In the Introduction to my book, Spelunking Scripture – The Letters of Paul, I write:

As a two-time graduate of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, I was dismayed to learn that two founding faculty members of the seminary, John A. Broadus and James P. Boyce, were slave owners. John A. Broadus was an outstanding preacher and New Testament scholar. His textbook for homiletics, On the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons, is still in print and in use in evangelical colleges and seminaries. The renowned British Baptist pastor Charles Spurgeon called Broadus “the greatest living preacher.” James P. Boyce was a systematic theologian who served as the first President of Southern Seminary. His text, Abstract of Systematic Theology, was widely used. Broadus and Boyce were among the most acclaimed Baptist leaders of their era. Yet, both owned slaves. In fact, Boyce, owner of 23 slaves at the beginning of the Civil War, described himself as “ultra pro slavery” (John A. Broadus, “Memoirs of James Petrigru Boyce,” in Selected Works of John A. Broadus [2001] 4:185). Boyce served as a chaplain in the Confederate Army before being elected to the South Carolina legislature. Broadus also served as a chaplain in the Confederate Army. In 1886 Broadus declared in an address at Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville, that fallen Confederate soldiers had not died in vain (Bob Allen, Baptist News Global, June 23, 2015).

How could Broadus and Boyce possibly have defended slavery? Like many southern preachers of their era, they found warrant for slavery in selected passages of scripture.

Having just read the Executive Summary of the Commission on Historic Campus Representations of Baylor University, now I am dismayed to learn that “Baylor’s founders and early leaders, including trustees and presidents, were slaveholders. Several continued to justify and support slavery even after the Civil War.” I had not been taught that when I was a student at Baylor University from 1969 until my graduation in 1973. I suppose I should have suspected some connection with slavery, given that Baylor was founded in Texas in 1843. I knew, of course, that the Southern Baptist Convention was founded in 1845, because some Baptists in the north objected to Baptist slaveholders in the south being appointed as missionaries. But I did not know that Baylor’s founders, William Tryon and James Huckins, were slaveowners, nor did I know that the University’s namesake, Judge R.E.B. Baylor, was a slaveholder. Now, I know.

In the Introduction to Spelunking Scripture – The Letters of Paul, I explain how some of Paul’s instructions to various churches in the first century were used to justify slavery into the 19th century. My conclusion is that those passages of Paul were misinterpreted, confusing cultural conditions with God’s eternal truth. Given the teachings of Jesus about loving others as we love ourselves, in no way can slavery be God’s intention for anyone. Yet, for centuries, selected passages from Paul’s letters and other scripture texts were used to argue that slavery was a part of God’s plan. Such is the tragic consequence of failing to recognize that “proof texting” can lead to egregious errors in scripture interpretation. As I state in every volume of the Spelunking Scripture series, all scripture is inspired, but not every passage of scripture is of equal importance. Some passages reflect the cultural conditions of the time, while others convey God’s eternal purposes. One of the goals of “spelunking scripture” is to identify those passages which are most important, and to explore beneath the surface to discover what those passages mean for our lives today.