Noah's Three Sons: Human History in Three Dimensions, Volume 1: The Doorway Papers

by Arthur C. Custance

This volume contains five papers selected from a series of sixty published by the author under five general title "Doorway Papers, over a period of some fifteen years from 1957 to 1973. The first paper sets forth the basic concept that from the three sons of Noah have arisen three divisions of the human race which, even at this time, can still be sorted out and identified with a measure of certainity.

Genres: History, Church History

368 pages, Paperback

First published May 31, 1984

About the author

From linked site:

About the Author
Arthur C. Custance was born and educated in England and moved to Canada in 1928. In his second year at the University of Toronto he was converted to faith in Christ. The experience so changed his thinking that he switched courses, obtaining an honours M.A. in Hebrew and Greek. In his 13 years of formal education, he explored many facets of knowledge and was particularly interested in anthropology and origins. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Ottawa in 1959 while serving as head of the Human Engineering Laboratories of the Defence Research Board in Ottawa (Canada) and was engaged in research work for 15 years. During that time he also wrote and published The Doorway Papers, and in retirement in 1970, he wrote 6 major books. His writings are characterized by a rare combination of scholarly thoroughness and biblical orthodoxy.

Biography of Arthur C. Custance
1910 ­- 1985
Arthur Custance was born in Norfolk, England. Upon completion of his primary and secondary education, he failed the Oxford and Cambridge Entrance Examinations (three times!). Just at this time the British Government had a scheme to “bring culture to the Colonies”, and offered to send him to the Canadian province of Ontario with the promise of 800 acres of land to build laboratories to bring improvements to farming.

Reviews

[Abigail Hartman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book in a series called "The Doorway Papers," written by biblical anthropologist Arthur Custance. In it he deals primarily with the unique impact that each of the races that sprang from Noah's sons - the Semitic, the Hamitic, and the Indo-European people groups - have had on the history of Mankind. He has a unique, thought-provoking way of looking at the way God fashioned Man; he does not content himself with thinking inside the box, although he is quite orthodox in most areas. I don't agree with all of his theories (for instance, the last chapter deals heavily with arguments for the Gap Theory) but at the same time, much can be gleaned from them (again, the last chapter makes a very good case for "purpose"). All around it is a very good work, although I wouldn't recommend it for young believers due to its complexity.

[Josiah · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most intriguing books I have ever read. This book kept pointing out one thing after another about these three dimensions of mankind as focused upon from the three sons of Noah. The book is compiled from a series of essays or papers. Repetition of some statements and thoughts is present but not too overwhelming. And while some portions are longer and more in depth, if you like this genre you'll certainly be enthralled. I was :)

[Coyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This work by Custance is the first of what are reportedly an eclectic and unique set of musings by a loosely-orthodox Canadian Christian writing on some of the more obscure problems in Scripture. In this book, for example (available in full for free here: http://custance.org/library_menu.php ) takes on the question of the relationship between the sons of Noah (Shem, Ham, and Japheth) and the future development of human civilization. This book apparently had its origin when Custance asked why it was that Noah cursed Canaan, rather than Ham, in Genesis 9, since it was Ham who sinned. This led to an extended reflection on the table of nations in Genesis 10 which has apparently be influential on Christian thought ever since.
Specifically, Custance draws on his anthropological training and Biblical knowledge to argue that Shem, Ham, and Japheth are the originators of the various kinds of peoples and cultures that we see around the world today and through history. The descendants of Ham, for example, tend to excel at technical and manual matters (physical labor, farming, etc). The descendants of Japheth have tended to be intellectual and rational. The descendants of Shem have been spiritual and focused on matters of the heart. (Custance is careful to point out that these are not moral differences, they are merely differences of inclinations and interests.)
Custance suggests that the best civilizations are those which have the best balance between these three characteristics. Those which over-emphasize one tend to be tyrannical or chaotic. The bulk of the book is spent defending his claims about each sort of society (with a special emphasis on the "Hamitic" cultures).

I... don't know what to do with this book. It's certainly interesting, and a topic which I hadn't thought much about before. And to be sure we have to do something with all those genealogies in the Old Testament. And yet, some of this feels a little statistics/anthropology heavy, and, well, I do care about civilization, but when I'm wearing my "Bible exposition" hat, I'm not sure we can really see all this stuff in the text.

Nevertheless, the book was interesting enough that I'll likely pick up more of his books, if only to read what he has to say about the interval between death and resurrection, the virgin birth, or the Genesis flood...

