the same time protect females and their offspring from violence by others.^7 As
another example from a non-human society we could take lower-ranking
males in chimpanzee groups, who are exploited by the alpha-male but still
benefit from living in the group. Moving beyond these examples, we can make
the general observation that all known human societies involve some element
of exploitation, which is often unquestioned or even unnoticed by members of
the society. Exploitation (involving instrumental aggression or deception)
probably plays an important role in maintaining social groups.
The prime example of exploitation as part of the moral universe of biblical
literature is ancient slavery. In theActs of Peter 17 – 22, Maximilla becomes a
Christ follower and manipulates her slave Euklia into sleeping with her
husband in her place. While the chastity of Maximilla is presented as a
moral example, the cruel death of Euklia at the hands of her outraged master
apparently raises no eyebrows. Much has been written on Paul’s opinion that
slaves should remain slaves even after joining the Christian community, a view
that early Christians shared by and large (Byron, 2004; Wessels, 2010; Glancy,
2011).^8 Further, the concept of slavery was routinely employed to characterize
the relationship of humans and gods in antiquity. For example, Yahweh
considers the sons of Israel his slaves (Lev. 25:55), Paul and Pauline texts
call believers Christ’s slaves (e.g., Rom. 1:1, Gal. 1:10, Col. 4:12, Titus 1:1;
although in Gal. 4:7 Paul also writes that they are sons rather than slaves), and
Jesus sells the apostle Thomas into slavery in theActs of Thomas(Czachesz,
2007, pp. 129–38). The idea is rooted in similar concepts of other religions and
there are slight variations to the theme, but the point is that the master-slave
relationship could be used to describe man’s relation to god because the
intuition of ancient audiences found nothing inherently immoral in the
system.
8.5 IMITATING MORAL EXAMPLESIn this chapter, we have focused so far on the evolved cognitive and behavioral
traits that underlie morality. Without denying the importance of explicit
(^7) After taking liberal moral judgment out of the equation, however, one may ask whether
it is necessary to characterize this scenario as exploitation. For example, instrumental aggression
or manipulation by the male is not necessarily involved. Since costs and benefits are
exchanged in different currencies, drawing the net balance of such patterns of interaction is
not straightforward.
(^8) Scott Bartchy’s (1985) overall positive assessment of slaves’conditions in thefirst century
has been criticized by later scholarship. The possible alternative readings of 1 Corinthians 7:21
and Philemon (as Paul’s advice against slavery) seem unsupported by the general view reflected
in early Christian documents.
182 Cognitive Science and the New Testament