That is interesting history about which I know very little. Curious about the folks named, I checked Wikipedia on Richard Allen and Francis Asbury (understanding the limitations of that site)......two very interesting and long reads on those men. On Asbury, there is a reference "Asbury taught that “slavery was a crime against the laws of God, man, and nature”.[17]". I am wondering if part of the reason he held and preached this clearly correct viewpoint is because he was English and a circuit preacher before traveling from Bristol to the Philadelphia in 1771, and thus his biblical worldview on the subject of slavery and race was different from many of those in the colonies who were culturally influenced otherwise and selectively "cherry picked" biblical text to support their positions.
I think you could be onto something about how location and experience can help or hinder seeing things clearly. Jonathan Edwards of “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” fame, was born in 1703, as was John Wesley, whose younger brother Charles Wesley was born in 1707. The Wesley brothers, from England, opposed slavery and started the Methodist movement which became the beating heart of reformist Protestantism and eventually abolitionism. Edwards, from Connecticut, however owned slaves and defended slavery. They were men of same time period, and part of the British Empire, which was a slave-trading empire. But their theology and reading of scripture took them in very opposite directions.
That is interesting history about which I know very little. Curious about the folks named, I checked Wikipedia on Richard Allen and Francis Asbury (understanding the limitations of that site)......two very interesting and long reads on those men. On Asbury, there is a reference "Asbury taught that “slavery was a crime against the laws of God, man, and nature”.[17]". I am wondering if part of the reason he held and preached this clearly correct viewpoint is because he was English and a circuit preacher before traveling from Bristol to the Philadelphia in 1771, and thus his biblical worldview on the subject of slavery and race was different from many of those in the colonies who were culturally influenced otherwise and selectively "cherry picked" biblical text to support their positions.
I think you could be onto something about how location and experience can help or hinder seeing things clearly. Jonathan Edwards of “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” fame, was born in 1703, as was John Wesley, whose younger brother Charles Wesley was born in 1707. The Wesley brothers, from England, opposed slavery and started the Methodist movement which became the beating heart of reformist Protestantism and eventually abolitionism. Edwards, from Connecticut, however owned slaves and defended slavery. They were men of same time period, and part of the British Empire, which was a slave-trading empire. But their theology and reading of scripture took them in very opposite directions.