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the first third of the papers very interesting, especially the author's belief in how each of Noah's three sons have led to the development of the human race. I asked that question when I was much younger, but wasn't given any answer. I know that this is the author's opinion, but has been the best answer to my question. At first, I felt that there could be some questionable remarks made in terms of race, given that these papers were first written the 1970's. But after reading the author's ideas, he did a fine job of explaining his ideas without being offensive at all. The latter parts of his paper seemed to be rambling; trying too hard to strengthen his stance. The writing made it seem Custance was a graduate student attempting to sell his ideas to a difficult committee of professors. I had a difficult time finishing the reading because I totally lost interest.

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE FIRST OF THE “DOORWAY PAPERS” SERIES

Arthur C. Custance (1910-1985) had a Ph.D. in Education, and wrote a number of books (including the well-known ‘Doorway Papers’ series).

He wrote in the Abstract of this 1975 book, “The basic thesis is that the tenth chapter of Genesis, the Table of Nations, is a statement about the origins of the present world population, and of how these descendants of the three brothers spread out over the earth. And it is further proposed that a division of responsibilities to care for the needs of man at three fundamental levels---spiritual, physical, and intellectual---were divinely appointed to each of these three branches of Noah's family… In these Papers is the evidence for the technological genius of Ham, the intellectual character of Japheth, and the spiritual qualities of Shem. The interaction of these three contributions is the theme of this history.”

He states, “In the case of Ham and his descendents history shows that they have rendered an extraordinary service to mankind from the point of view of the physical developments of civilization. All the earliest civilizations of note were founded and carried to their highest technical proficiency by Hamitic people. There is scarcely a basic technological invention which must not be attributed to them. As we shall show later, neither Shem nor Japheth made any significant contribution to the fundamental technology of civilization...” (Pt. I, Ch. 2) He adds later, “the family of Japheth has been responsible for the world's philosophies… As the application of Japheth's philosophy to the technology of Ham produced science, so the application of his philosophy to the religious insights of Shem produced theology. The Hamitic people never developed science and the Semitic people did not develop theology, until the influence of Japhetic philosophy was brought to bear.” (Pt. I, Ch. 3)

He acknowledges, “There may very well be differences between races, some being gifted in one way and some in another. Whether such national characters are the result of cultural conditioning or are genetically determined is not at present clear… [But the] really important thing is that we must never make the mistake of identifying differences with superiorities….” (Pt. I, Ch. 4)

He observes, “Among Evangelicals… the divergence of opinion tends to be not over the historicity of this ancient Table [of Nations], but rather over its comprehensiveness… it may be worthwhile pointing out that the value of a document may change with time, so that it does not become more valuable or less valuable, but rather valuable in an entirely new way… The Table thus serves three purposes. It supplies an essential chapter in the early record of Genesis, rounding out what happened as the world's population expanded. It joined the whole human race in a single family without giving the least suggestion that any one particular branch of this family had pre-eminence over another, a notable achievement. Finally, as a purely historical document, it has provided insights into the relationships between peoples that are only now becoming obtainable by other means, thereby adding its testimony to the dependability of the Genesis record…” (Pt. II, Ch. 1)

He explains, “It is customary now to divide the world's present population into three racial stocks, Caucasians (essentially, the White Man), Negroids, and Mongoloids. It is exceedingly difficult to define successfully the distinguishing characteristics of any one of these three… There is, however, one way in which it could be done … and this is to trace the earliest true representatives of each tribe to their known ancestors and set forth in some kind of genealogical tree the relationships of these ancestors… In this Table, we again meet with three groups of people, the descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. But these three groups do not correspond with the current classification of races, for in this Table it is apparent that Negroid and Mongoloid are classed as one family, and the trilogy is reconstituted by setting the Semitic peoples in a distinct class by themselves. So then, we have the Japhethites who can be conveniently equated for our purposes with the Caucasians, Indo-Europeans, or White Man; the Hamites who are held to encompass the Negroid and Mongoloid branches, i.e., the so-called colored races; and the Shemites who comprise both the Hebrew people (ancient and modern), the Arabs, and a few once powerful nations, such as the Assyrians and Babylonians…” (Pt. II, Ch. 1)

