The Golden Bough: A Study of Magic & Religion

Produktdetails

Verlag

Musaicum Books

Erschienen

2020

Sprache

English

Seiten

930

Infos

930 Seiten

ISBN

4064066393526

Hauptbeschreibung

The Golden Bough is a wide-ranging, comparative study of mythology and religion, written by the Scottish anthropologist Sir James George Frazer. The book documents and details the similarities among magical and religious beliefs around the globe. Frazer attempted to define the shared elements of religious belief and scientific thought, discussing fertility rites, human sacrifice, the dying god, the scapegoat, and many other symbols and practices whose influences had extended into 20th-century culture. His thesis is that old religions were fertility cults that revolved around the worship and periodic sacrifice of a sacred king. Frazer proposed that mankind progresses from magic through religious belief to scientific thought. The influence of The Golden Bough on contemporary European literature and thought is substantial.