AFRICAN ORIGINS THE MAJOR WORLD RELIGIONS YOSEF BENIOCHANNAN CHARLES FINCH TSEGAVE GABRE-MEDHIN’ MODUPE ODUYOYETHE AFRIKAN ORIGINS OF THE MAJOR WORLD RELIGIONS by Yosef Ben-Jochannan, Charles Finch, Modupe Oduyoye. Tsegaye Gabre-Medhin Edited by Amon Saba SaakanaThe Afrika Oris ofthe Major Work Regs ‘vont henjoeannan Chater Hach, Mowape Odayoye, Tsgare Nicaea, Orga 2 Ale Janson, Cr Aman sai. Fron our, ss ates 4: Gxt Tanks th Yost BenJockannan for person to eit and reprints mis nT ton Orgy he aor Wester elon "hanks to Chars Fae sn tothe Journal of African Cvizaions for per In en he Rac cas of Carta Te fra onal papers and for giving us permission to pent ther ie rien 0 ifthe Mar Word ligions was presen Caabean CONTENTS Notes on Conteibutors PREFACE Reclaiming Afeikan Religious Precedence Iunon Saba Saakana Moses: African Influence on Judaism Yosef Ben Jochannan The Kamitic Genesis of Christianity Charles S. Finch ‘The Spirits that Rule the Worl African Religions & Judaism, Modupe Oduyoye The Origin of the Trinity in Art & Religion: Ethiopian Roots ia the Egypto-Greck & Hebrew Tsegaye Gabre-Medbin 33 7 99CONTRIBUTORS ‘Yosef Ben Jochannan is a historian and former Professor of Keligion, author of many books, and has taught and lectured in many Universities in the USA and Egypt. He is one of the forerunmers in reclaiming Nile Valley Ciilzation as an ini sie part of Africa's past. Charles §. Finch has a B.A. in History (Vale University) and received an M.D. from UCLA. He is the deputy director of a research project at Morehouse School of Medicine and is, involved in continuing research in African traditional medical practices. He lives 49 Atlanta, Georgia. He is the author of ‘African Background to Medical Science. Modupe Oduyoye has studied English, Latin and History ‘Theology, bieroglyphics atthe Universities of tbadan, Nigeria Yale Divinity School, USA, and London Universiey's Extra Mural Dept. He studied comparative Semitic lingvistcs atthe Linguisties institute of the Linguistic Sociery of America. He is the former manager of Daystar Press and is currently a publisher ‘of his own press in Nigeria. Hels the author of Yoruba Names, tnd Words & Meaning in Yoruba Religion [Amon Saba Saakana has an M.A. in Caribbean Literature and [san author of several books. He i the director of Karnak House. His latest book is Colonialism and the Destruction ofthe Mind. FOREWORD TO THE SECOND EDITION RECLAIMING AFRIKAN RELIGIOUS PRECEDENCE, Amon Saba § akan The papers contained in this book are the result of the second annual conference, organised by Caribbean Cultural Interna tional (Karak House), in 1986 in a sevies entitled The Afrika Origin of Civtisation (gaken from the book of the same mame by the late master, Cheikh Anta Diop). This conference was appropriately entitied The Afrikan Origins ofthe Major World Religions from a similar book tile by Professor Yosef Ben- Jochannan, ‘The conference itself solicited a great deal of ‘enthusiasm, response and questioning from an audience eager fo understand and advance the dehate over the origins of the major world religions inthis second edition there isan adlitional essay hy Ethiopian rmultidiseiplinarian Tsegaye Gabee-Medhin who, although not participating in the conference itself, has done a number of highly original and interesting researches into the origin of| African religion, and its attendant theatreidance manifestation Gabre-Medhin i also the leading playwright of Ethiopia, the founder and director ofits national theatee, its poet urexte andl an unusual Africanist in ancient Egypeian studies for which he received a fellowship from Senegal’s former president, Leopold Sedar Senghor, to study tinder Cheikh Anta Diop 3¢ the then University of Dakar, We are therefore proud to publish his paper which was originally presented at Ades Ababa Univer sity In 1984 in a forum concerned with Ethiopian studies, “The question of the precedence of African religion over the world’s other religions sometimes produce the hysteria of con- traversy and accusations of reversed racism, This lasts without foundation because racism implies the ability to oppress another group through legalised prescriptions and institutional means the idea of controversy is partly derived from the notion. that Afticans are at last reclaiming that which others had claimedas their own, In the context of reclamation, a “society once great now reduced” hasan additional ring of authentic reduc- Non, Ve, because of the current spectacle of Africa: starvatio famine, beggars at the doors of Western governments — pro- duces the ineredulous response that such 2 society could never have produced what the world has accepted as the pillars of morality and good conduct — the existence of religious beliefs land doctrines as supposedly contained in the Old and New ‘Testament and in the Koran But itis precisely this phartasm, this deliberately projected historical deceit, which needs to be deconstructed, reconstructed and reconstituted in its original mould in order for rigorous serutiny of the facts to be demonstrated and understood ‘THE MOSES STORY “The Moses story isthe bass for belief in Judaism, This rock-hard, story, part fiction, part historical fat, consticutes for Judaism, and the scholars who have vigorously defended its difference from other religions, a veritable advancement in world religious doctrine and belief. Sigmund Freud, the celebrated Jewish psychoanalyst, was himself bothered by this story and devoted three essays ' to an exploration ofits authenticity. The fist principle he establishes isthe precedence and similarity of cher heroes of antiquity to the Moses story. He places Sargon of Agade as the oldest precedent 40 the Moses birth and rise 10 fcknowledged nobility. Two facts are obvious in delimiting, Freud's comparative knowledge: water is proposed by the ancient Kamites as the origin of things (Nown), out of which ‘emerged the self made god Atoum-Re. OsiriAsar represents the first god-king on earth whose body was chopped up by his brother Set and throwa in water. His siste/wife Isis/Auset recovers his body from the water and breatbes life back into hhim. Both these instances precede the birth of Sargon. Uke many scholars, Freud shows that the Jewish God represents a rigid monotheism on the grand seale: there is only ‘one God, he s the sole God, omnipotent, unapproachable: his aspect is more than humao eyes can tolerate, No image must be made of him, even his name must not be spoken.» Yet if ‘was this same God who tevealed himself to Moses on Mt Sinai ‘who spoke to him and who gave him the so-called Ten Com rmandments, So that he was both approachable and that human eves could tolerate him, constitutes a veritable contradiction (Gna moral scale the Jewish God is an absolute intolerant, He theeatens with fire and brimstone all those who disobey Him, and He is appealed ¢o in order for bis adherents to carry out the vilest forms of violence Fenn Goa siting te nut of he thers sla aes oo These excerpts from different chapters of the Old Testament (che Jewish Torah) demonstrate the human nature of the Jewish ‘God as he commands and sanctions the act of slavery (whichlater Cheistians invoked in the petiod of both Afeican slavery and before, amongst their own people). He is shown 25 an intolerant God, a force lacking in moral philosophy, and more Importantly. 2 Godl of war and revenge. These qualities testify toand beteay the tsbal origins ofthe Jewish people: emerging ‘out of Chaldes (Iraq), already canonised as 3 war mongering, ration. This idea is reinforced by Freud's siuating the birth of Yahwech, the Jewish God, within the western front of Arabia and that ‘according to Eduard Meyer..ke was an uncanny, bloodthirsty demon who went about by night and shunned the Light of cay." Is only logical that the God of the Jews would be a reflection of his birth and environment Frankfort states, “We do not find in Egypt the viotent conflict, which is characteristic of the biblical religion, Man isnot seen {a eebelion against the command of God nor does he experience the intensity and range of Feelings from contrition to grace which characterise the main personages of the Old and New testament. sinner (is not one) whom God rejects but an ignorant man who Is disciplined and corrected. This vast polarity which exists in the moral attitude of Kemit snd Israel Isat the root ofthe primary significance of a God who threatens, sanetions murder and slavery, andl 1 God who preaches the man could become godlike, who can elevate himself to a highet moral plane, who ean he shown the way to a more integrated and egalitarian life. One cam thus infer thatthe circumstances tupon which the Israelites came to understand the concept of God was one in which the masses of people were barbarian — ‘ot used in pejorative sense, hut merely to connote the absence in their society of moral precepts by which man could be governed. Moses, a Kamite prince, Was the one who would utilise a God who could threaten and pledge mucder in order to frighten and transform the barbarian Jews from thei violent predilections The people of Kemit had a particular view of Aslaties which ‘corroborates the portrayal ofthe Jewish people (and others) 28 prone to violence. “He has been fighting since the time of Horus, Dut he conquers not, nor is he conquered, and he never announces the day’of fighting...He may plunder 2 lonely settle tment, but he will aot take a populous city..ouble thyself not about him: he is (only) an Asiatic." Althougt ‘as not directed specifically to the Jews, it can be caken 2s a broad description of those peoples who emanated from that part ‘of the world. The Jews were inextsicably a pat of western Asia, and