Education: Adult Bible Study Outlines
Either Bible Study can be done
on its own. If you decide to do both, we recommend doing
them in the order suggested here.
I.
Addressing Our Own Racism
Read aloud or individually
Matthew 5:1-11 - The Beatitudes
Reflection (This
and the historical note can be either read aloud or individually)
We like to think that, as Christians, we are among those who provide comfort
to “the poor in spirit” and “those who mourn”, that
we do “hunger and thirst for righteousness”, that we are merciful,
peacemakers, and “pure in heart.” But how “pure” are
our thoughts, motives and actions?
Historical Note to aid your reflection
The motives and actions of those involved in the Amistad Incident
were often mixed – not “pure”. For example, countries and
politicians were turning a blind eye to the continuance of the slave trade
through Cuba, even though Spain and Great Britain had signed a treaty in
1817 agreeing to suppress the African slave trade. The Connecticut Judge
at the first trial of the captives, Andrew Judson, the District Attorney,
William Holabird, and even the President of the United States, Martin Van
Buren, were all strongly pro-slavery, so their views affected their deci-sions
and actions.
Even those who
were on the side of the Africans often had mixed motives.
Former President John Quincy Adams, who won their freedom
in the Supreme Court, had been initially very reluctant to
take the case and required a lot of persuading. The Northern
abolitionists who founded the first Amistad Committee “used” the
case to apply questions of “moral rectitude” to
legal issues, particularly that of abolition. Congregationalists
who befriended the Africans also “showed them off” almost
as a tourist attraction. The American Missionary Association,
founded in order to help the Africans return to Sierra Leone,
pursued the opportunity to convert the Africans and then
use them to convert others in their country.
Read again
Matthew 5:1-11 - The Beatitudes
Individual Exercise
Think of an occasion when you interacted with one or more people of a different
ethnic or racial background. How did you speak or act differently than you
would have done with those of similar background? Can you identify any lack
of knowledge, uncertainty, fear, attitudes, prejudices, or any other factors
that might have contributed to this?
Group Discussion
-
Share examples of how we each recognize
our “falling short” of the high demands of
the Beatitudes.
-
Discuss how such examples show that
we each have ‘prejudices’ that effect our
interactions with those from different ethnic or racial
backgrounds.
-
Identify (if possible, list on a flip
chart) ways in which the group, and each of us, can work
to reduce our ‘prejudices’.
II.
Proclaiming Release to the Captives
Read aloud or individually
Isaiah 58: 6-10 - Bring
Justice and Compassion
Luke 4: 16-21 - Jesus in the Synagogue
Historical Note (To be read aloud
or individually)
The Africans were captured while going about their lives in Mendeland (present
day Sierra Leone). They were then taken illegally to Cuba on a slave ship.
They were given Spanish names so they would be classified as Ladinos rather
than Bozales. Ladinos were resident slaves before 1820
(when the treaty to suppress the African slave trade went into effect). Bozales were
slaves illegally imported after 1820. They were therefore not slaves, but
captives. Fifty-three of them were sold to two Spaniards, who were then transporting
them on the Amistad to an-other part of Cuba to work on plantations.
After they had gained control of the schooner, they were captured and jailed
in Connecticut. One of the arguments used by former U.S. President John Quincy
Adams before the Su-preme Court to help win the Africans’ freedom was
that the captives were justified in their actions to gain their freedom.
Jesus echoed Isaiah in “proclaiming release to the captives.” Many
of our ancestors in the faith helped slaves to freedom via the Underground
Railroad, and supported and defended the Amistad captives, out of
a profound moral imperative, rooted in their own deeply held experience of
God and the Gospel of grace.
The Abolitionists responded to the challenge of Isaiah and Jesus, not only “to
proclaim release to the captives,” but to gain it. They believed in
grace, so they knew that social and political transformation was possible.
As the abolitionist Wendell Phillips declared: “My friends, if we never
free a slave, we have at least freed ourselves in the effort to emancipate
our brothers.”
The freeing of the Amistad captives proved a turning
point not only for the abolitionist cause, but also a defining
moment for the Congregational Church (one of the four denominations
that merged in 1957 to form the United Church of Christ)
in defining its commitment to seek justice for all.
Read again
Isaiah 58: 6-10 Bring Justice and Compassion
Luke 4: 16-21 Jesus
in the Synagogue
Individual Exercise
As you reflect on the words of Isaiah and Jesus, can you think of someone
you have known (or perhaps even yourself?), who was a “captive” in
any sense – literally a prisoner, or a captive to a habit or an addiction,
or im-prisoned in a bad relationship or situation? How were you able to help
that person? How could you have helped that person more to gain release from
their “captivity”?
Group Discussion
-
Share examples of helping others, or ourselves,
gain “release from captivity.”
-
Discuss: To what ministries of “releasing
the captives” do Isaiah’s and Jesus’ words
point us today, both as individuals and as a church?
Bible Studies prepared by Eleanor Crawford,
member of Grace Congregational UCC in Framingham, Rev.
Patrica Walton, member of the First Congregational Church
UCC in Milford and Protestant Chaplain at Wellesley College,
and Rev. Peter Southwell-Sander, Chair, MACUCC Amistad
to Boston Committee.
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