The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (Vol. 1&2)

"The Golden Bough" in 2 volumes is a wide-ranging, comparative study of mythology and religion, written by the Scottish anthropologist Sir James George Frazer that made a substantial influence on contemporary European literature and thought. 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. This carefully crafted e-artnow ebook is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents.

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James George Frazer (1854-1941) was a Scottish social anthropologist and folklorist influential in the early stages of the modern studies of mythology and comparative religion. His most famous work, The Golden Bough (1890), documents and details the similarities among magical and religious beliefs around the globe. Frazer posited that human belief progressed through three stages: primitive magic, replaced by religion, in turn replaced by science.