The ''Holy Piby'', also known as the Black Man's Bible, is a text written by an

Anguilla Anguilla is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, lying east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and directly north of Sa ...

Robert Athlyi Rogers Robert Athlyi Rogers (6 May 1891 – 24 August 1931), born in Anguilla, was the author of the ''Holy Piby'', and founder of the "Afro-Athlican Constructive Church". Biography He was born on the island of Anguilla on 6 May 1891, and immigrated ...

(d. 1931), for the use of an Afrocentric

religion Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...

in the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

founded by Rogers in the 1920s, known as the Afro-Athlican Constructive Gaathly. The

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

outlined in this work saw

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

ns (in the classical sense of all Africans) as the

chosen people Throughout history, various groups of people have considered themselves to be the chosen people of a deity, for a particular purpose. The phenomenon of "chosen people" is well known among the Israelites and Jews, where the term () refers to the ...

of God. The church preached self-reliance and

self-determination Self-determination refers to a people's right to form its own political entity, and internal self-determination is the right to representative government with full suffrage. Self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international la ...

for Africans, using the Piby as its guiding document.

Content

The ''Holy Piby'' is made up of four books. The first, entitled "The First Book of Athlyi Called Athlyi", has only two chapters. The next, "The Second Book of Athlyi Called Aggregation", is the largest, with fifteen chapters, the seventh of which identifies

Marcus Garvey Marcus Mosiah Garvey Jr. (17 August 188710 June 1940) was a Jamaican political activist. He was the founder and first President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) (commonly known a ...

as one of three apostles of God. The "Third Book of Athlyi Named The Facts of the Apostles" presents two prominent members of the UNIA-ACL, Robert Lincoln Poston and Henrietta Vinton Davis,God spoke to his Apostles

Internet Sacred Text Archive The Internet Sacred Text Archive (ISTA) is a Santa Cruz, California-based website dedicated to the preservation of electronic public domain religious texts. History The website was first opened to the public on March 9, 1999, by John Bruno Hare ...

, Last Accessed May 24, 2007. as the other apostles in the

Holy Trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, three ...

. The title of the last book is "The Fourth Book of Athlyi Called Precaution". That book is followed by a series of

catechism A catechism (; from , "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of Catholic theology, doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adult co ...

-style questions and answers wherein Garvey, Davis and Poston are proclaimed to be the saviors of the "down trodden children of

History

Rastafari movement

Together with the '' Royal Parchment Scroll of Black Supremacy'' by

Fitz Balintine Pettersburg Reverend Fitz Balintine Pettersburg was a proto-Rastafari preacher, and author of the '' Royal Parchment Scroll of Black Supremacy'', published in 1926. He influenced Leonard Howell, who according to author Barry Chevannes, plagiarised the ''Royal ...

and Leonard P. Howell's ''

The Promise Key ''The Promised Key'', sometimes known as ''The Promise Key'', is a 1935 Rastafari movement tract by Jamaican preacher Leonard Howell, written under Howell's Hindu pen name G. G. Maragh (for ''Gong Guru''). Content The tract bears some close ...

'', the ''Holy Piby'' is today recognized as a root document of Rastafari thought. While not strictly speaking a "Rastafari text", it was certainly a primary source of influence to many in the

Rastafari movement Rastafari is an Abrahamic religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by scholars of religion. There is no central authority in control of the movement and much ...

, who see Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia, as the

second coming The Second Coming (sometimes called the Second Advent or the Parousia) is the Christianity, Christian and Islam, Islamic belief that Jesus, Jesus Christ will return to Earth after his Ascension of Jesus, ascension to Heaven (Christianity), Heav ...

Christ Jesus ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Christianity, central figure of Christianity, the M ...

. Some Rastafari see Emperor Haile Selassie I as Christ in His Kingly Character as written in the

Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation, also known as the Book of the Apocalypse or the Apocalypse of John, is the final book of the New Testament, and therefore the final book of the Bible#Christian Bible, Christian Bible. Written in Greek language, Greek, ...

, Chapter 5 and regard Marcus Mosia Garvey as a

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divinity, divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings ...

References

External links

Electronic text of the ''Holy Piby'' at sacred-texts.com
{{Authority control Rastafarian texts Culture of Anguilla 1924 non-fiction books