Customer Reviews

The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion: A New Abridgement from the Second and Third Editions (Oxford World's Classics)

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I'll skip reviewing the content and speak to book's edition. This is the one that was abridged by the author from a multi-volume, earlier edition. In later years, the tome was watered down and censored due to authorial speculation on the nature of Jesus. All the controversial ideas are present in this particular edition, so it is safe to purchase it and not feel cheated.

This is a wonderful book on the origin of beliefs, culture and
classic ceremonies. For instance, the Native American Indians
regarded a person's name as a part of their personality.
In Bohemia, children carry a straw man out of the village to
cast out death. Aphrodite and Old Paphos constitute one of the
most celebrated shrines in the ancient world. In death and
resurrection, Egyptians celebrated life after death. At Lagos in
Guinea, young women were impaled by custom after spring equinox
in order to secure a good crop that year. Festivities were
prepared in order to coincide with the summer and winter solstices.

The work would be perfect for students of world culture,
fine arts, language and literature.

The Golden Bough is an extermely ambitious attempt to devise a unified theory of all religion. Frazer uncovers the common magical basis of both "pagan" religions (consisting of multiple gods personifying different aspects of the natural world) and monotheistic ones. His basic thesis is that all religion is based on false beliefs about how nature works. Religious rituals are all geared towards magically strengthening the growth cycle of nature and inhibiting the death cycle. Different religions are simply different manifestations of this fundamental paradigm.

In making his point, Frazer gives an encyclopedic account of religious rituals and myths the world over. Even in this abridged version, he gives far too many examples. I felt a wave of relief every time he stopped giving examples and started actually speculating about their meaning. His speculations are indeed compelling, and his writing is often very eloquent, but this book is simply way too long. Don't feel guilty about skipping certain sections.

Frazer adopts an anthropological view of religion that is now called "intellectualism." It is the idea that religious concepts are the product of people's desire to *understand* how mysterious aspects of the world work. Indeed, Frazer argues that all religious rituals are predicated on implicit theories of how the world works and are attempts to influence that imagined world. His theory is interesting, but it is problematic. As Pascal Boyer points out in Religion Explained, the religious imagination is concerned only with particular mysteries; it is not concerned with other major questions, such as how thought magically produces physical movement (say, of one's arm) in the external world. This phenomenon is arguably far more complex and mysterious than the growth and death of plants. But this issue doesn't fascinate people and it isn't the focus of much religious thought. Why not? If we wish to understand religion, we must fundamentally explain why certain issues are central to the religious imagination while others are not. Intellectualism is hence an intrinsically flawed theory.

The Golden Bough nevertheless has much to offer. It includes provocative and seminal discussions of ritual, magic, animism, paganism, myth, and science. This particular abridgment is good because it includes Frazer's bold attempt to incorporate Christianity into his unified theory, thereby knocking it off its pretentious, fundamentalist pedestal (an attitude that permeated his society and surely agitated him). To debase Christianity was probably Frazer's ulterior motive in writing the Golden Bough, because his theory is actually more applicable to the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ than it is to many of the other religious systems he analyzes.

This book is worth reading for its historical significance, its ambition, and its enormous scope, but read it skeptically and be prepared to skip certain parts for the sake of your own sanity.

This book is a seminal work because it had a crucial influence on four important works of the twentieth century: T. S. Elliott's poem the Waste Land, Joseph Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces, Dan Brown's book The Da Vinci Code, and Francis Ford Coppolla's movie Apocalypse Now, screenplay by John Milius.

Sir James George Frazer's book written in 1922 was a groundbreaking work on ancient religion, paganism, and roots of early Christianity. Frazer does an in-depth examination of the sacrificial killing of god-kings to ensure bountiful harvests, which Frazer traces through several cultures, including in his elaborations the myths of Adonis, Osiris, and Balder.

Frazer spent his life writing fifteen volumes of history of myth and religion. This book sums up his theory of magic and its connections to paganism, as well as fusing ideas from Jessie L. Weston's book From Ritual To Romance and Gnostic texts that serve as a link to early Christianity's influence from ancient nature cults. His chapter titles say much about where his work goes and why it is so influential on iconic twentieth century works. The King of the Wood explains the original nature of the task imposed upon the hero, it undoubtedly influenced both Campbell's and Coppola's works. The Myths of Adonis, Attis, and Osiris looks to establish a chain of descent connecting early Aryan and Babylonian ritual with classic, Medieval and modern forms of nature worship. Our Debt to the Savage explains the role of the Medicine Man or doctor in fertility ritual. The Killing of the Devine King analyzes how this title is prevalent in so many of humankind's legends, and was a definite influence on Coppola's Colonel Kurtz character. Sacrifice of the King's Son regarded as an object of awe certainly influenced The Da Vinci Code.

Frazer's book is interesting and fun to read. I especially became interested in it from the movie Apocalypse Now. There is a scene in the movie that shows Colonel Kurtz's nightstand in his cave. Weston's book is one of three on the nightstand. The other two are Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, which the film is based on. The other book is Jessie L. Weston's book From Ritual To Romance. Anyone wanting to understand the movie Apocalypse Now, especially the character of Colonel Kurtz, and what Milius and Copolla were trying to tell their audience need to read these three books!

As a graduate student reading in philosophy and history I recommend this book for anyone interested in literature, myth, history, philosophy, religion and fans of Apocalypse Now.

James Frazer's, "The Golden Bough," is a must read for anyone interested in the comparative study of religion, folklore and magic. This abridged version of a multi-volumed master work will open your eyes to the commonality amongst traditional religious beliefs and practices around the world. One warning though: This book may cause an acute existential crisis for Bible heads. If you can't recognize pagan themes and rituals in the old and new testaments -blood sacrifice in particular- then you're better off sticking to bible tract comic books. I also love the cover art of Turner's "Aeneas and the Sibyl."

An "uncensored" abridged version,
full of speculation about Christ. Sure to get the evangelicals lighting their torches,
to storm this Castle of Prometheus.

I don't know what to say. Recommending this book is like recommending that you own a dictionary, it's a "no brainer." The Golden Bough is required reading for anyone interested in human history, mythology, religion, the development of religious thought, philosophy, or human development.

A approach of academic study to common reader interest. A excellent book for ritual understanding. The Frazer's Golden Bough is one of more sold around the world and is also one of more controversial within academic society because its author broken one of its dogmas - written without the academic language vicious.