as such, were shown to have been influenced by’ a violent pcturing of God. and of the lack of moral codes which could guide them to a higher plane of wisdom, until Moses showed them another way. Itmust be stated that although the Jews dur ing and after Moses can be identified with an African race, tot all Jews took on these feares, for they ate clearly portrayed, ‘during the time of Akhenaten as a people of a distinctive Asiatic type. And additionally, the original starving tribe of 77 Jews as portrayed inthe Old Testament, did not remain that number for long. for the migration of Asiatics Jews) was a constant throughout the period of Jewish settlement in Kemi “The point could be raised ofthe moral tone of the Ten Com: smandaents given to Moses by God. This idea is eloquently Ucbated by Professor Ben-Jochannan and Gabre Medhin not © ‘warrant any farther elaboration, The point, however, needs 10 be demoasteated that Moses’ name itself betrays a Kemitan genesis as Preud himself has pointed out. suspicion has long, bicen expressed, .that the name "Moses s derived from the EgyP- tian vocabulary * He then goes on to quote Breasted on the ‘tymology ofthe name, ei important to notice that his name, Moses, was Egyptian. Its simply the Egyptian word “mose meaning “child”, and isan abeigement of fuller form of such hhames as "Amen-mose"..or "Ptah-mose Tis leaves one final point concerning the Jewish concept of| monotheism. As previously stated, scholars have emphasised the absoluteness of the Jewish God, his divorce from human IMfe, and an absence of the offer of etcenal life, Le, no resur rection. Many scholars have also devoted a great deal of effort in uncavelling the mystery surrounding the concept of God. among the Jews and many have concluded that Moses was a prince-priest in Kemitan society. This can be easily verified by this deseripcionthe fact that the Old Testament does not conceal the Fact of his being brought up in the house of the Pharaoh during the short reign of Amenophis IV, liter Akhenaten, The Book of Coming Forth by Day (Negative Confessions) clearly contained the ten principal doctrines in a larger and more eepresentativeinjunc: tion for humans to live in harmony by showing the negative principles for disharmony. These were used by Moses and pro- Claimed to the Jewish people asa revelation from God. He could conly have succeeded in proclaiming this because ofthe secret nature of his so-called sojourn in the wilderness. There was no witness, only Moses’ word, Thus Moses could shrowd oF guise his borrowings from Kemi by proclaiming that it was an injunction from God. But this injunction was followed by Another one. that of circumcision: and if we doubted (although the evidence is irrefutable) that the so-called Ten Command- -meats ae a borrowing, st cannot be said that circumcision came fom a secret revelation from God. It is only from the injunction by Moses to circumcise the Jews that citcummeision and. Jewishoess became identified, But this i at later date, when Circumcision was already an established fact in ancient Kemit, Clearly portrayed on the walls of the buildings the crcumesion (of 120 men) and was one of the forms of iltation, the situal cleansing of he bod in preparation for 3 higher calling, as well, as a visual sign of relinguishing the body ofa chil, similar 10 the braid worn by young boys in ancient Kemit and Ethiopia, as well asthe locks of Massat warriors, only ¢o be shaved off fon the attainment of manhood. Rather than demonstrate the links between Akhenaten and Moses, it should be sid in principle that Kemi precedes all other religions in its concept of monotheism, This can be understood from the bieth of the ereation story: out of Noun (primeval mat ter) emerged Atoum Re, the veritable Creator God! who is se created and who creates four pairs of human beings, male and female, and is responsible forthe germination of life. Seholats| have tended to portray Kemit s polytheistic, but there #0 ‘word in the majority of African languages which conveys this ‘dea ofa multiplicity of god (see Modupe Oduyoye's convincing, arguments in tis book). What Kemi and other African societies ‘realised and understood is that God inhabits every living thing. Othe planet: the trees, water, animals, rocks, ete. This implies fn immanent God, an ever present God, which constitutes the ‘very moral perspective which profoundly touched the world- View of Kamites and Africans in general, This world-view was Tesponsible for investing man with god-like qualities and which animated the philosophical outlook of the Kamites (sce T. Obenga’s Anctent Egypt & Back Africa, ia which be deals extensively with Kemitan philosophy). This concept of monotheism, therefore, is clearly a well-established historical fact in Kemit, prior t0 any of the other now major religions. A NOTE ON AMENEMOPE/SOLOMON [Akhenaten is proclaimed by most western scholars asthe Fist individual” im history. By’this they mean because of his reckless attempt to enforce his personal predilection for Aten Re to be Accepted asthe sole God of Egypt, and that he went to great Tenghts to standardise this fervent belief by removing the names ‘of al other concepts which related co 2 Supreme Being such, as Amon at Thebes, Re at Heliopolis and Ptah at Memphis.” [Akhenaten even went so far as to efface his own father's name from the inscriptions. But what needs to be understood, as [Breasted pointed out, s thatthe name ofthe Aten (or Aton) was already it use during the time of AKhenaten's father, Amenbotep TTL "Fhe sun-god, too, was now and again desigaated as the “sole god” by Amenhotep 11's contemporarics.”* This clearly demonstrates that Re, the original sun-god, was transposed into Aten-Re under Akhenaten, and that there was hnothing original in Akhenaten’s proclaiming precedence for ‘monotheism when it is already an established fact in Kemitan history. What distinguished AKhenaten’s reign, however, i his ingoterance for other concepts apart from his own and his Intense devotion to theology and his enormously creative func: tlon as poet and weiter against affairs ofthe state, which finally ‘was responsible for Kemit being transgressed against by AsiaticsGoing back to an earlier period, one can compare the writings of Amenemope on Solomon, as we can discern the iluence ff Akhenaten on Moses. It is Amenemope’s incredible tranquility and his deep con: emplaive philosophical vision which has influenced, beyond doubt, the so-called Solomonic Proverbs and even the weitings of Lao-Tau. Lichtheim, like others before him, unhesttatingly Proclaimed the Kemitan King as the model “etn tnd mc fia no fig rp Stee’ Ge Solomon’) auaiatance with hey capers Both Prof. Ben Jochannan and Gabre Medhin go into detail on this question and it does not need elaboration here, except to point out some similarities in Amenemope's work and that of the Chinese sage, Lao-T2u (600 00): Amenemope Lao 1. Cling to the silent, then ‘you find lif, Your being will prosper ‘upon earth. Curb your tongue and senses And you are beyond teouble 2. Pause before a foe, bend before an attacker, Yield and you need not break: Bent you can straighten 3.The boat of the greedy is left (in) the mud, While the bark of the silent sls wih che wind, Be utterly humble And you shall hold to the foundation of peace, ‘These philosophical comparisons between Amenemope (1400 fc) ad Lao T7u (600 HC) cleatly show that Kemit preceded that ff China, yet the Inter is more widely circulated and known. Tere is one major difference, however, which indicates the entirely diferent philosophical vision ofthe writers: alchougts AAmenemone was facing dally threats and attacks from foreigners (Asiaties, he was never persuaded to adopt a more pragmatic approach 10 fe. In fact, every verse of the thirry verses contains some reference to God, while in Lao Tzu there is absolutely 90 reference t0 God. The latter is definitely the more pragmatic approach to existence; there was a more obvious materialist approach here. “Re cOncerned not with obedience but with benefit.” Amenemope’s philosophy is fundamentally animated by theology and does not accept disobedience to an elder or toa more respectable person; he even advises, ‘Don't raise 22 ‘outery against one who attacks you,’ and that the offender Should be lef ro fate or destiny, This does not appear in Lao Tau. So that although there is a philosophical correspondence fon one level, at the more profound level there is an apparent polarity in the orientation of the two philosophical systems That the Moses’ story or the “wisdom” of Solomon could ‘ever have any lasting significance rested upon the obliteration, ff the Kemitan inscriptions and manuscripts. Now that the world is becoming aware of the true historical record, other inceresting parallels are beginning co manifest themselves. For too long the existence of sacred books: the Bible, the Koran, the Veale texts, the Popul-Vub, ete, gave living testimony t© the idea that ail other races sowed the germinating seed of religious theology, and of philosophical though. But the con- UUnued unearthing of dormant documents, or documents that formerly advanced racism and imperialism of knowledge of the Indo-European world, 2re beginning to be unravelied by African historians and others as being the sightful legacy of Africans of| the Nile Valley. Tes important, however, to go beyond the historical period lof Afria’s influence, to the period of domination which con: tained the key to understanding how the philosophy, religious‘thought, and egalitarian concepts profoundly influenced Furo- pean societies and predisposed the enslaved, oppressed and ‘exploited Indo-European masses toa postive reception aot