Religion & Spirituality
The NT ‘Household Codes’ (Eph. 5, 6; Col. 3) mandate the roles of wives/husbands, children/parents, & slaves/masters. They enshrine in Scripture modified versions of Roman-Greek ethical codes. In our era they have generated heated debate & bitter controversy; 150-years ago they were used to justify US slavery. Are they timeless divinely-ordained principles or historic protocols irrelevant today? Do they reflect ‘universal norms’ or an ‘interim ethic’ which tolerated 1st-century patriarchy and slavery? How can we treat them as “God’s Word,” and apply them today in our cultural context? What can we learn from Paul’s interaction with slavery on both personal & institutional levels?