Heresy In The University: The Black Athena Controversy and the Responsibilities of American Intellectuals Review

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(More customer reviews)Berlinerblau wades into the Black Athena controversy and calls a lot of people to task. He summarizes the weighty work of Martin Bernal (who he apparently interviewed and commented on various parts of the book) and critiques both Black Athena and its critics. In short, Berlinerblau concludes: Martin Bernal proves that a lot of antiquity studies have had some serious biases, and his work has forced a lot of reassessment on the part of antquity scholars, but; the antiquity scholars prove that Bernal has made a lot of errors. Berlinerblau also calls some of Bernal's critics to task for the vehemence of their attack on Bernal, punishing him on facts while dismissing some larger points. As far as some of the big arguments (was Athena black, were Egyptians 'black', etc.) Berlinerblau explains the sources, arguments, problems (like projecting 19th century concepts of race back 3000 years) and concludes that the most extreme viewpoints (on either side of the argument) are probably not true, though many of Bernal's points quite possibly are, and that, barring some spectacular discoveries, we will probably never know for certain. Berlinerblau praises Bernal for engaging the public in his work, and feels that scholars should work more to became public intellectuals. One can tell that the author cares and wants to be understood, admitting his weaknesses and trying to be fair to all viewpoints.

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One of the most controversial books to come out of the academy in the last fifteen years is Martin Bernal's Black Athena. It has been a true cause celebre. Afrocentrists have both praised the book and claimed that Bernal stole from the work of black scholars to create his study of the Afroasiastic roots of classical civilization. Classicists feel passionately about what they perceive as an attack from an outsider on the origins not only of ancient Greece but of their own discipline. It seems that everyone has something to say about the book; the question is how many really understand it.In Heresy in the University, Jacques Berlinerblau provides an exegesis of the contents of Black Athena, making it accessible to a wider audience. As he clarifies and restates Bernal's opus, Berlinerblau identifies Bernal's flaws in reasoning and gaps in evidence. He cuts to the heart of Bernal's prose, singling out the key points of Bernal's argument, explaining and arranging them in a cogent manner. Berlinerblau addresses the critics' really important objections, including his own, and links each of them to the appropriate substantive argument in Black Athena. He goes beyond simple summary and exposition to present the underlying --stated and unstated--agendas of Bernal and his critics. Ultimately, he exposes both sides and asks what the flawed reasoning from all concerned reveals about the stakes in this key academic dispute and what that, in turn, says about the modern academy.Jacques Berlinerblau is an assistant professor and director of Judaic studies at Hofstra University.

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