What motivates people to work for justice? Recent studies have moved away from an emphasis on specific principles and toward an understanding of social and cultural forces. But what about times in history when distinct ideas were critical for positive change?
The pre-Civil War abolitionist movement represents one such time. During an era when race-based slavery was buttressed by the machinery of civil law, many people developed arguments for freedom and equity that were grounded in divine law. There were Methodist witnesses for justice who lived by this distinction between civil and godly authority. While Methodism, as an institution, betrayed its founding opposition to slavery, many within the movement expressed a prophetic vision. A vibrant counterculture borrowed from Scripture and modern philosophy to argue for a ‘higher law’ of justice.
The world-changing ideas that overcame slavery in America were not disembodied and ethereal. They were mediated through the lives of multidimensional individuals. Sojourner Truth, Luther Lee, Laura Haviland, Henry Bibb, and Gilbert Haven were very different from one another. Yet they were animated by similar ideas, grounded in faith, and shaped by a common commitment to human rights.
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Christopher P. Momany is a former chaplain and professor at Adrian College in Michigan and an ordained United Methodist pastor. He is the author of For Each and All: The Moral Witness of Asa Mahan (2018).
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