Contents: Far Away and Long Ago, The Erotic Motive in Primitive Religion; Primitive Man in Love and Faith; In the Foundry of the Gods, The Story of the Generative Divinities; Spirit of Love in God and Man, The Erotic Worship of the Generative Divinities; Love's Hidden Ways; In the Temple of the Gods; The Worship of the Generative Divinities; A Day with Baal; A Night with Aphrodite; At a Dionysian Mystery; Twilight with Moloch; The Dance of the Saktas; In the House of the Lord; The Erotic Motive in the Monotheistic Religions of Today; Love in the Synagogue; Romance in the Church; Marriage in the Mosque; Longing in the Dark; The Spirit of Revolt in Religion; The Sexual Motive in Sectarianism; Rebels in the Faith; Love the Force of Rebellion; Revolt Against Religion; Revolt Against God; Revolt Against Man; God's Way in Love.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Biased, prejudiced, misogynistic - and yet informative.,
By J Irvin "author of The Holy Mushroom" (California) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Sacred Fire: The Story of Sex in Religion (Paperback)
The Sacred Fire: The Story of Sex in Religion by BZ Goldberg 1930/1958
Probably one of the first books of its kind, Goldberg sets out to show the origins of religion through sexual appetite. This book is chalked full of wonderful information for those in doubt of religion's origins in sex and the worship there of. Sound ridiculous? Why would it sound ridiculous to worship the very act that brought us into existence? While I have studied and written in this area for several years, this book proposed many ideas I had not previously considered. The book from pages 35 to 190 are especially interesting, while the other pages are more generally lacking and just essays on what Goldberg believed to be the climate of the times, however inaccurate his interpretations are. Speaking of inaccuracies, this book is also chalk full with prejudice, misogynistic overtones, sexually suppressed psychological disorders and the ever pervasive "those poor primitives, we're so advanced and intelligent now" attitudes that it can be very hard to swallow at times. I'm glad to see that white society isn't as full of itself today as it was when Goldberg wrote this book in the late 1920's. African Americans, be warned. You will not come away from this book happy and enlightened on Africa's maternalistic / sex based religions, but rather angry at how stupid and filled with self serving ideas this white author had in mind with the writing of this book: "But minds, even black minds, are bent on thinking, and hearts ever long and yearn." BZ Goldberg - pg. 223 "There was an additional reason why the Baptist church came to gain a foothold among the Negroes. It was not only the first and real friend of the black man, but it was also nearer to his understanding. The Episcopal church could not keep the Negro flock sitting passively observing its elaborate ritual; nore was the primitive mind of the coloured worshipper affected by its prayers and devotions. Once the Negro came into the church he wanted to do something there. His religion must be ever active, never passive." BZ Goldberg - pg. 226 I could cite many more examples, but to do so would only upset the reader (see part 3, Ch. 4 Longing in the Dark). However, his attacks on the female aspect of life in anything other than sexually repressed and downtrodden with religious dogma is equally lacking in unbiasedness. Goldberg has no concept of matrilineal society and any reference to those societies is made with the same "those primitive minds" overtones. It is unfortunate that Goldberg had not read the works of Bronislaw Malinowski or Wilhelm Reich, which were available in his time. Today works like Dr. James DeMeo's Saharasia completely debunk these areas of misplaced academic attitude. Yet another problem I have with this book is that there are absolutely no footnotes or endnotes. He only cites the name of a source one time throughout the entire book, though he does provide a fairly extensive bibliography. Throughout this book he quotes, but fails to mention whom he's quoting. Furthermore, while this book does mention drunkenness, the author missed any associations to entheogenic substances in rite use other than wine and alcohol. He almost missed, except for once or twice, all associations to archaeoastronomy and astrotheology. Over all, this book will open your mind to the fact of sex in religion. Don't take his essays on history as fact, as they're not backed with any academic sourcing or footnotes - take much of what he says with a grain of salt. This book was never destined for greatness, but if you study theology it's a must read. I give it a whopping 3 stars.
2 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Sacred Fire Changed My Life,
By A Customer
This review is from: Sacred Fire: The Story of Sex in Religion (Paperback)
Very intellegent rational look at the psychology of the sacred. "The Sacred Fire"Changed my outlook on God and worship all together.
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