? And why did they want to preach Jesus' message to people whose humanity they clearly didn't honor or even acknowledge?

Then, inspired by a preacher who recently had a lot to say on the subject, we're diving into the question of wealth. Much is said in the Bible about money, and the having of it. Specifically the having of a lot of it. There are famous passages about camels going through the eyes of needles, for example. But maybe that part felt a little ambiguous... Did Jesus really say "blessed are the poor" or did he say "blessed are the poor in spirit"? Is that difference that even makes sense?

----

HEY! TICKETS FOR THE FIRST LEG OF THE DATA OVER DOGMA TOUR ARE NOW ON SALE! To get yours, go here:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-grand-data-over-dogma-book-launch-tour/

For early access to an ad-free version of every episode of Data Over Dogma, exclusive content, and the opportunity to support our work, please consider becoming a monthly patron at:

https://www.patreon.com/DataOverDogma

https://www.facebook.com/DataOverDogmaPod

https://www.twitter.com/data_over_dogma

Have you pre-ordered Dan McClellan's upcoming book The Bible Says So yet???

https://static.macmillan.com/static/smp/bible-says-so-9781250347466/?fbclid=IwY2xjawGLTkpleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHQY4Ahs0Hi289IcnsQMh_0OAVf3oGefyUsWkLjhfB8OF8nio1fmroJbXxA_aem_v_4sISp8Zt43zsKfDjx1aA

This episode was sponsored by BetterHelp

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices