May the peace of the Lord be with you.
The Master-Slave Dialectic has its origin in a famous chapter of German philosopher Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit (published in 1807) entitled "Lordship and Bondage" and widely considered to be Hegel's most well-known contribution to the advancement of critical theory. Robert C. Solomon explains Hegel’s idea in a nutshell: “Human existence is primordially a matter of mutual recognition, and it is only through mutual recognition that we are self-aware and strive for the social meanings in our lives” (Solomon, p. 68). Hegel’s Master-Slave dialectic tells the story of two independent human entities or “self-consciousnesses” who encounter one another and engage in a life-and-death struggle. The two self-consciousnesses must struggle because each one sees the other as a threat to itself. Only by seeing ourselves in relation to other humans in society can we determine our sense of dignity and establish our place in the world. Thus, in this struggle of self-consciousness and the master-slave conflict one individual assumes the role of Master (generally by superior force) and perceives (also subjugates) the other as Slave.
A Biblical Review: References taken from the New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Gender Relations
In the Genesis account of Creation, God said,
26 “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth"(Genesis 1:26-28).
These details are expanded upon in Chapter 2:
7 Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. 20 The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him. 21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. 22 The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. 23 The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones,And flesh of my flesh;She shall be called Woman,Because she was taken out of Man.”24 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed (Genesis 2:7,20-25).
A further clarification is given in Chapter 5:
This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. 2 He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them Man [literally, Adam] in the day when they were created (Genesis 5:1-2).
A few important points are worth noting. Humanity (Man) was created by God in the image and likeness of God, meaning Man would look and think like God. This was not said of any other creation of God, including other animals and angels. Moreover, the name Adam literally means Man or Humanity and refers to both genders, male and female (Gen. 1:27 & 5:1-2). Both Adam and his wife, Eve, were created equal (having equal status) by God, a reality recognized and accepted by Adam, which is reinforced in the declaration of his marital vows, "This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh" (Gen. 2:23). Eve, was not created to be Adam's servant but as a suitable and equal companion who would assist him with his earthly duties (Gen. 2:7 & 20). Prior to the Fall of Man (Humanity), neither Adam nor Eve ruled over each other, instead God gave them dominion (power to control or govern) over the Earth ONLY (Gen. 1:28). These conditions were radically changed by God after the Fall and for the first time after Creation a husband was given authority over his wife, "to rule over" her (Gen. 3:16). Take note of the fact that this change was specific to a husband (Adam) having authority over his wife (Eve) and was not a generalized reference to a man having authority over a woman. This too would further change in the New Testament church, which will be addressed later in this discourse.
Race Relations
In the early history of humanity, we read of Noah's curse upon Canaan, a son of Ham and grandson of Noah, the father of the Canaanites (a Semitic-speaking civilization and region in the Ancient Near East, located in present-day Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Israel). According to Genesis 9, Noah cursed Canaan (wished harm on his grandson by supernatural invocation) with these words,
“Cursed be Canaan;A servant of servantsHe shall be to his brothers.”26 He also said,“Blessed be the Lord,The God of Shem;And let Canaan be his servant.27 “May God enlarge Japheth,And let him dwell in the tents of Shem;And let Canaan be his servant” (9:25-27).
Notice he did not curse Ham or the other sons of Ham (mentioned in Chapter 10) with this dreadful status of being the 'lowest of servants.' Therefore, any extrapolations that purport that Africans and their diasporans came under the curse of Noah is totally erroneous, since the curse was specific to Canaan, a member of the Semitic, not African civilization.
Still, the roots of the Master-Slave Dialectic runs deep in both human history and the collective unconscious of human civilisation. Take for example, the harsh criticism levelled against Moses by his siblings, Aaron and Miriam, for marrying a Cushite woman (a black African woman) after he returned to Egypt to set the children of Israel free (Numbers 12). Cushites were of the ancestry of Cush (Nubia) in northeast Africa and Arabia. This was a marriage approved by God, whose anger "burned against them" (12:9), resulting in Miriam being stricken with leprosy for disapproving of Moses's choice of wife (perhaps because she was more vocal in her criticism).
Did some of the ancient Hebrews, who were of black complexion, experience racial discrimination from their fellow Hebrew kith and kin? In Chapter 1 of the Song of Solomon (Song of Songs), we read of an allegorical tale of God's marriage to and love for Israel, told in dramatic choral poetry. In this fictional poetic narrative, the Shulammite Bride (a possible metaphor for Israel) remonstrates against apparent injustices foisted upon her by her own fellow Hebrews and relatives. Her resistance to such injustices is manifested by her bold self-affirmation to her other female counterparts,
5 “I am black but lovely,O daughters of Jerusalem,Like the tents of Kedar,Like the curtains of Solomon.6 “Do not stare at me because I am swarthy [black],For the sun has burned me.My mother’s sons were angry with me;They made me caretaker of the vineyards,But I have not taken care of my own vineyard (1:5-6).
