How Did Frederick Douglass Become A Christian

Frederick Douglass has a place in this nation’s history as an early social reformer and abolitionist. As a former slave himself, he used his gift of oratory and writing to call attention to the issue of slavery. However, before becoming the statesman that he was known as, Douglass lived a very difficult life as a slave. In his book, “Narrative of the Life of a Slave”, Frederick Douglass shares his experiences as a slave with the reader, as well as expressing his criticism of the white population of slave owners in the south. One of his harshest criticisms towards slave owners is his claim attacking their false Christianity, arguing that one cannot be both a Christian and a slave owner. According to Thomas Peyser, Douglas attacks Christianity and seems to believe that Christianity is the “perfect embodiment” of slavery. However, Douglas was a devout Methodist himself. Instead of attacking Christianity, Douglass clearly draws a distinction between what he believes to be the true nature of Christianity and the deceptive Christianity of the southern slave owners. Douglas succeeds in portraying this dichotomy by drawing allusions …show more content…
In the appendix, Douglass says “the Christianity of America is a Christianity, of whose votaries it may be as truly said, as it was of the ancient scribes and Pharisees.” He then quotes the bible where Jesus condemns the Pharisees, followers of an ancient Jewish sect, as hypocrites. Here, Douglass, who represents Jesus, is condemning Christian slaveholders by comparing them to the Pharisees. By drawing the analogy between Douglass being Jesus and his doubters being the Pharisees, Douglass is able to effectively point out that, just like the Pharisees of biblical times, American slave owners are fooling themselves into a false sense of security about their own morality by ignoring Douglass’s testimonies of their flawed