The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion, by Sir James George Frazer

The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion, by Sir James George Frazer. 1947 hardcover. 752 pages, very nice condition.

Essential reading. A classic, wide-ranging, comparative study of mythology and religion, written by the famed Scottish anthropologist Sir James George Frazer. In the book, Frazer attempts 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. His 1890 study of the cults, rites, and myths of antiquity, The Golden Bough, offers a monumental exploration of these customs and their parallels with early Christianity. The Golden Bough scandalized the British public when first published, as it included the Christian story of the resurrection of Jesus in its comparative study with other religions. Critics thought this treatment invited an agnostic reading of the Lamb of God as a relic of a pagan religion. A pioneer of social anthropology, Frazer's definitions of such terms as "magic," "religion," and "science" proved highly useful to his successors in the field, and his explications of the ancient legends profoundly influenced generations of prominent psychologists, writers, and poets.