Historical race concepts Classical ideas with the notion that humanity as a whole was descended from Shem, Ham and Japheth, the three sons of Noah, producing distinct Semitic (Asiatic), Hamitic (African), and Japhetic (Indo-European) peoples. This theory dates back to the Babylonian "Talmud", which states, "the descendants of Ham are cursed by being black, and [it] depicts Ham as a sinful man and his progeny as degenerates." In the 9th century, Al-Jahiz, an Afro-Arab Islamic philosopher, attempted to explain the origins of different human skin colors, particularly black skin, which he believed to be the result of the environment. He cited a stony
Juji Nakada to Goodman, Nakada became a supporter of Japanese militarism because he believed the Japanese military were (unknowingly) serving God's purposes. (Goodman 53) Nakada "saw the Jews as mystical saviors whose redemption would ensure the political and military, as well as spiritual, salvation of the Japanese." (Goodman 39) Nakada wrote in "Japan in the Bible": The Japanese are an inter-mixture of the three original races i.e. the Shemitic [sic], Hamitic, and Japhetic - for the Jews are the descendents [sic] of Shem, the Hittites, of Ham, and the Ainus of Japheth. (The Ainus should be classified among the white people as