ony to African egalitatian divinities but to Cheistianity and later Islam. KEMIT UNDER FOREIGN RULE: SYNCRETISM & CHANGE Since during the time of Pharaoh Amasis (600 ue), Greeks were already settied in 2 particular area of Kenn, Naveratis, which ‘was established by Amasis asa trading centre. However, Greeks, came to Kemit not Just for material trade but for intellectual knowledge and religious generation (see Obenga, op. cit). By. the time Alexander moved with his army nto Kemi, the Greeks were already well established in the country. Tt should be remembered here that Alexandr of Macedonia paid the greatest respects tothe Kemitan God, Amon, and went co several temples ‘not only to pay homage but to consult the oracles of Amon about his future. Alexander also brought a new wave of Greek itelec: ‘uals who were eager to learn of the fabled intellectual wealth of the Kemitan priests, and subsequently they had complete access to the many ibraies in Kemi. But soon after Alexander's seath and during the long reign of the Prolemies, Kemit was plunged under a truly materialiste and rapacious oppression, An analysis of Greek colonial policy clearly shows the extent to which Kemit was being raped: the Greeks were the contrac tors and not the workers in industry, they controlled the royal and private banks (there were banks even ia the most remote villages), they became the landowners, and the money lenders (Gt cam he suid ie passing that this policy was not specifically lnvented for Kemit, but that Greece itself was the model for such brutal policies, This was the principal reason why Solon. had to flee from Greece: he had revoked the norm of enslaving a relative oF one's self when in debt and unable to pay; he tried to break up the large estates, and revoked laws particularly in relation o usury — the foundation of Greco-Roman wealth), etc. They were required to perform compulsory work on the canals and embankments and, from time to time, inthe mines and Gquasies." However, although Greeks colonised and raped emit, there 2s a flourishing of Kemit’s religious doctrines amongst the Greeks themselves and in the fest of the world. ‘One of the most unexpected consequences of the arsival in Egypt of large numbers of Greeks Was the spread of certain cults throughout the Greek world.” Agiin,i€ is unnecessary 10 detail the extent t0 which tsale and Osiran religious influence came upon both Greece and Rome and as far as France, but to point out that Christianity self received its greatest generation from the themes of resueeee tion, life alter death, and egalitarianism as preached by the Kemitan religious concepts. “Here were religions that claimed the whole of life tha eaught of moral pollution and of recon: tiation, that gave an old sacramental value to rtuals — religions Of priest and devotee, equalizing the rich and the poor . and giving women the consciousness of life in couch with the tlvine."® Much Inter, simultaneous with the spread of Kemitan ‘religious influence, there was also the import of Christin doc frine. Although Kemit was the land! upon which Jesus Christ ‘38 educated and helonged to a secret order. che religion had its primary adherents in Syria, Because of the massive oppres- sion by the Grecks, certain elements of the Kemitan popula tion absorbed Christianity as thie religion, side by side with the practice of thelr own religious beliefs. This is che major reason in understanding the readiness with which elements of ‘the population took on Christianity: because of the rejection of theie oppressors who attached themselves to the traditional Kemitan religion but practised it enttely differently, feom a :materalist understanding and application. This explains why kKemit became an impostaat Focal point in the Christian world, apart from Biysantium/Constantinople where the highest Bishop ‘Ve his seal co new developments until Rome seized power and instituted the papacy ‘Kemit, aot suepesingly also supplied the Christan world with the ides of monasticism, although in the Kemitan examplecelibacy as not considered a prerequisite. The Christians ‘of Egypt systematically practised withdrawal from the world, {Forming religious communities which perhaps had precedents ‘in pagan Egypt and among the Jews in Fgypt..but which now became pillars of the new eligion."" Another writer emphatically confirms this, “It is significant that Christian ‘monasticism and the coenobite life began ia Egypt the monks of Scraps (i.e, Osiris) introduced a new abstinence to Western ‘thought."* This withdrawal ean really be seen as an act of scbellion against Roman domination as in the example sbove against the Greeks." Thus Kemiten historical religious prac- Hee, syncretised with Cheistianity, was being used in the ser viee ofthe people in their struggle against foreign control and oppression. FINAL THRUST The writers contained inthis book elaborate on differen aspects Cf the same theme: the longevity of ancient African eeligions systems and their continuity in the now major religioas of the ‘world, namely Judalsm, Christianity and Islam, Professor Ben- Jochannan develops his arguments on te racial identity of Moses as 2 Kamite (Egyptian) which corresponds with Freud's own views. Dr Finch gives linguistic, religious and historical com= parisons between ancient Kemit and that of Chistianity he shows the genesis of Chrislanity from the religion ofthe ancient Kamites. Modupe Oduyaye brings some interesting linguistic evidence which points fo an Afriea-wide spread of monotheistic belief, but does not conclusively show that the linguistic Links ‘which he makes with Affo-Asitic, i corresponcleces between African and Asian languages, is result of African precedence, but of the sharing of the same speech community. Oduyoye faemly believes that Semitic is cealted to Pharaonie Egyptian (sing Prof. Obenga’s term), although he concedes that itis remote, Ehewhere’ he contends that the sixteen Semitic tanguages of Fthlopia cannot be explained away when compared to the other Semitic languages in Western Asia. tle also holds the view that the Canaanites, who spoke Semitic, were shown in the Bible as being brothers to Cush, lived in Palestine (wo thousand! yeats before the coming ofthe Israelites. There appears to bea linguistie connection between Africa and Arabia if we accept that several ofthe major historical civilizations in Arabia tvere once peopled by black ccommunites (see Gabre-Medhin for some examples ofthis). Prof. Obenga, in the book referred to above, shows that Affo-Asiatic is a misnomer, deliberately propagated by scholars to detach Egypt from Africa, And he emonstrates conclusively the genetic linguistic links between ancien Kemi and African languages, 2 conclusion long ago pro- jected and researched by Cheikh Anta Diop. Gabre-Medhin's essay isan erudite illustration of the manifold forms African feligions have taken under their many conquerors and culture Contacters: Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Hebrews, Christians, ete He looks atthe question of continuity through disguised forms and their survival in ll of the major world religions, This book fepresents aa important exercise in analysing and interpreting the intricacies of the religious question, and though there are titferences on specific issues, they do not overshadow the general conclusions, that African religions preceded those of| the major religions of the world, and that they shaped and Influenced those religions in their attempt to zesolve the socal conflict of class and oppression, Evidenuly, the interpretation, Of this religious influence (asin the so-called democracies of the West) on the Indo-European world wis centred oa the socal content, the predisposition ofthe soclety, to equalize between Slivemaster and slave, seef and lord, and that its applications were specifically rendered ina materialistic, pragmatic formal tion which limited, but did not resolve, the question of inequity And Finally, we can state that Europe, though an avid defender ff various philosophical and religious inheritances, has not {Created a single religion which was grasped and understood by the world: not Christianity, not Judaism, not Buddhism, not Zoroasticism, etc. Not even in its philosophical understanding, wili.e, the inheritance from Greece, can the claim be made for Originality. The single original and innovative ices that Europe thas developed isthe lass conflict and its attendant social system which mediate in the application of a political and materialist Philosophy which continues, unabatediy, to divorce ‘man’woman from his/her eavieonment and hinhersell REFERENCES of also, Pengo Books, Middeser 1986 eda Hen! ankton, ncten Fxypan Religion, New York, ape & Row, poy. 1948 + John ison, "me Nate ofthe Cnivere in Pankow. Fankore, thon, Jen ein Theta ete ine an FH Beened, Quoted in Fread, bd 5 ares Ment este, tor of ey, NewYork, Cares Series Sore! 837 eon, 359 10 maton, ators User of Calera Pes. 176. pt 11 in “egypt nee teenies Mokbea tl Genera tory of sia hc hatte pc, at bn Cao 15. TH Glee, The Comet of Reinet be Early Roman Empire, Lom don, Methuen & Co. 1908. pos 16 Samoa iran dion Ms pt 16 5 Bonsdon, op p28 cremate Mose: AFRICAN INFLUENCE ON JUDAISM Yosef Ben-Jochannan To speak of an Almighty God inthe context used by ews, Chris- tians, and Moslems s impossible without going back tothe ¢oots bf said belief In so doing, one has to delve beyond the origin Of Judaism (¢he Hebrew religion and peoples) — the parent of| the three religions mentioned: Christianity — the child, and Islam — the grandchild, All eyes have to be centred on the indigenous African religions ofthe Nile Valley from whence all three derived, religions which are