He notes, “the confusion which occurred at Babel served chiefly as an affliction for the children of Ham, whose languages have proliferated bewilderingly from very early times to the present day… This makes it much more difficult to establish lines of connection by the means of names… How, then, can one provide substantiating evidence for the claim that from Ham were descended the colored races? The answer is, Only by inference. For example, while there was a Cush in or near Mesopotamia at the very beginning, the most prominent settlement established by descendants of this patriarch was in Ethiopia. The Ethiopians have been habitually considered true blacks, which is recognized indirectly in Scripture when the prophet asks, ‘Can the Ethiopian change his skin?’” (Jer 13:23) (Pt. II, Ch. 3)

He argues, “There still remains, however, the vast aggregate of peoples who are generally classified as Mongoloid, who settled the Far East and the New World. Do they really appear in this genealogical tree, or must we admit that the Table of Nations is not comprehensive here? … The evidence, it is true, is slim, but what evidence there is appears to me to point consistently in the same direction, supporting our initial contention that not only Africa with its black races, but the Far East and the Americas with their colored races were all descendants of Ham.” (Pt. II, Ch. 3)

He asserts, “It is our contention that Noah and his wife and family were real people, sole survivors of a major catastrophe, the chief effect of which was to obliterate the previous civilization that had developed from Adam to that time. When the Ark grounded, there were 8 people alive in the world, and no more. Landing somewhere in Armenia, they began to spread as they multiplied, though retaining for some time a homogeneous cultural tradition. The initial family pattern, set by the existence in the party of three sons and their wives, gave rise in the course of time to three distinct racial stocks who, according to their patriarchal lineage, are most properly termed Japhethites, Hamites, and Shemites, but in modern terminology would be represented by the Semitic people (Hebrews, Arabs, and ancient nations such as Babylonians, Assyrians, etc.), the Mongoloid and Negroid Hamites, and the Caucasoid Japhethites…” (Pt. II, Ch. 5)

He admits, “as to dating, it must be admitted that no authority with a reputation at stake would ever propose it was a homeland so recently as our reckoning of only 4500 years ago. The time problem remains with us and at the moment we have no answer to it, but we can proceed to explore the lines of evidence which in all other respects assuredly support the thesis set forth earlier in this chapter…” (Pt. II, Ch. 5)

Of the ‘curse’ on Ham/Canaan, he proposes, “[I]t is possible that Ham may himself have been a mulatto. In fact, his name means ‘dark’ and perhaps refers to the color of his skin. This condition may have been derived through his mother, Noah's wife, and if we suppose that Ham had himself married a mulatto woman, it is possible to account for the preservation of the Negroid stock over the disaster of the Flood… It seems most likely that Ham had seen the darkness of his mother's body, for example when being nursed. But he may never have seen the whiteness of his father's body… His own body and that of Noah's wife being quite dark, he may have gone away reflecting upon the difference and forgetting his filial duty. In fact, this could conceivably be the reason he went to tell his brothers, for he may have supposed that they would be as surprised at this discovery as he was himself… In this case it seems that Canaan could have been a black child, the homozygous offspring of his mulatto parents, Ham and his wife.” (Pt. III, Ch. 2)

He says “It seems virtually impossible to create such an adequate World View unless man is made the key or the end for which the world was made, and the world the end for which the universe was made. How beautifully simple it is to believe that God made man for Himself, the world for man, and the universe for the world... Perhaps it is naive to hold such a belief in this day and age. Yet it is surprising how much of what we know can be woven smoothly, reasonably, satisfyingly, indeed even excitingly, into such a World View.” (Pt. V, Ch. 2) Later, he adds, “The world was created for man, as man was created for God. Was perhaps the Universe created for the world?” (Pt. V, Ch. 7)

As regards Evolution, etc., he says, :I propose to set forth … the view that the earth as a habitation was indeed prepared specifically for the coming of man, and that this preparation took a long time; and that during this long time the living components of it were gradually changed by divine interference in such a way that when man was finally created he could be placed in a total environment that was wholly appropriate for him. This ‘divine interference’ I suggest might be appropriately termed ‘supernatural selection’… I believe God acted creatively… throughout the whole of geological history, introducing new species as they became appropriate, and removing others when they ceased to be… We do not believe in God simply because gaps exist which seem to demand a God to fill them… we merely say as Christians, ‘Such gaps may well be points at which God was at work in Nature by direct means.’ But those of us who are scientists do not find that such a faith requires of us that we avoid any further search for natural bridges over the gaps on the ground that we already have sufficient explanation.” Pt. V, Ch. 8)

Custance’s views will be of great interest to Christians looking into such topics as he addresses.