My first substantive engagement with the study of human trafficking came while I was researching my book, Slavery, Abolitionism, and the Ethics of Biblical Scholarship.1 Therein, I tried to show that most of biblical scholarship remains an apologetic enterprise despite its claims to be engaging in historico-critical scholarship. I cited many examples of how modern scholars attempt to place biblical slavery in a more benign light compared to other ancient Near Eastern cultures or to modern forms of slavery. A substantial portion of modern scholarship believes that biblical, and especially Christian, principles ultimately were responsible for abolition.