Contrary to those critical of her black complexion, her husband and lover, Solomon (a metaphor for God), affirms his love for her and adoration for her attractive physical attributes,
8 “If you yourself do not know,Most beautiful among women/10 “Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments,Your neck with strings of beads.”/15 “How beautiful you are, my darling,How beautiful you are!Your eyes are like doves” (1:8,10,15).
If God approves of and extols the beauty of the Shulammite's blackness (extended here to include all women of colour), who can justifiably disapprove?
Is there not a cause for the Church to collectively and publicly condemn racism? Did the Apostle Paul address, albeit briefly, this age-old scourge of human civilization? In his concise note to a Christian slave owner, Philemon (also the title of the New Testament letter), Paul appeals to Philemon's good conscience, with some threat of force (highly persuasive rhetoric), to reform his Christian perspective towards slavery, more specifically towards his fugitive (runaway) slave, Onesimus,
8 Therefore, though I have enough confidence in Christ to order you to do what is proper, 9 yet for love’s sake I rather appeal to you.... 10 I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my imprisonment, 11 who formerly was useless to you, but now is useful both to you and to me. 12 I have sent him back to you in person, that is, sending my very heart. 14 but without your consent I did not want to do anything, so that your goodness would not be, in effect, by compulsion but of your own free will. 15 For perhaps he was for this reason separated from you for a while, that you would have him back forever, 16 no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. 17 If then you regard me a partner, accept him as you would me (Philemon 1:8-12,14-17).
Paul's message is clear. Both the Christian slave owner and the Christian slave are fellow brothers in the Lord because both have the same heavenly Master, Christ Jesus. In returning Onesimus (a fellow prisoner and new convert to the Christian faith through Paul's preaching) to his earthly master, Paul admonishes Philemon, also a Christian convert of his ministry, to regard Onesimus, "no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother... both in the flesh and in the Lord" (16). A radical departure from the customs of this ancient societal worldview and theological thinking of his generation.
This was not an isolated declaration on slave reform or a fleeting gesture towards the abolition of slavery by Paul. He had other occasions and within different church communities to reiterate and expand upon this view,
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28).
Also,
[A] renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian [considered uncivilized or primitive], Scythian [nomadic people], slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all (Colossians 3:11).
Thus, the abolition of slavery and its institutional legacies are the only logical, humane, socially democratic, Christian and Godly course of action that any progressive nation can and should adopt. This must also be true of its insidious legacy propagated through the systemic oppression of blacks as outlined in "The Willie Lynch Letter: The Making Of A Slave!" This speech was delivered by Willie Lynch, a British slave owner in the West Indies, on the banks of the James River in the colony of Virginia on Christmas Day in 1712. He was invited to the colony of Virginia to teach his methods of establishing and institutionalizing slavery for posterity to slave owners there. The term "lynching" is derived from his last name.
In essence, the road to racial equality is paved with centuries of systemic institutionalized beliefs, attitudes, and cultural practices that will not be easily uprooted or dismantled by mere public protests. The Master-Slave Dialectic, which seized upon Simon of Cyrene (from the North African coast of present-day Libya) must also be dismantled. Here was an African man, a mere passer-by among many other onlookers, "pressed into service" (Mark 15:21) by the Romans to carry the cross of Jesus of Nazareth as Jesus was taken to his crucifixion. Perhaps through the prejudicial gaze of the Romans, Simon of Cyrene also fit the profile of a "transgressor" as was said of Christ (Mark 15:28 & Isaiah 53:12).
Notwithstanding the difficulty, along with the social and psychological discomfort usually associated with both private and public discourses about inequalities, we, the members of the human race, must find the courage to individually and collectively resist the perpetuation of such prejudices. Remember, "Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created" (Genesis 5:2, KJV). Friends, we are all "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14) by God. Instead of being hateful and perpetuating the Master-Slave Dialectic, let us love one another as Christ has taught us (John 15:12-17 & 1 John 4:7-21).
Thus, this doctrine of hatred, espoused by Willie Lynch and his contemporaries and all imperialist and colonial hegemonies MUST be circumvented by the pure, unadulterated doctrine of LOVE. It is the ONLY true and lasting remedy and cure against this age-old pandemic of HATE. "For God so love the world" (John 3:16) and we too must follow his example by loving each other. This is the very essence, quintessence and bioluminescence of life and human existence itself.
Liberté, égalité, fraternité can only be fully realised when hate is overthrown by a revolution of love.
To love is to [BE] human. To love is to live as ONE. "A new command I give you: Love one another" (John 13:34-35).
Stay safe and God bless
OOW
2020
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