today called the Egyptian Religion andior Mysteries. But, inorder 10 delve ito the depths of the study of eraditional African religions of Egypt and oxher lands along the banks of the more than 4,100 mies length of the Nile River, one needs a complete set of volumes on this sub- ject alone. Nevertheless, a few basic citations of the main African Feliglon upon which Judaism, Christianity, and islam — the so called ‘Western Religions’ ~ rest are hereby entered into and examined. For example: The concept of the making of man (creation) bby One — the Sun-God Ra, who was sometimes identified with the God Osiris, was in Tact dealing with a monotheistic God teven though polytheism seemed to be the basie foundation of the African religions of Sas (later ealled“Egype’by the Hebrews, Greeks and Romans). Yet one sees, in the Book of the Dead — is translated from Hlieroglyph to English by Sit E.A, Walls Budge, Chapter clxxxii, 1-15, Osiris is shown as the only God svi could make man inherit"“everasting and eternal life" that he alone had the power to:The same God, Osiris, was responsible to represent ‘One’ — the ‘Supreme Being,'as He". loved life and bated death 5 this having been shown in the following extract from Chapter lv. of the Book of the Dead The above prayer was by Pharoah Thotmes IH (1504-1550 B.CE)to the God Osiris. One cam see the base values of death and its treatment from this episode and its corruption in the Hebrew which followed many hundreds of years later. In the book, First Steps in Fgypeian, p.179fF, the author, Sie E, Wallis Budge, says ‘One’ is identified through the Gods — Ra and Osiris — as the ‘Soul of Ra’ in the ",.. body of God.” But, ‘One's’ identity as an absolute fact of the truest _manifestaion ofthe ‘Supreme Being’ — the “God over all other Gods’ — the one and only "God Almighty’ — is best noted in the following extract from the Book ofthe Dead, Chapter ex face thy cays, hs erowa is hy crown, his malesty f thy may ins eng are ty rings his beauty hy betay the awe mh ishhitie ane ich sine, hhodbu hy oar hs bal “The indigenous Africans of Egypt (Black people from Cenerat East Africa's Great Lakes) religious belie in "ONE" was cited i 1s follows by C P, Tele in the Encyclopedia Britantca Vol. XX, p. 367. the adoration of one Ga abort leer the specie ste aor he ier ar esta ‘onthe txt een om ne theme monothes However, it must be also noted that Professor Tiele was not dealing with the Afeicans of Egypt (Egyptians). but the Habirw who had already left Egypt (Ss) and established theie own, hationa? culture and religion upon the principles they leaent ‘while they were in Egypt, and in fact, whae they were born Under. Atleast their ancestors were infact native-born Afficans fof Egypt, of the Hebrew faith. Nevertheless Professor Tiele, inhis own work, Histoire Compare Des Anctentes Religions, Paris, 1882, stated that there were two contradictory and. jereconeilable phenomena in the Afticans’ of Egypt religious philosophy 1 Aively sentiment of spirituality of God wnited tthe coarsest materialistic representations of different divinities 2, A sentiment, not less lively, of the unity of God, united to an extremely great multiplicity of divine persons Between the declaration of Max Muller's work, Hibbert Lectures, p.285, in which he indicated that the quality ofthe ‘ONE as the creator of heaven and exeth — was only 2 phase of religious thought” among the ancient Nile Valley Afvicans of Egypt, and that of Professor C.P. Tiele, already shown above, yet, the facts remain somewhere i the explana tion given by Professor J. Liehman's book, Egypttan Religion, Leipeig, 1884, in which he held the followingadd soother more pms agnifstion he wonder weld the signification of God inthe original Indo-European language. Although Professor Licbman’s theory was very extensive, this short extract from the whole would he sufficient for the purpose Intended herein. Yet, Professor Liebman was dealing primarily ‘with the meaning of the Egyptian verb “nuter,” which is the Latin word “Dieu and Sanskrit eva,” with respect to the manner in which the meaning of the word “outer” fr ts variant form changed asi was integrated into exch of the languages that adopted its "usage, the sme having taken place widhin the Hebrew Yahweh or English God. “These concepts were not new when the frst of the Habicu (tiebrews) — a8 they were then called — entered Sais EgYP®) ‘with Abraham and his family (around c1640 8 C.E.)—as shown fn the Book of Genesis, Chapter 15, Verses 1-18, They were in existence a very lng period before the building ofthe fist ‘major pyramid of saqgata by Pharoah Djoser (whom the Greeks called “Zozer")and the other major works, those by Pharoah Khufu (whom the Grecks called “Cheops” or “Khcops”), Mycerenius, and Khafra (whom the Greeks called Chepheren"). Ina period covering from 3100 to 2258 B.C-E,, more than 618 Years. The lst one was built before the birth ofthe first Habiew (Mtebrew or Jew), Abram (Avram or Abrabam) was born, more than 1,500 years before the concept of “Adam and Eve" was developed by the Hebrews. Therefore, ome can safely say that ‘monotheism was indeed the prime factor in the religion of the Afvican of the Nile Valley, especially in the Egyptian “Mystery System” thousands of years before the existence ofthe Hebee God Yahweb (Jehovah), and of course thousands more before the ereation ofthe Christian al Moslem Gods — Jesus Christ nnd Allah, “Immortality’ was also a very basic concepe within the sime system, during the same period, giving rise to che Netber World, described so adequately in the Book ofthe Dead. “The Hook of the Dead being the name given the works of the ancient indigenous Africans of Egypt (the Egyptians and ochee Nile Valley Africans) ap outline and recording of man’s “lite alter death”, which the ancient Habieu copied and distorted tinder the name of the “Hereafter ‘With the abowe background and understanding from whence the concept of “monotheism” fist came, one can readily enter the following discussion with much’ greater insight and appreciation for the role the indigenous Africans called ‘Negroes, Raprsentations ofthe Opening of he MouthFor uncounted generations los in the dim mists of pre-historic antiquity, the Kamite astconomer priests painstakingly mapped ‘out all ofthe visible sky. They use! typological nate symbols to create markers to help them chart the heavens. One product Of this careful labour isthe Zodiac which the modem world inherited from the priests of Kemi." Ie i indubitably clear thatthe Zodiae, and the scence ofits Interpretation, profounelly affected the political, social, and historic events of amtiquity and les indelible imprint is still part of our modesa consciousness in ways we are only dimly aware of. The heavenly Zodiac was pictured asa geeatciecular “clock” divided into twelve equal res oF signs. The Zodiac could only be charted inthe sky after he Great Year had been determined. To explain the Great Year, fone has to appreciate that the axis of the eaeth is tilted about 23 degrees from vertical or true north. Given this tilt, there is a wobble’ effect of the earth's north axis in relation 10 tue hnorth, As the earth revolves around the sun, the earth’ north, axis slowly revolves around true north, taking 25.868 years (26,000 ia round! numbers) to effect a complete revolution. Tis is the Great Year. As this slow, 26,000 year eevolution occurs, the equinoxes appear to move slowly backward in relation 0 their postion inthe signs ofthe Zodiae, The 2,155-vear presence ff he spring equinox in each Zodiacal sgn constitutes 20 "age. This 2.155-year figure is arived ae by dividing the length of the Great Year. 25,868, by twelve, the number of signs ia the ‘Zodiac. tn the year 2410 B.C., the spring equinox moved into the Zodiaeal sign of Aries the Ram out ofthe sign of Taurus ‘he Bull. This inaugurated the “Age of Aries” and the Ram and its related symbols, the Lamb and the Shepherd, became the avatar of the age. Some 2,155 years later, the spring equinox in ts backward precession moved into the sign of Pisces the Fishes in 255 B.C. whieh inaugurated the Age of Pisces whose avatar was the Fish(es). During the Arian Age, che Ram or Lamb figures as the dominant religious symbol ofthe world and the Jewish Passover ritual, using the lamb asthe sacrificial victim ‘whose blood saved the Children of Istael from the wings igure 9s an pbx beeing te deh of Ose, Frm a bare ‘of Death, was a product of the Age of Aries. The traditional skewering of the Paschal Lamb on the spit isa form of crucifix: fon which commemorated the sun's “crucifixion” on the “ross” ofthe equator and ecliptic in the sign of the Ram (Lamb), When one age supersedes the previous one, the dominant sym- bol generally has enough power to carry over to the succeeding age. Thus in the 32nd chapter of Exodus, verses 4-5, we find the Children of Israel worshipping the golden calf, the avatar of the preceding Taurean age. The anger of Moses atthe impiety 43‘of the Israelites when he descends from Mt, Sina is largely due to their worship of a discarded avatar, one that had been superseded by the Ram, Christianity, rising during the Age of Pisces, incorporated 28 its symbol the Fish(es). Throughout the [New Testament, fish symbolism abounds and asf to puto rest any doubt on the mater, Jesus bienself emphatically states, “This fs a wicked generation, lc demands a sign and the only sign that svi be given it is the sign of Jonah’ (emphasis mine)." Now Jonah was swallowed by a great fish and hence is identifiable {a5 the Fish-Man., Jesus then is leaely establishing himself asthe avatar of the Piscean age io the process of connecting himself to the Fish-Man. True to pattern, however, the