Jesus and Slavery

 As for slavery, it appears Jesus  encouraged the beating of slaves:
And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.-Luke 12:47

Note, the word "servant" here means slave. The Biblical Jesus lived in a time when slavery flourished, yet He never spoke or fought against it.

The British abolished slavery 30 years before america, and they did so without a civil war. During the 1800's the harsh reality and  the offensiveness of slavery came to be an affront to many americans.  This controversy split the country and the church.  Slavery has been practiced for thousands of years yet neither the old testament or new testament speaks out against the practice of owning another human being and making them a slave without freedom.  What are we to make of this attitude toward slavery by Jesus who claimed to speak for god, his father?  The roman slaves at least saw that they now had a chance to live in eternity as "equals" with their masters.  This no doubt gave them hope.  The early american slaves were not thought of as human or possessing a soul, as time went on and masters were able to communicate with their slaves they no doubt recognized their humanity, and with time some came to see that "owning" another human being was aggregious.  For various social and religious, political and economic  reasons slavery is now widely rejected, although still practiced in some parts of the world.  Slavery was horrible for men, but unbearable for women.  Female slaves were raped and beaten and overworked and denied any sense of a life of peace .  What do we make of Jesus not speaking out against slavery and the apostle Paul teaching slaves to be submissive, when he could just as easily have told early christians....do not own another human?  This is a question that led to 2,000 years slavery before it was rejected by compassionate human thinkers.  I can only ask the questions.  I don't have the answer.  The bible was written at the behest of powerful Kings.  Was it important to placate these Kings or the rich supporters of the church upon which the livelihood of the monks and priests depended?   Who was King James and did he and the bible scholars on which he supported have their own agendas?  I do not know.  All I know is that neither the Old Testament or the New Testament forbid the owning of slaves as a requirement for righteousness.