ROBERT ATHLYI ROGERS
(Robert Athlyi)
This is the Holy Book of the Afro Athlican Constructive Church. This Afro-centric religion, founded in the 1920s in America considered Blacks the “sons and daughters of Ethiopia,” recognized Rogers as “Shepard” and Marcus Garvey as "Prophet and Apostle". The religion and The Holy Piby was so threatening to established Negro religions of the time that it was banned in Jamaica and other parts of the Caribbean. It is considered one of the fundamental religious sources for Rastafarians. It is often referred to as “The Black Man’s Bible.” It was translated from a “lost Amharic text” which tells of the lost tribe of Israel migrating to Ethiopia.
Shepherd Robert Athlyi Rogers (6 May, 1891 – 24 August, 1931), born in Anguilla, was the author of the Holy Piby, generally recognized as one of the most important foundational texts in Rastafarian theology, although not strictly speaking a Rastafarian document. Rogers wrote it for the use of an Afrocentric religion he had founded, known as the Afro-Athlican Constructive Gaathly. It was written between 1913 and 1917, and published in 1924. His "Athlican" faith attracted a few followers, mostly in the West Indies, but never grew to the prominence he had envisaged. Rogers committed suicide on 24 August 1931.