messiah of the Piscean age incorporates the older form of the avatar and 50 isalso regarded as the Lamb, who by his sacrifice “takes away the sins of the world,” and as the Good Shepherd, In fact, the dest form of the Christian crucified saviour figure is nor that of a man but of a lamb. The crucifixion of the sun as Ram or {Lamb atthe spring equinox is inherited from the incredibly old Kamite religion, which was adopted by the Jews and passed on 1s remnant of the former Age to Cheistianity. I is easy enough to trace a paralle in process in Egypt. Egyptian dynastie history begins in the Age of Taueus the Bull and the dominant gods of the time are Prah of Memphis, whose symbol is the bull, the Osiris of Abydos, who is also identified with the bull. Between 2400 and 2100 8.C., with the advent of the Age of Aries the Ram, the god Amen and his patron city Thebes rise 10 the fore and comand the dominant place In the Egyptian state religion. AAmen’s symbol isthe ram and the older bullgods, Ptah and Osiris, give way. However, Osiris aver really relinquishes his ‘central place in the religious sensibilities of the ancient Egyp- tans and gradually in one form or another, he is identified with al the other gods ithe pantheon. As “Asar-Sa" he i literally ‘Osiris the Shepherd” and 40 partakes of the Rem sym- bolism Lastly, after the beginnings of the Piscean age in 255 B.C., Egypt embraces the religion of the Piscean avatar. Chris tianity, but without dsestablishing the old religion, We sum tupby saying that Jesus Christ was the Piscean avatar symbolized by the Fsh(es) who was the continuation ofthe easter Kamitic avatars and who thus inherited the symbols ofthe previous age in his manifestations as the Lam anid the Good Shepherd, Pre 0, (Extreme left Te sud of Osi am te Erica tre (aig tri of ermopoteof Lower yp rng frm Bs barat the ‘commana of Hora We can continue the process of unlayering the Kamite astronomical symbolism inthe Gospels. We have now established some sure ground for assercing that Jesus assumed the attributes of the sun gods of antiquity whose prototype was Horus. The solar character of Jess is further exemplified by the Palm Sunday procession of Jesus into Jerusalem on the back ‘ofan as, his way steewa by palm branches. One of the earliest Kamite personifiations of the sun-god was Aiu who was the ssscheadedd god, He 2 form of Ra, the sin, and is represented isthe golden ass who cueres the disk of the sun of his head between his ears." The palm branch, Gerald Massey informs us, isa type OF ine, with the two equal sides OF the branch representing the quality of day and night at the equinox. Jesus riding the as to the scene of his ultimate crucifixion is a figure dtthe sun moving toward the equinox (symbolized by the palms) ut the Easter or Passover where he Will be "cructfied” on the cross" of the equator and ceipte. In another phase of Kamite mythology. the ass was identified with Ser; this evil character lf the assis recounted sa. 3 hyma fo Ra in which the priest recites may’ smite the ASS; ay I enush the evil one...” Thus isat another level of symbolism, Jesus perched on the back of the iss may represent his supremacy over Satan, 4c, of the sun (Horus) over darkness (Se, The cros, the outstanding and fundamental symbol of Chis- tianicy, fs itself incomparably old as 2 Kamite symbol, In the form of the ankh, knowa asthe “erux ansata, i Is Ue symbol ff life, uniting masculine and feminine images. The earliest Christians adopted the ankh as theit symbol of the cfoss. [tis Interesting to note, a8 an aside, that ina number of West African religions, the crossroads is 2 place charged with numinous power hecause it represents the place of union between human find divine, materia and spirit, living and dead. We find some Sense of this in the Egyptian Tet cross, which is a conven- Tionalized image of the Tree and wich represents the backbone Of Osiris, Gerald Massey states that the Tet cross isa type of the eternal and signifies death and the dea, Le, those who have crossed over,""" When the Tet cross is erected, Osies, he dead god, is raised up, “suspended” 3s it were fom his backbone, and thereby reigns 28 the resurrected one. Lord of Eternity igure 12. Cb in ry. Cope vt (eh George a the Dragon it. Yr In the cross, then, number of symbols converge: itis a sype of stability and everlastingness, a nexus between the living and the dead, an image of resurrection, 2nd the cosmic moment of the equinoctal “crossing, ln Christian dogma, the death of Jesus is stereotyped as a Roman-style crucifixion on Mount Calvaey. However in the Book of Acts in the New Testament, its explicitly related that Jesus was hanged from a gibbet, rather than being nailed t0 a ross." There i a strange parallel hereto the mythical history fof the Yoruba god Shango.” Shango rules as one of the fest, ifnot the frst, kings ofthe Yoruba nation of Oyo. He becomes alienated feom his subjects who persecute him and drive hima from the throne. fa his despair, he hangs himself from a tree (of which the Tet cross is 4 type), and then falls into a large hole in the ground. Eventually, he ascends into heaven on a chain, a type ofthe ladder of Bz upon which the beatified souls ascend into heaven, and becomes 4 powerful orisha oF god who is the personification of lightning and thunder. Of further interest is the fact that Shango’s avatars the ram, The com- mon elements shared by Jesus and Shango command attention the kingly status (Jesus as the “King of Israel”); the persecu- tion by one's own people: the death by hanging; the descent into the lower world (", he descended into Hell. ..), the sscension into heaven by an act of seleresurrection; the imagery ‘of a man who becomes civine; the identification with the ram {lamb These are all conspicuous parallels that suggest mich, Figure 13. Jess Christ Thi wept of Jou 08 te verse ‘fa comm whore ron bat a bene of astaAs one reads the Gospels one is struck by how various episodes and eharacters recall details from Kamite myhology Tis noted in several of the Gospels how Jesus cured a blind ‘man by cubbingspitle in his eyes» In the Osirian drama, the blind Horus fas his sight restored to him by Thoth rubbing spittle inta his eyes, In the 7th chapter of Mark, verses 8.9. the Cceangelist lates a story of a deal and dum man who has his specch restored to him: This can be compared to passages in Budge’s edition ofthe Book of the Dead, mote properly called the “Book of the Coming, Forth By Day,” which describe the well-known ceremony of resurrection known as the ‘opening of the mouth | ancient Kamite conception, to he dead! was to be deaf and dumb, ie., without “the Word,” which called everything (0 life. The opening of the mouth restores the Word tothe dead, sie, the one who is “dumb,” aod restores life. In che Gospel Of the Evangelist John we see the identification of the Word With the Christ. In the first verse, John writes "in the Begin- ‘ing was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word twas God "In the Lith vers, fe informs us thatthe "Word was made flesh" i the person of Jesus Chelst, Osis t00 was the ‘great word,” that fs, "the word of what cometh into being, and what is not." According to EA. Wallis Budge, “Osiris the Word spake the words through all things in heaven came into being from non-existence.” In addition, “Because he vas the fest man who raised himself from the dead, he became the type and symbol and hope of every dead man." In the rT ‘Kamite cosmo-conception, the power of life and rebirth rested in the Word which was commanded, indeed personified, by seis, In the Fanerary ritual, the Kher-heb priest says over the deceased, who seeks immortality through identification with Osieis, “Thy voice shall never depart from thee, thy voice shall never depart from shee." Asa seligion, Christianity is almost entieely butt around the ressialiship of Jesus Christ. As we might expect, the archetypal ‘messiah is Found inthe Kamite religion inthe person of Hors The word "Messiah" is Hebrew and signifies the anointed one whois the expected king andl deliverer. Alter the failure ofthe Jews to establish the earthly kingdom undee the messiah, Chels | ans changed the expectation of an earthly kingdom to one of saheavenly or spiritual kingdom under che messiahship of Chest. The root of the word "messiah" can be Found in the Egyptian sword “mes” which means “to give birth,” "to be born anew.” child,” of “'son."