Language:
English
Year of publication:
2021
Titel der Quelle:
Religions
Angaben zur Quelle:
12,11 (2021) pp. 18
Keywords:
Ham
;
Bible. Criticism, interpretation, etc.
;
Blessing and cursing in the Bible
;
Racism Religious aspects
;
Christianity
;
History
;
Slavery Religious aspects
;
Christianity
Abstract:
This essay examines the antebellum history of interpretation surrounding the curse of Ham in Gen 9:18–29. It explores how modern notions of scientific racism were read into the story as a de facto justification for the transatlantic slave trade and the institution of slavery in the antebellum South. However, more than simply being used as a prooftext for racist agendas, the curse of Ham provided a biblical foil for circumscribing a racial hierarchy where whiteness was positioned as superior in the figure of Japheth. By considering key features of the racist antebellum interpretation, I argue that the proslavery rationalization of Christian antebellum writers is rooted in a deracialized whiteness that was biblically produced and blessed with divine authority. View Full-Text
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