Primary Documents on Slavery - Whitfield, Edwards, Thornwell, Palmer

[W.C. Dean]

Hello everyone. I was hoping that some of you more knowledgeable about historic writings could assist me. I would like to read George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, James H. Thornwell, and Benjamin M. Palmer on slavery. Do these men have writings of their theological perspectives on slavery? I would appreciate any help.

@NaphtaliPress I am tagging you because I know CPJ #9 was about Thornwell.

Thank you.

 

[Taylor]

I have Thornwell's works on Logos, and here's what I found:

"The Church and Slavery" (Vol. IV, pp. 377-436)
The Rights and the Duties of Masters (a separate volume, I believe)

 

[W.C. Dean]

I have Thornwell's works on Logos, and here's what I found:

"The Church and Slavery" (Vol. IV, pp. 377-436)
The Rights and the Duties of Masters (a separate volume, I believe)

Thank you, I will look them up. I just ordered the Selected Writings and 2 volume set of sermons from Palmer but the contents show there doesn't appear to be anything on slavery.

 

[Joshua]

Thornwell's thoughts referenced above (Vol. 4 of his Collected Writings) are -in my own estimation- quite excellent.

 

[NaphtaliPress]

Hello everyone. I was hoping that some of you more knowledgeable about historic writings could assist me. I would like to read George Whitfield, Jonathan Edwards, James H. Thornwell, and Benjamin M. Palmer on slavery. Do these men have writings of their theological perspectives on slavery? I would appreciate any help.

@NaphtaliPress I am tagging you because I know CPJ #9 was about Thornwell.

Thank you.

I don't think any of the material touched on the issue of slavery in any major way. That will be different for the proposed 2021 issue focusing on Dabney I think.

 

[W.C. Dean]

It looks like his Collected Writings include "Relation of the Church to Slavery" and "The Christian Doctrine of Slavery". Thank you for the recommendation Joshua.

 

[W.C. Dean]

I don't think any of the material touched on the issue of slavery in any major way. That will be different for the proposed 2021 issue focusing on Dabney I think.

I knew the journal didn't talk about his views on slavery, I just assumed you had interacted extensively with some of his writings.

 

[NaphtaliPress]

I knew the journal didn't talk about his views on slavery, I just assumed you had interacted extensively with some of his writings.

I'm a publisher not a scholar, Jim (Star Trek reference). When I do write or do research it is because I have to in order to do a project, and only after sufficient space to forget just how hard I made the last project. Nick Willborn is the Thornwell expert.

 

[Ed Walsh]

Hello everyone. I was hoping that some of you more knowledgeable about historic writings could assist me. I would like to read George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, James H. Thornwell, and Benjamin M. Palmer on slavery.

Here's a link of a book by R.L. Dabney I output from Logos.
Dabney, R. L. (1867). A Defence of Virginia, and through Her, of the South, in Recent and Pending Contests Against the Sectional Party. New York: E. J. Hale & Son.

https://maracorp.net/files/Dabney_A%20Defence%20of%20Virginia.pdf

 

[Timmay]

Here's a link of a book by R.L. Dabney I output from Logos.
Dabney, R. L. (1867). A Defence of Virginia, and through Her, of the South, in Recent and Pending Contests Against the Sectional Party. New York: E. J. Hale & Son.

https://maracorp.net/files/Dabney_A%20Defence%20of%20Virginia.pdf

This book was very enlightening for me. The North was just as complicit in slavery as was the south.


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[W.C. Dean]

George Whitefield on Slavery: Some New Evidence | Church History | Cambridge Core

George Whitefield on Slavery: Some New Evidence - Volume 42 Issue 2

www.cambridge.org

Whitefield has a few letters on the subject. His journals mention negroes, blacks, and slaves about 60 times or so. I cannot find anything where he actually outlines his views on slavery.

https://slavery.princeton.edu/stories/jonathan-edwards-jr#ref-29 Here is an article about Jonathan Edwards' son, Jonathan Jr., who was an abolitionist. He apparently utilized the golden rule as his chief basis for opposing slave-owning. Rev. Dabney specifically interacted with the golden rule argument in Defense.

https://edwardseducationblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/minkema-slavery-slave-trade.pdf Here is an article about the elder Jonathan Edwards' views on slavery, and reports that there is one definitive writing of his that outlines his views on slavery. The article contains a transcription of that letter. It is a draft, and difficult to read.

Still have not found anything from Rev. Benjamin Palmer, other than his pro-secession Thanksgiving Day address in 1860. If anyone has any other resources on this subject please let me know. Thanks for the help so far.