® AS a proper noun, "Mes" is the “chief prince” and" Mesu"” is a man's name.” The terminal “fa” in Fayptian isthe particle of exclamation, which emphasizes the emotive content, and when added to "Mes" gives "Mes, ""The Messi is thus the "Great Prince” oF "Great Man” while still retaining the connotation of rebirth and the sonship. This corresponds very well with the sense inherent in the term ‘messiah’ a8 used by Christians and Jews. Moreover, the Egyp tian deity “lah” was the great proxotype ofthe Hebrew Yahwel tnd “messiah” would translate as “son of lah” or Yahweh, Again, this conveys almost exactly the sense of the Judaeo. Christian messiahship. Finally, Gerald Massey informs us that Hous was the “messu"® which means. “anointed.” The [genesis oF the messiah concepts thus tobe found in the Kamite world AS the messiah, Jesus Was the “kristos” or Chest. This word “kristos” of Christ means “anointed” in Greek and isa direct teanslation of the Hebrew word “messiah” In Egypt, the ket Dr" karast™ was the anosnted mummy identified ts the reborn, rearisen Osiris. Jesus in his Chrsthood isthe reatisen anointed fone, showing thatthe Egyptian “krst” and the Greek “kristos “9ae virtually identical, This is exemplified in another way by the story of Lazarus in the Gospel of John, chapter 11, verses 1-44. Lazarus isthe dead brother of the twa sisters Martha and Mary who mourn him, They prevail upon Jesus to minister 0, hhim and he reassures them by siying “Tam the resurrection and [Lam life.” He goes tthe tomb of Lazarus and calls t0 him, Lazarus come forth.” The feawakened Lazarus rises ap and ‘comes out of his tomb swathed in linen bandages, Le, i "mm ‘mified” form. Osiris isthe dead brother of the two sisters Isis and Nephthys who mouen him. He is, as we have seen, the archetypal muramy wrapped in linen bandages and in this form {s alled Asae-Tais, that, "Osiris the Mammy." Ie is Horus ‘who i called upon to minister to Osieis and, with the wo sisters Imattendance, eeanimates and reawakens the dead body. This Is pictured in scenes where the mummified Osiris Slowly rises to an upright position feom his funeral bie. In the pre-extent Kamite version, iti the sisters who exhort the dead god 10 ‘Come forth t0 thy house!" The connection i secured by examining the name "Lazarus." Its root is “azar” which is ‘asar,” the name of Osiris. “L" Is the Semitic definite article hich means the." The terminal “us” is the Egyptian "35 Which means “to call” oF “to hail" Literally, "Lazarus" means “the Osiris called (forth) Central to the practice of the Christian religion is the re enactment ofthe sacrifice of Jesus as the eucharist the giv- ing of his body and blood in the form of bread and wine "so. that sins may be forgiven" thus enabling the commuanicant to ‘conquer death. This szerifice is formalized and consecrated in the Mass. The word i the sameas the Egyptian "mes" "the even- ing bread" or “the evening supper.” The analogy to the Last, Supper is obvious. Jesus is the "brend of Ife” and the eating of his “body” isa form of mystic communication with the deity ‘The Pyramid texts of the 6th dynasty (cirea 2600-3000 B.C), shed tight on the euchaestic feat of Christianity. In the so-called nmibal hymins," the dead pharaoh Unas is said to eat the bodies of the gods and drink their blood.* The imagery employed is quite graphic and may even be a holdover from 50 Tr 4 more primitive time when the ancestors ofthe dynastic EgyP: tians did indeed partake ritalistically of human Mesh and blood. Bur It Is also quite evident that in the Pyramid texts — the graphic imagery notwithstanding — the rendering is allegorical, igure 14, Black Madonna from Nari, Spain, She ie called “Toe Queen of te Pyrencee for it isto eeceive the magical and divine potency of the gods thatthe mans Uns is said to "eat them.” He becomes as the ‘gods themselves hy partaking ofthe essence. The eucharist of Christianity is but refinement of this idea. Osiris, in one af his earliest aspects, is # corn or grain deity Le, that from which the daily brea Is made. ln one represen. tation we see him lying flat and stalks of grain growing out of him:* his saerifice through his death and dismemberment allows the grain to grow. Asis Jesus, he isthe “bread of ie, and the breaking of the eucharistic bread during the Mass (or ‘mes") recalls the dismemberment of the body of Osis. The other aspect of the Mass isthe drinking of the blood of Cheist stJn the form of wine. Now Osiris is the god of viticulture and ‘the wine ion the ome hand the "spiit” ofthe grape on account ‘ofits intoxicating properties (hence the term “spirits” to denote alcoholic liquors) and, on the other hand, isthe “blood” of the ‘grape, Since asthe divine vticulturist he isthe personification fof the grape to drink wine isto partake of the blood and spirit, ‘of Osiris. Jesus, in the Gospels, changes the water into wine Tihs imagery is also Kamitic. In a prayer on behalf of the deceased to Ra, the priest is made to say, “his water is wine like that of Ra." In the 1th chapter of the Gospel of John, verse 6,Jesus tells Thomas “Lam the way; Lam the teuth and Tam the life; no one ‘comes to the father except by me." Oseis is called the "Lord ‘of Maat" wihich means that he is “Lord of Truth.” AS “Asaf INeb-Ankh"™ he is literally the “Lord of Life." No one in the Kamite schema comes to Father Rain his bout ofthe sun except by Osiis, the Great Judge. Ie almost begins to appear that the Figure of Osis Horus was lifted bodily out ofthe Kamite mythos land deposited intact in the New Testament Gospels “The figure ofthe Virgin Mary, as we have seen, also emanates from Kamite typological antecedents. The word "meri" ia ancient Egyptian means “beloved” or “one who loves or is loved." The goddess Meri-f-sa is a guardian of Osiris making hier a form of Iss, and we have already noted the identity of the Virgin Mary and the Virgin Iss. Mary is also identifiable with the Kamitic goddess Hathor whose Egyptian name. "Her-Hr,” means, “house, mansion, oF temple of Horus.” Thus she & a form of the mother of Horus. In one of her aspects she carries the epithet “meri” as "Hathor- meri” of “Hathor the Beloved. Hathor is often personified 2s a dove and the Evangelist John selates that he sees the Holy Spieit coming dowa the head of Jesus in the form of a dave.” Massey states that the Hathor dove isa type of rebegetting spirit and in Natural Genesis says: 4s noted above, the “Het” ia the Egyptian name for Hathor means “temple” of "tabernacle”” Christan tradition thus iden: ties Mary as a type of the Egyptian goddess Hathor. An add tional Kamitie connection Is revealed In the Gospel of Luke ‘where oth Mary and her kinswontan Elizabeth have divine visitations that result in the impregnation of both of them." Elizabeth gives birth to John who in his adult career becomes the Voice crying in the wilderness” proclaiming, “Prepare a sway for the Lords clear straight path for bim,”” Inthe Osiian ‘Grama, both Isis and her kinswoman (ister) Nephthys conceive by Osiris, Nephthys gives birth to Anubis whose tile i the ‘opener of the way” and who, as illustrated in the Dogon cosmology, isthe "master ofthe fist speech (word) and thus 1 form of the " proclaimer. The Great Adversary in the Kamitic schema is Set who as Sevan” gives his name to the Judeo-Christian Satan. AS We hhave seen, Set’s colour is red which is consistent with the anthropomorphic representations of Satan in medieval Chris: tian iconography depicting him as 2 red, horned being with ‘oven hooves and a tal. Set was sometimes personified 38 @ goat in ancient Egypt so we see that the conventionalized ‘otions of the Christian Satan and the Egyptian Set concur Tes hd, if nt impossible, to escape the conclusion that the New Testament was re-worked Kamitie document of, at least, had its ultimate genesis from Kamitie sources. This being the ese shouldn't surprise us to learn that, according tthe Acts ‘of the Apostles, the first gentile convert to Christianity was the Ethiopian minister of Candace, the Queen of Cush, who was baptized by the Aposte Philip, Not should it surprise us co lean that early Cheistianity was nurtured and kept alive by the "desert Fathers" of Fgypt who hequeathed the monastic tradition t0 later Cheistianty. Moreover. if we examine the first buman representations of Jesus the Chast. he is pictured asa black man vith wooly hair. In addition, the Isis cult in which Isis depicted asa Black coloured African goddess holding the black. infant Horus in her lap, became one ofthe most important and influential religions in the Roman empire, Roman legions caried 33{his Figure of Black Iss holding the Black infant Horus all over Europe where shrines were established (0 het. So boly and venerated were these shrines that when Christianity invaded Europe, these figures ofthe Black Isis holding the Black Hocus \were not destroyed but ured into figures ofthe Black Madonna and Child. Today these are sil ee holiest shrines in Catholic Europe A brief word should be said about the “historical Jesus. Though this deserves a fuller teatment, it beyond the seope of this article" tis by now well-established that, outside the ‘Gospels themselves, there is no authentic independent record ‘or witness to the actual existence of Jesus as described in the Gospels for the First Four generations after his supposed death by crucifixion. As G.RS. Mead has opined, “The very existence fof Jesus appears to have heen unknown” by the commentators and historians in the Greek, Roman, and Jewish world of the Ist century. Given the manifestly mythic character of Jesus as shown by our discussion and given that his entire history seems to have been drawn from prototypes in Kamitie sources, ‘isn't any wonder. In 120 B.C., man was born of a woman, ‘named Miriam and an artisan aamed Joseph who took the name Jeshu ben Pandera, He eventually became a member of the Essene brotherhood, which isthe pre-Christian Jewish sect that directly gave ise to historie Cheistanity. The most important Bssene centre was Egypt and it was there that Jeshu ben Pandera spent many years under the tutelage of an Essene sage named ben Perachia. When he left Egypt, Jeshut was apparently well= versed inthe mystic sciences of Egypt because he began to travel through Palestine, teaching, healing the sick, and performing wonders.” He was arrested by the Jewish authorities, accused of practicing magie, convicted, and banged on the Passover on. the town of Lydda in 70 B.C. when he was about 50 years of age. This i the real history of a man who was evidently a great teacher and healer and the path of the “historic Jesus” leads back to him and him alone, As the author has stated before in another context," pethaps the vast saviour mythology, already in place in the Kamite world for thousands of years, ’ | | | | | | | | | | | coalesced in the Piscean Age around the person ofthis obscure pat remarkable Essene sage The whole process of re-establishing the Kamitic presence