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Anton Sammut: The Other Side of the Judeo-Christian History – a historico-religious treatise on Judeo-Christianity. Self-published. 2012. 389 pp.
As I wrote some time ago, with his very first publication, in his hugely gripping philosophical novel Alte Vestiga, Anton Sammut broke new grounds.
He made extensive use of his vast knowledge of both the ethos and the philosophy that make up the psyche of the average human being, with its multitude of complexes, both physical and emotional, and built upon them a hauntingly beautiful and dramatic novel that intrigues the reader no end.
In this massive tome, which has also been widely acclaimed in an English translation (Memories of Recurrent Echoes), Sammut subjected the characters of his choice to his unique approach to a philosophy that is inextricably his own –a philosophy that relies almost exclusively on the element of truth, particularly where religious beliefs and ethics are concerned.
The book augurs well for those who do not content themselves with what they have been taught but would rather elect to know how it landed in their laps
Alte Vestiga was, in fact, a prelude to what was to come, not in the strictly narrative storyline but in the form of a historico-religious thesis on Judeo-Christianity, which so frequently complemented the story in that novel.
What came next was an equally massive but much more revealing treatise, which is indubitably aimed to dispel once and for all the innumerable inexactitudes, myths and half-truths and legends that have long been presented as the non plus ultra fundamentals of the Judeo-Christian religion.
In the original Maltese, all this went under the title In-Naħa l-Oħra tal-Istorja Ġudeo-Kristjana, published by the author last year.
This mammoth work was so well-received that Sammut has decided to publish a translation of the same work. Thus, this book, which retains the front cover of the previous version albeit in different hues, depicts the enigmatic detail from Leonardo’s The Virgin and Child with St Anne and John the Baptist.
Under this, the author wrote: “Throughout its history, religion has always been subjected to censorship, invariably to accommodate those who wanted to wield power.” An excellent point of departure to what follows and, alas, an irrefutable and sadly tragic truth.
From here on, the reader is taken on a journey that is both instructive and eye-opening, utterly revealing in its off-the-cuff, clear-cut treatment, as much as, at first glance, it may seem ipso facto controversial and provocative.
The first part of this highly-researched work deals with the origins of religious symbols (10,000 BC); the Sumerians (4,000 BC); Abraham; the historical Moses; the biblical Israelites; the complete Exodus from David to the Babylonian exile; the inaccuracies and mistranslation of the Old Testament; and on to the birth of Jesus Christ.
The second part expounds expansively on the historical Jesus Christ of Nazareth and his teachings, the gospels (a complete analysis) and on to James the Just (Jesus’s brother); St Paul and Christian Hellenism; Gnosticism; an analysis on the Gnostics and their gospels; the formation of the New Testament and its linguistic aspect; the first church before the Roman Catholic one; the official establishment of the Catholic Church and the first popes; the false document which was supposedly left to the Church by Emperor Constantine the Great so that the Church could retain its power; the strengthening of the papacy; the persecution by the clergy and papal corruption; the Middle Ages; the emergence of the crusades, the indulgencies and the dogma; scholasticism; the Albigensian Crusade and so on.
All this is followed by three superbly presented Reflections: the first one is a philosophical retrospection from pre-Socratics, Plato, Descartes, Spinoza, Kant, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Sartre, to modern Existentialism.
The second is about mind power, the neurotic religious pundit and other salient observations (including Freudian and Jungian theories about religion); the third is a tentative look into the future and what may lie in store for mankind, including the astral and spiritual collision which is taking place between the Age of Pisces (c.10 BC-AD 2,050) and the approaching Age of Aquarius (the next 2,050 years).
The two reflections originally rounding up this colossal oeuvre –one by the late Peter Serracino Inglott and the other by the late René Camilleri – can now be found paraphrased at the very beginning of the book.
Fr Peter admits to his being highly intrigued and provoked by Sammut’s formidable thesis, adding that this long and meticulously researched exercise on both the sacred books and the history of the church is meant to help the reader look at both rationally, and from a point of view with which the average believer, to date, has been unfamiliar.
On his part Fr René stresses that the book augurs well for those who do not content themselves with what they have been taught but would rather elect to know how it landed in their laps.
A detailed bibliography, which shows the enormity of the task Sammut took upon himself to sustain his often controversial contentions, plus a full comprehensive index, bring down the curtain on one of the most singularly unique and astonishing books on the Judeo-Christian history ever published, initially in Maltese and now in the English language.