A scholar claimed African tribal religions derived from pre-exilic Hebrew worship

Evidence

Williams reaches the conclusion that “the Supreme Being not only of the Ashanti and allied tribes, but most probably of the whole of Negro Land as well, is not the God of the Christians which, at a comparatively recent date, was superimposed on the various tribal beliefs by ministers of the Gospel: but the Yahweh of the Hebrews, and that too of the Hebrews of pre-exilic times.” — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 958

Categorization

• QUESTION: Worth chasing: how influential was this ‘Hebrewisms of West Africa’ thesis, and what evidence did scholars marshal for a direct Hebrew origin of Ashanti religion?