Your discussion of slavery and fatherhood reminds me of an analogy that Jesus made in John 8: "Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there for ever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed." The whole premise of the analogy is that slaves aren't "real" members of the family because they can be disposed of, which pretty well undermines the notion that slavery is inherently caring and familial.
At the same time, it does express a pretty different view of why freedom is better than slavery than what most modern folks would say -- it's not so much about personal autonomy (which few people had much of) as about security, status, and identity. When you look at fatherhood in the Bible and other premodern sources it can seem pretty authoritarian, but I get the impression it's less from thinking "my son is an extension of me" than "my son and I are extensions of our people." This is apparent as the passage goes on into an argument between Jesus and his interlocutors about who's the real "sons of Abraham." If the slavery-is-good set really believed their own arguments, this may reflect the extent to which the old family system was already breaking down, and was turning into more isolated households ruled by the paterfamilias.
Your discussion of slavery and fatherhood reminds me of an analogy that Jesus made in John 8: "Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there for ever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed." The whole premise of the analogy is that slaves aren't "real" members of the family because they can be disposed of, which pretty well undermines the notion that slavery is inherently caring and familial.
At the same time, it does express a pretty different view of why freedom is better than slavery than what most modern folks would say -- it's not so much about personal autonomy (which few people had much of) as about security, status, and identity. When you look at fatherhood in the Bible and other premodern sources it can seem pretty authoritarian, but I get the impression it's less from thinking "my son is an extension of me" than "my son and I are extensions of our people." This is apparent as the passage goes on into an argument between Jesus and his interlocutors about who's the real "sons of Abraham." If the slavery-is-good set really believed their own arguments, this may reflect the extent to which the old family system was already breaking down, and was turning into more isolated households ruled by the paterfamilias.