in world history i rather akin to looking aU crystal in the light: svhen the light strikes it from one direction, you see the crystal in one stereotyped way. The moment the light shines from a titerent angle, things are seen and appreciated in the crystal which were not apparent before, Only the perspective has Changed, The world and its history are ike that crystal: all that ic rakes is another kind of light and another kind of vision 0 see things that were there all along and only apparently hi {en from view Notes see Massey Gerald, Nateraf Genes 2 vols, London: Willams and The wel "Karten fom “Ke which na he ancient Eye the ee special ee so the clr pct of ERS and fen the curl tos of Alican ciation i x Broan acme 8. hidge EA Wats idan Mlrgtphie Dictionary. ol. Sew 4, SeeNeumanm, rich. The Origins and History of Consciousness, ra. Ay RF € Hal, Prnceon Peineton Univers re. 1970, plate 3 ater © hos (Glen Aas) 6. Bade 9p ct. B36 Cons he mks of Gerald Massey — Book of Boning, Naturat ‘Cones, tn “cont gp pom Foran eer weet of hs Sito ech Neumann's Ib crear ther annals of a.arebere. sbi ves tae the gel ai msn eh The Gomel secon so Nate Ta pee 35See Lockyer Nara, The Da of Atromomny Cambridge: 17 Pres Se Bade, p 109: see ave Bae, Gof the Rayan, el 2, New York. Dover ublctons, 196 p36" Badge. E,W, The is i ae Von Patan ip 8 ide EA War te ayia Rein of Resection, serra eee sl ne Ret, ‘Gospet Accosding 20 Mark" chapter 8. verse 24, Bible... op. cit ide Booth ad oc ae. er rvaeg c nur explaatio for ne "opening ae moss yma The hist ‘orien nenrm an en pen ohn re ‘remony plored over the ead parson aot to noeg set Ta imped Yurther by ning hat py silopealy the newhorh cr. onthe eal ial resp ha te pe rent the ed ‘mouth ceremony and {am eed to my wie for helping me wader 2Npe ol eran priest "Kheete tame cay 28 puNey or Budge. On. op. t, 79, Madge Biot 0f be Dead, ope. .cxsni, Rs: Merge Dconary op cpp 821-322 Be eee vol r Se ithiln, Mim, Ancient Egyptian Literatur, wo 1, Heseley Usigemy of earn Pres. 199%, 9p. 36:58 ee, Oe op Ia p30 ke Mere Dison. 0. 9 8 Coe Acirding to John caper 1 eng 32, A. 0 Take." chaper Ivers 8.36, Be "op. University Press, 1965, pp. 16-23, we have almost complete exposition (ft West Afsca (Dogon) Range cosmogony woe conacttans C0 Stclent Fyypr ate unmchable Accord 10 the biod Dogon sage Geist wander ervand esse revel oie he des of Ga. The a lea he Dogo Ans the ees Ftv of tne uid and mesenger wh hs the ewes! hh the'proclaner: of ese " Se aloe, igus Te Splendour That War Egypt, New York Ptospnict tery, 109, ple XC ow page 252 Fors orough examoation he ping ane honor que thos surtoumdng te historic Jn ace Mead, GA, Da Jesus Lise dhe tondon. Theosophicd Pebsting Soe. 1903, gioco eeans h .2 Soeb Additional References ick, umes, eyian Bend Modern Phowght, nan His: co's ‘anh RE Mana Mite cond Symbol bn Acton Rpt, London: Thames esc May Dive Horsemen; The Yoon Goof Hat New York: Dal igus Gtrey.nacalypts, 2 vols, New Hyde Fak: Unlversty Books, oh, Man, Go and Cledizaton, New Hse Pak: Univers 7Mend GIRS. he Piste Sopbua Secaucus. Universiy Books, 1974 I | | | | | | | THE SPIRITS THAT RULE THE WORLD: AFRICAN RELIGIONS & JUDAISM Modupe Oduyoye Its possible for me to approach the enterprise of proving that the religion ofthe Jews bus is origin in the religious tradition ‘of Africa by concentrating on that ask alone — the tsk of proof But proving this point is not the end of the project. And prov ing: point depends on who is assessing the evidence. You can never prove any point to the sauisction of a sceptic, Once, therefore, one i satisfied that one has carried one’s investiga tion to the point of saisying oneself of the adequacy of the evidence, one must leave seepties atthe point beyond which they are unable to go and proceed with one’s larger enterprise. have had to do this with my initial projet of examining the validity of the assertion that my own mother tongue, ‘Yoruba, is related to Hebeew. BY 1968 {had felt sufficiently suisfied in my mind to present a paper on “Multiple Stage Linguistic Relationship: Yoruba and Semitic Languages”. That was before I studied Middle Egyptian. The relationship is not single-stage: there are reflexes ¢0 match various time depths fy 1970 Lad writeen up my findings in a two-volume work “ Genetic Linguistics and the Yoruba Past (Volume One Language: Volume Two Prehistory), If Thad watted for this to be avcepted for publication, my project would have been held up. Fk! not wait | went on to the implications of my thesis: | weote a book: length review of Biblical Revelation and African Beliefs, the proceedings of the 1966 Conference of African Theologians 9‘which was published in 1969. Reading that volume, I found the problems of interpretation which African theologians get themselves into when they try to analyse old, archate words In their own mother tongues without accepting preliminally that the meanings of the words they are trying to analyse Ke ‘outside the present and the local, but reach fr back in ime and connect faraway in distance from where they are at present. Thus was bora my first book-length publication on this subject = The Vocabulary of Yoruba Religious Discourse (badan, Daystar Press, 1972). I dedicated it to Archdeacon JO. Lucas who had published The Religion of the Yorubas in 1948. He followed in 1971 with Religions in West Africa and Ancient Egypt. The thrust of his argument was thatthe religion of the Yoruba and other West Africans originated in Ancient Egypt.’ ‘Why not the other way round? Nationalist Africans have raised this query: why must the coltural indebtedness always bbe on the sub-Saharan side of Africa? Couldn't the religion of Ancient Egypt have originated ia Aftica south of the Sahara? We need to clarify the criteria by which such questions can be answered. There #8 no doubt that Egyptian civilisation, Being dominant in its own time, was an expansive civilisation, influencing more than heing influenced. On this bass | would say that Egyptian Paah, the creator god of Memphis anc Aten, the sun giving life with its rays influenced respectively Ibibio O-bot “creator” (< bot “ceeate”) and tin “sin” eather than the other way round, wae Ein and Nombe fKoktua Ho ew we lk" a gag “daa pes » ead” spin ae Yr How am Ito decide the question of priority? Who influenced whom? Or are they equally reflexes of an anterior form, a pro: toform whose locile we may not he able to pinpoint accurately? When I published The Vocabulary of Yoruba Religious Discourse, the data ia my possession did aot allow me to make any assertions beyond Yoruba, my mother tongue, Ten years Inter, travels in Africa and further reading had made me see beyond my mother tongue and I had accumulated data on. African Words in te Bible and the Qur'aan. inthis forthcom- ing work, I was swinging the argument round and asserting that there are eruces interpretations in the Hebrew Bible andthe Arabic Que'aan which can be resolved only by resort co com parative linguistic daa fom African langages. Thais, we rekse to take the ancient Hebrews on their word when they give us the folk etymology thatthe name oftheir prophet, Mosbeb, was derived Irom a Hebrew word masbak "he drew out’ (Exodus 2:10b), We say, “Not likely. Mosheh was not named by a Hebrew, He was named by an Egyptian princess in Egypt where hhe was born, And she named hien in the language of her owa people, Egyptian, where msf meant “he gave birth, nsw meant he was born” aad sus meant “child”, Hence the Hebew text has ey min bam-may-im msiy-tiy ul? Ex 2100 n®sty- is from matab not from matak, The daughter of the Phasaoh mired the baby she Found inthe basket inthe bulrushes by the Nile simply ms “child”, For a reflex of this word ia. ‘Yoruba, see in Oyo. ae ah Kingnaher. a ae ofan wo rece of “age, te man ofthe He ano “ss fxm anc eo he 6All this usage is analogous to the usage of msw in Egyptian: We see then, that itis not as preposterous as it may seem at fiest co assert thatthe Hebrews may nced to ask Africans for the meaning of some words crucial fora correct interpretation. of their own tradition. I do not agree, for instance, with the English versions which translate Psalm 5 = Awake, my ” fein Janes version) Since the context of Psalm 57.7 requires a musical instrument to parallel nebtt “harp” and kinnol, "lyre", Usee in Hebrew hhabed the Yoruba reflex of the Afroasiatic root kbd. This is shi “royal drums” (ghd), I then read Psale 57-7 as Awe my gb This is the language of palace musicians who wake up the king with talking deums every morning Twill awake the dawn, Yoruba gb should also help make sense of Hebrew kabolld In Psaim 149354 — es he pin ext wih ba Tet the Wicym exalt with ght Ande tem ag yawn Let us take Judaism head on by tackling the word YHWH, We quote Robert H. Peiffer: oa Tr soba natn et e See Tet ania fr ee Stes Se acre mcg, ie ces OF the Penaeuc fad the stenting of wha have shown in The Sons of the Gods and the Daughters of Men: An Afroastatic Interpretation of Genesis I-11 (Appen tix IL pages 97 and 98) that West African languages offer a Solution to the original meaning: Hebrew ‘el “vine Ning” Yoru 00 oa “ ; haat) ‘Almighy"@)__Jukun Tl “Gout il ettyoPn “od Met tout yon “the supreme God ee ae fen, Ewe Femie the power in 2 her The Hebrews inherited (acquired) so many names for “God! that they could afford to be prolific In poetry He who dni i he protection of “Epon, Woe Sy e Yebee My Shield abd ny hiding place, They have preserved for us in Genesis 14:18 — 20 how their ancestor. Abraham, came about the God-name “ef)-0%n: on his return from his rescue of his nephew, Lot, the Canaanite 6Driestking, MaPieiy:sedeg (king of Salem, priest of ef ey-0!H) met him and congratulated him with bread