Then he
said: “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants he shall be to his
brethren.” -Genesis 9:25
Dr. Thomas
Buford Maston (AD 1897-1988) was a longtime Ethics professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas. While a student, I had the opportunity to
briefly visit with T. B. Maston on a walk around the SWBTS campus. In 1959 Dr. Maston wrote “The Bible & Race,” published by
Broadman Press. It was a book ahead of
its times. In 2008 SWBTS reprinted this
book as a part of its Centennial Classics.
In the
last chapter, Maston deals with the Curse of Ham, or the Curse of Canaan in
Genesis 9. This biblical passage has
been wrongly used by some to justify slavery and racism. I will not reprint the entire chapter, but
Maston’s conclusion.
Conclusions Concerning the Curse
“What can
we conclude concerning the curse of Canaan and its relevance to the
contemporary racial situation? Some personal
conclusions are as follows:
1. The curse was a pronouncement of a particular
sentence on a particular sin.
2. The curse was a prophecy. Its main purpose was to predict the
subjugation of the Canaanites by the children of Israel.
3. The fulfilment of the terms of the curse and
the time of the fulfilment were dependent on the decisions and the conduct of
the ones mentioned in the curse.
4. The curse of Canaan has no direct relevance
to the contemporary racial situation.
The Negro was not included in the original curse, since he was not and
is not a descendant of Canaan. Even if
he were a descendant of Canaan, the curse itself is no longer in force.
5. Most men seek divine sanction for what they
do or want to do.
6. In seeking divine sanction for enforced
racial segregation, some have used the curse of Canaan, which they usually
label ‘the curse of Ham,’ and the Bible in general to support their
position.
7. Even Christians may defend racial segregation
as the best method of temporarily and immediately handling a perplexing problem
without doing great damage to the cause of Christ, so long as they will not use
the curse of Canaan and other biblical incidents and teachings to support their
position, and so long as they do not defend segregation as being the full and
final expression of the divine will in human relations. When the latter is done, irreparable harm is
done to the Christian movement and to the Christian witness at home and
abroad.
Surely the
God who created man in his own image, who made of one all men, who is no respecter
of persons, who loved all men enough to give his Son for their salvation, and
who taught us to love our neighbor as ourselves did not and does not intend
that any man or any segment of mankind should be kept in permanent subserviency
or should be treated as innately inferior, as second-class citizens in a
first-class society.”
-T. B. Maston, The Bible & Race; 1959.
-David R. Brumbelow, Gulf Coast Pastor,
May 29, AD 2017.
Many other
articles in lower right margin.
