Customer Reviews

African Origins of Major "Western Religions"

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I must say if you read one Dr.Ben book you read them all. However the African Origins of Major Western Religion is on of Dr.Ben's greatest works. Dr.Ben explains the ideologies of Christianity,Islam, and Judism confronting the fact that all of these religions are based on African Spiritual concepts. He shows in an easy to understand manner the stolen concepts that europeans have used for their imperilistic benefit. This book will make you question why it is you believe what you believe as well as where do you stand as a human being in the universe. I highly recommend this book to all students of African history, and Religious concepts.

Another classical researched body of work by DR. Yosef ben Yochannan. he deals with the early african origins of judaism (hebrew faith) Christianity and islam. He shows how the ten commandments were extracted from the 147 confessions so called "negative confessions" as well as african folklore nad mythology that went into the making of these so called "western religion" he deals with early african character who played critical roles in the early development of "judaism", christianity and islam. such characters as st. Cyprian, Tertullian, St. Augustine. Bilal ibn rabah, Al-jahiz and Ibrahim al Mahdi. this work is in depth and well researched. it should be read by all, but of course only by some.

Possibly one of the best books written of its kind. The author links various Afrikan pagan spiritual faiths and gods to each other (JuJu, Voodoo, Odemare, Sun Worship, Afrikan holy trinity) to all the major western religions, as well as to music such as jazz and gospel. It is comprehensive in scope and very historical in perspective, examining each major religions relationships by chapter. One thing for sure, is that there is not one single religion on earth conceived, invented, maintained, helped along without Afrikans as major players, real and mythological to help spread the gospel and make modern religion what it is today. The author gives excellent bibliographical references for those who are critics to see for themselves.

Dr. Ben has provided us with numerous publications which dispell the lies that pervade the telling of "His-Story". This work along with "The Black Man of the Nile and His Family", "We the Black Jews", and "Africa Mother of Civilation" are must reads for Africans trying to find there way in the world.

I can't say I particulary care for the style of Ben-jochanna writings which are often redundant and hard to understand, but he does broaden the perspective on how one looks at and defines African Religions. Groundbreaking analysis of these "native ways" show that they are no differnent than Christanity, Catholisium or Judaism. The only difference is that they are practiced by "black people" and shroded in African culture and thus viewed inferior by Eurocentric minds. The writer shows the striking parallles between "Judaism" and "Voodo", "Chrisitanity" and the religon of the "Yoruba". A must read for any student of Theology or any African American who desires to know more about their pre-colonial religious practices. Wonderful to know that they are the root of the Eurocentric idea of religion!

What I liked best is that it was easy reading for such a complex and controversial subject. Vintage ben-jochannan material. A must for religion buffs.

In my quest for truth and origins has so far been disappointed with this work. The supporting evidences for his allegations our sorely inaccurate. While he is correct in the fact that early Africans were indeed the source inspiration and influence for World Religions, however are the devil is in the details. One whom has an objective view of world history will not find it in this work. Though I have only read a few chapters thus far, it was definitely not, what I was hoping it to be, for it was anything but scholarly. I presume due to the dating of this work, much newer and accurate information has become available, which would shed the entire spectrum of light on the truth. The problem with over Afrocentricity is that so much effort, which I respect, is exhausted on correcting the distortion and mis-education of the colonizers and manipulating powers, they have a tendency to do the same in reverse, though well intentioned. Unfortunately, this is part of what causes them to be easily dismissed in the world of academia and often even by the constituents they are attempting to serve, though often they have bits of truth to their assertions.

This book is brutally hostile towards religion, which obviously, with an objective mind, will misrepresent and distort the nature of the facts, caused by blind rage and ranting. Yes I am a person of faith, however I am no cheerleader or advocate of it either, and truth of the matter, they all have their dark episodes in history and the present, however the same is true with early and late African religions and cultures. In matters of religion there is plenty of garbage to spread around evenly, amongst them all including Africanized ones. Without tribalism, American Slavery could not have existed. Nuff ` said.

Overall, the book does have some mediocre points here and there, if one has the patience and is able to decipher the lens of tainted biases and perspective in order to extrapolate the truth, but be warned it is a tedious exercise of mental fortitude. The sad thing is I still highly respect Dr. Ben, but in the case of hit or miss, this was a definite miss. For a student of African/Black Studies, Stolen Legacy, Before the Mayflower and Nile Valley Contributions to Civilization are better informed and organized reading material. As an African American, I have to use the same criterion and levels of standards for fact-finding as I do with European Historians, Scholars, Educators, and etc., in order to arrive at a proper conclusion, otherwise I would be inserting one false allegation for another one that has been painted to my liking, though not astute or correct, which in itself is an injustice.

Sometimes we can be so pro-Africa and so pro-Black until we can be totally BLACKED OUT from mental consciousness.

Yosef A.A. (Alfredo Antonio) Ben-Jochannan (born 1918 in Ethiopia; known simply as "Dr. Ben" to his students and readers) is an American historian specializing in Africa.

He writes in the Introduction to this 1970 book (reprinted in 1991), "(T)he main purpose of this work is to show that there is another phase to the greatness that is still 'MOTHER AFRICA,' the MOTHER OF MANKIND, a sort of 'GARDEN OF EDEN,' also to provide another perspective in Africa's major contribution to world civilization which may well assist in rearranging the present and future tenets of religious thought."

Here are some quotations from the book:

"I shall show that Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are as much African as they are Asian in origin, and in no sense what-so-ever European as the title, 'Western Religions' suggests..." (Pg. vi)
"The only reason that the three indigenous African Popes of the Roman Catholic Church have not been examined here ... is because they have done nothing outstanding in the history of Christendom..." (Pg. 137)
"Yet all of these (Ten) 'Commandments' and the lesser ones---which most people do not know exist---are almost exact copies of laws and religious philosophical concepts which the African Jews, as they were by that time, lived under..." (Pg. 147-148)
"The legacy of Voodooism inherited by so-called 'Western Religions' should not surprise anyone more than the legacy Christianity inherited from Judaism, or the legacy Islam inherited from both Judaism and Christianity..." (Pg. 279)
"Moses and Judaism, like Jesus Christ and Christianity (the daughter of Judaism), had their origins in the Nile Valley civilizations. And of course Islam, with her God---Allah ... cannot escape its indigenous African origin..." (Pg. 149)

This is a good informative book and challenges the American-European-Islamic mores based upon racism, arrogance and the falsification of history. Should be required reading.

African Origins of the Major Western Religions by Yosef Ben-Jochana

I believe it was Napoleon Bonapart that said "history is agreed upon lies." Mr. Ben-Jochanna pulls the quilt back for all to see. I recommend this book if you want to know the truth.

It would appear that we have a hit dog(s)up in heah!