Christianity and Slave Morality

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How do you answer the charge, often attributed to Nietzsche and neo-pagans, that Christianity ushered in slave morality?

I’m familiar with just war and the Crusades, but this is a heavy charge. “Turn the other cheek” is so often interpreted, by both Christians and non-Christians, as “be a doormat”.

Given that modern culture shames “toxic masculinity” and wants everyone to be passive, pusillanimous little bugmen who never stick their necks out or do anything that might upset the apple cart, it makes me want to get rowdier than ever.
 
They usually reply that it’s a Jewish scheme to abandon their ancestors or something to that effect.
 
From a Christian perspective, Christ exemplified both Master and Slave Morality, and call each of us do exercise both, and not just Slave Morality.
 
Oh, I don’t know. Christ was the Master and also the slave. I don’t think Crist had slaves per se but He had followers who followed Him by choice rather than by obligation of ‘ownership.’ Mary told her servants to do as Christ told them pertaining to the wine at the wedding. The Church came into being in a different time, culture, and circumstances. The Jews themselves were slaves to the Egyptians Pharaohs.

Chris, as a devout Jew, came to teach his people new and better ways, how to accept or change Judaism at the time, how to accept the slap of the check when they had no recourse.

There was at the time a ‘code’ on how to treat their ‘slaves’ if they had slaves. I’ll make a bet that more than one slave just got up one morning and walked away.
We, enlightened people, have slaves even now as in government, rich man, poor man, beggar man Don’t think for a minute that you are not controlled with a collar around your neck, so to speak.
So don’t toss a wet blanket over just the Jews as if blinded by reality, past, and present. Slaves are a historical fact of culture and other modalities evolving from other customs and practices. Slavery has been around ever since man learned to pick up a rock and subdue his neighbor. That reminds me; I can’t find my pet rock.
 
Slave Morality is not about the institution of slavery, it is thoughts on a theory that there are two morality types; Slave and Master, with one exercising Slave Morality holds compassion, empathy, and kindness as valuable.
 
Slavery was in existence before there was Christianity. It was not introduced by Christianity.
If there was a morality that was introduced by Christianity then it was in recognition of the human dignity of the person as opposed to being property.
 
poche said:
Slavery was in existence before there was Christianity.
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Of course it was. But, again, “Slave Morality” has nothing to do with the institution or history of slavery. “Morality” is the issue, not “Slavery”.

Nietzsche (and others) were speaking of the human take on the mindset and philosophical role of a slave and a master.

And, again, if we apply it to Christianity, Christ exhibited the best traits of both Slave and Master Morality; where the Slave is submissive and caring, and the Master is benevolent and nurturing…nothing bears this out more than what we witness and see re-enacted in the washing of the feet at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper as part of the Triduum of Easter.
 
Christianity ushered in a slave morality?

If you mean pacifism, Buddhism has got Christianity beat by centuries.

Buddhist monks are well known to be pacifists.
 
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anon1212376 said:
How do you answer the charge, often attributed to Nietzsche and neo-pagans, that Christianity ushered in slave morality?
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The type of people you are describing are prone to moral relativism. Or - in other words - they think it is okay to argue their opinion one way or the other. So - ultimately - a reasonable discussion will prove impossible.

Speaking as someone who considers and conducts himself as a love slave under the Total Consecration to Mary, I simply tell them they are wrong.

Christianity didn’t “usher in slavery”; slavery existed long before Christ came along.

The dereliction of Christ’s passion was due to man’s failure to recognize the sublime divinity of Jesus; or, in other words, since Christ overcame the world, it is the worldly all-too-human view of him that is derelict.

If anything, Christ’s appeal to poverty and the human condition always was, always has been, and always will be sublime, not derogatory. Anyone who denies it, including and especially Neitzsche, doesn’t know what they are talking about.

Actually, Neitzsche, who very much fathered the gay sciences, could never really understand the morality of Christianity. Neitzsche was an a-moralist and a nihilist. They’re totally incompatible. Expecting Neitzche to explain Christianty would be like asking someone with no legs to tap dance.

My advice? Find better fare. It’s all in what you eat.
 
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Wm777 said:
Christianity didn’t “usher in slavery”; slavery existed long before Christ came along.
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I feel your frustration. Nobody said Christianity “ushered in slavery”, but many, for some reason, can’t hear beyond S-L-A-V-E.

And, you picked up on the fact that he observation in the Original Post was that Christianity might have “ushered in slave morality”.

Slavery and slave morality are two totally different things!
 
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Nietzsche is a prime example of setting up and burning a straw man. His version of Christianity is not Christianity. Don’t even use his terminology or you are already buying into the lie. Meekness is not weakness; it effectively means that you can keep your temper and exercise your anger with control. It just so happens that violence is almost always sinful. Jesus got violent in the temple with the money changers, so he didn’t exactly act like a slave there did he? Also, read Revelation and compare that image of the triumphant Lord with whatever mendacious caricature Nietzsche tried to create.

Edit: I think the proper response to Nietzsche, and one he would probably appreciate, is to get angry at him.
 
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Ephesians 5:21-33

And, especially, as I see it under the Total Consecration: Ephesians 5:25-27.

A lot of people get it mixed up.

Some men in the church seem to think women have a secondary place, but it seems like they fail to recognize the graces and virtues of the Blessed Mother.

On the feminine side, some contemporary feminists, and some modern Catholic women, also seem to get it mixed up. To them, a loving, submissive male is either weak, or perhaps objectifying them somehow.

The resultant strife in modern life is eremitic.

But I look at and live by my consecration under a very few simple passages. I find a lot of strength, power and self-sovereignty in upholding the virtues. Things I would not have been able to accomplish without the supernatural gifts and graces of God’s higher powers. And - in such prayer - I’m both happy and content in ways I never would have thought possible, doing things I never would have thought I would do, and so on.

Some people have (and will continue) to call me foolish. I don’t say I am always right, but - if one maintains perspective - one learns slinging such accusations can have a boomerang effect.

I’d rather stick to cultivating the growth of a mustard seed in prayer - than blink at the fly-by-night puffy leaven of hypocrisy.
 
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Cool…a Nietzsche thread…I’ve read Thus Spoke Zarathustra and Beyond Good and Evil. I felt like I was arguing with Nietzsche some of the time while reading these books. He had some good points here and there. May I suggest Fr. Longenecker’s recent opinion piece on Nietzsche.

https://dwightlongenecker.com/resentment-and-religion/

Some interesting things he says…
In their powerlessness, Nietzsche proposes that the Resentful find someone else to blame for their problems. Then, blaming this perceived “enemy” they begin to perceive themselves as martyrs. He says the “slave revolt in morality” was when the Hebrew slaves in Egypt began to see themselves as righteous for suffering slavery.
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Instead of this counterfeit Christianity, Scheler says the true Christian spirit is constantly seeking to shed all forms of Resentment through repentance and faith. It is constantly seeking to delight in truth–not the deceptions engendered by Resentment. It is constantly and naturally seeking to serve and finds great joy in doing so. Scheler says Nietzsche missed the authentic spirit of Christianity and criticized the counterfeit religion instead. He was right to criticize that fake, Pharisaical counterfeit, but he was sadly wrong in missing the real thing.
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I like that. Christianity is about truth. The truth is Jesus was not passive. He took a whip, used it, and overturned tables…in other words…not a doormat. At the same time Jesus basically says to let go of the resentment and find joy.
 
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