and wine, saying: Besed be Abram bye, go of heaven an cath And blessed be eh wh hp yor ness po | consider Canaanite “1-0! anterior to the Ibibio a eis to the Hebrew, for Ibbio enyon (Efik enyon “apex, climax, the heavens, sky") shows no awareness of the presence of the Semitic suffix Hebrew -oWn, Arabic aan in the word enyon. Note, nevertheles, that as far as Hebrew tradition s concerned, Canaan and Kush are both sons of Ham. (Genesis 10:6) Pesab ‘We will take one other word that is central in Hlebrew religion = pasa. We quote again Robert Pleitter inert mo ven Tatas et the language ofthe aes im the desert the tne of Moses Mime at rt nd Ree ph tricone ma Fen geo Well, here is the word pesab showing wp among the Aksn lin Ghana as [afar], hiding uader the spelling afahye 2 Agona Shum in Ghana, theese ftw “thle ‘sith the ain annual festa sfabye, im whch the cet Afabye (fa8e is Une main anna festival at Agona Nkwm, just 4s pesab became the main annual festival of the Hebrews. The ‘Akan at Agona Nkum are not uncomfortable with the connec Lon of afalye with agriculture, with yam harvest which occurs 64 In July to October, summer in the northern hemisphere. But the Hebrews, wanting to distance themselves from the rites of agriculture at which the Canaanites and the Egyptians) were experts, decide! for ideological reasons to celebrate pesad in April when no harvest occuts inthe northern hemisphere. They were therefore hard put to it to maintain the original meaning Of afabye as "main annual festival”. They therefore had to do Some Job of re-nterpretation to it inthe event which they want to celebrate 3s most important to themselves — the exodus from Fgypt which, according to tradition, took place in bodes ha: “abiyb “the month of new flower” (Ambarie Addis Abeba “new Romer"; Edo Bini obobo “flower”, The problem with discovering the origins of Judaism is that Judas ise religion that denies is origins. Uolke Chestanity "which holds on to the scriptures of the religion out of which it grew, claiming only 0 be a fulfilment of old time revelation ux! not 3 prageamme to annul it, Judaism declares that i arose ‘ut ofa total ejection ofthe eeligions of Mesopotamia, of Egypt snd of Canaan, Therefore Judaism could not acknowledge that Moses exent the name YHWH from any other culture: Hebrew ideology declares that he leart it by fevelation directly from God (Exouus 3). When one subjects such nationalistic Meology tw serutiny. one finds none fits, like the attsbution ofthe first Kowledge of YHWH to Seth in Genesis 4:26 ‘We are already putting the theory of the Aftican origin of Judaism fo the test — the test whether it clarifies unresolved questions in the meaning of aspects of Judaism “dann ess om so basi doctines: (eli in she one ad Judaism bs notte frst or ony religion that rests on the elle? daicone and only God. Araenophis IV, king of Egypt from 1367 to 1380 chose Aten alone out ofall he "gods" of Egypt and ‘eclred monotheism in his kingdom, nd I enow of no African people who know of God in the plural: Yoruba has Qlorun (the 65‘owner of heaven) — God, hut never awon Ofortn (the owners fof heaven). The convention in English of writing God with ‘capital G and gods with small g must be subjected to question Ing: #18 the English language which is shart of words to distinguish God (one and only) from spirits and dacmonta ‘whom the Yoruba know tn the pural and whose existence the Pharisees acknowledged. The very concept of monotheism needs 10 be examined for what i it worth: It did not prevent the Jews from translating Hebrew “elob-/ym in Psalm 8.6 ito Greek ange-ous in the Septuagint (third century B.C), the same word they used to translate Hebrew Ben-ey barelob- iy "the sons of the Gods” in Job 1:6 and 2:1. Before Jews are allowed {o get away with accusing other people of worshipping more han one God, they must be required to clarify for themselves the concepts of lob sym, ben-ey ba'etob-iyin anc mart ake ‘ymin thei own eeligion. It was easy forthe Hebrews to declare that the Gods of the go"y-(ym ate no Goals, leaving therefore only Yahweh 10 be recognised as God, but internally they did rot completely achieve unitarianism: the Pharisees stil believed in spints (plural) and in angels (plural. Is there any people in the whole world who believe in more thae this to make them deserve the epithet polythelses rather than polysdiemonists or polymorphists? Mate Circumcision The Hebrew scriptures say thar the sig ofthe covenant between their ancestor, Abraham and Yahweh was the rite of male cit- ccumcision, specifically the circumcision of eight-day old male childeen. The implication of this is that the Hebrews did not learn the custom of male circumcision from anyone but got it directly from God. It earres also the implication that ll other peoples who practise citcumeision learnt it from the Jews oF Invented it independently. How come, then, that it was Zip porah, daughter ofthe priest of Midian, who took flint and cr umcised her son, even i the presence of Moses, hee husband? (ix4.25) [And how come that circumeision is widespread in traditional 66 Aftica where its connection with puberty tes shows that itis un ancient custom? Note that male circumcision is nota universal practice: its not practised traditionally by Indo-Europeans Its Drigins must be found withia the Afro-Asiatie milleu. While recently a Hindu couple in California sued a surgeon who cic Cumeised their baby by mistake ("He will not be aecepted as 4 Hindu in india), some years ago the age mates of 2 profes Sonal man in Zambia dragged him out of his car on the highway And circumelsed him there and then. His wife had reported that hher husband was uncitcumelsed and his age mates took drastic measures to remove the disgrace from thei age group. The only {group of people in Africa whom Ihave learnt are never ciecum- ‘ised are members of the Asante royal family in Ghana. This is becaise any member of that royal family Who has any sear ‘or knife mark on his body is excluded fram the possibilty of becoming king ‘We know that if you asked the Jews themselves about the origins ofthe religion of theie ancestors, they would point ¢o Mesopotamia (Ur of the Chaldces)and not to Africa, Are We agg fing with them on this point? This, im 2 way, is what I did in The Sons ofthe Gods and the Daugbters of Men (Ibadan, Daystar Press, 198), We are not totaly eejecting the thesis of Mesopot2 nian origins (the correlation & too convincing for tha Find the Foe my ihn enunes where such Hos are not pom he myth has bec rot therefrom the place of ts ona, even Ii monger poe totace the metodo ifn ‘nurements gations of peoples, and wor west a mes 6From where mathe mythot Adam cared ino he etre | scrips My reading ofthe Hebrew ie mates me fndinads | cout the meaning iven for he mame of ‘Adam, The cle. || Nae ellme that dem means “human beg” But Task, | ow can oth tdamand ben idam"sonof sidan mean | humanbeing'? isnt ent (ben AdaminPsin83) m0 | ishuran eit? Hebew eno!" pana, ne or nbo onpe “person whereas ‘ddan has no plural 'enoE tas feminine form whic sl cers fa human beings (ae | fpm “women, wives": Arie nas "people. human Bang) theres tne feminine form of Hebrew atom mean "si (Hebrew "masa" Zande dom “Taran We have the | tabjlontn myth of Adapa to elps: ape, the piso ss ttho chose mortalty instead of immoreaty when given the Shovce by ane the high pod ir you ead The Sans of he Gods you wil ce Now fF gone by 198i tracing the org ofthe word aon the Frebrew ible, In Mare 1986, sing the preparation of my paper fortis conference 1 pashed beyond Yoruba Adan Grae fa of the ancestors Tong dead ut come back 19 Celebrate with be lving (ie 9” #0008 Ada of $00 13°79 tmove daca fom the Bana languages | * rtm a 10) mk So the ‘dm root has a plural reflex, afterall. Ndebele ama-zimu are “human-like creatres believed toe inhabiting tick forests, ‘They are said to be bigger than man..." | 68 | | will quote the passage which helped me to push into the Bantu reflexes of the ‘dm root. Ie is from D. Warner, “Miso Spirt-Shrines in the Religious History of the Southern Lalee Tanganyikx Region. The Case of Kapembeva Language evidence offers one way of geting back nko the ‘elias history af an eae period. hy means te eeu reconsirctng ext Ban lnguages tna o ese now {fpts whch were srady formated before te dhesicton eee cl and whch mr aed 3 Ss Sofas religous hotory fy concerned, 3 is posible to Rant an therefore soges something shat este en of ‘hemi Before chee. Thin the cognate ances sca Hebrew ‘adam is reflex ofthat root, In tbo (south eastern Nigeria) the root shows up as mem clan deities”, em "mas {querade”. Iris the same root that underlies Setswana Mosdiémo God”. When Professor Harry Sawyyer of Sierra Leone published his study, God — Creator or Ancestor? he drew his ‘data from the religions of the Mende of Sierra Lcone, the Akan fof Ghana and the Yoruba of Nigeria. A wealth of dat lies in the religious tradition of Central and Southern Africa to help the study further, Here we learn to see Adam as a mim, anancesteal spirit, with Hawewab (Eve) 38 Chactva, the spit: ‘wile of the Achewa at Chirenje in Malawi. They gave birth £0 spirits’ sons, first of whom — according to Hebrew mythology ~ was Qayin, the Ogtn of Yoruba religion, the Gun of the neighbouring Fon. The only alternative which Mesopotamia has {0 offer for tis suggested background of Hebrew ‘adam isthe Mesopotamian myth of adap Hebrew tradition in Genesis accused ‘Adam of succumbing oa temptation to be like gods, A mucdzimnu, an ancesteal spirit 's certainly like a god. So in the ideological onslaught of the Hebrews against all that look ike gods, they framed up “Adam in a court of monodaemonism. The awareness in African 6