====== Old Testament ======
===== General culture =====
  * Ancient peoples distinguished between foreigners (OK to enslave them) and citizens (not OK).
  * Prisoners taken in war were enslaved as a standard operating procedure for the age.  If you won the battle, you took slaves; if you lost, you became a slave.
  * A father could sell his children into slavery.
===== Specific laws =====
  * Self-sale into slavery--a way to clear debts.  The slavery was limited to six years, but the person could choose to remain in bondage in perpetuity.
    * Ex 21:1-6
    * Dt 15:12 ff
    * Lv 25:35 ff--all slaves must be set free in the Jubilee.
  * Children of slaves were enslaved.
  * A thief who could not repay could be enslaved (Ex 22:3).
  * Slaves were mated, not married.  The mate and children could stay in bondage even if the other was freed.
  * There was a distinction between killing a slave and killing a free person.
    * Ex 21:32
    * Ex 21:20 penalties for killing a slave
    * Ex 21:26 release of slave injured by the owner
  * Women could be bought and sold as sex-slaves (concubines).  
    * Ex 21:7-11
    * Dt 21:10-14
    * Gen 16:1 ff, 30:3, 9
  * A slave could marry a free woman (1 Ch 2:35).

====== New Testament ======
  * Eph 6:5-9
  * Col 3:22-4:1
  * 1 Tim 6:1 ff
  * 1 Pet 2:18
  * Philemon!
But:
  * 1 Cor 7:21-23 -- the Lord owns us all.
  * 1 Cor 12:13: "For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit."
  * Gal 3:28: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
  * Gal 5:1: "For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery."
  * Col 3:11

"Historically, Christianity has been the only effective destroyer of slavery" (McKenzie).

====== Slavery in the United States ======
**Thirteenth Amendment:** "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, //except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted//, shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction."


====== Links ======
  * [[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14036a.htm|Catholic Encyclopedia]]