The Golden Bough

bigot

A must read for anyone interested in world religions!

Methodologiquement imparfait mais neanmoins brillant. Puissant surtout par son ampleur.

If Darwin is the father of evolutionary theory, Frazer is the father cultural evolution theory. Just like Darwin, Frazer travelled the world searching for a common thread between different cultures of the world. If you've ever wondered why many religions have myths and stories that seem similar like a great flood or a resurrection this book may give you some answers.
The conclusion that one may draw after reading this book is that cultures evolve by stages. The scary thing is that we can also then conlcude that some cultures are more evolved than others.

One of the books that has influenced my thoughts regarding both spiritual and practical aspect of religion in the most beautiful, picturesque and lively manner. It may not have all the necessary answers but it certainly motivated me to seek further...

This book is an amazing read. If you're interested in theology in general, or are in any way interested about psychology, it would be in your best interests to at least skim over it, as it brings a lot of... closure, if you will, to many unanswered questions. (E.g: "Why is it that there are so many demons in catholic doctrine?" etc)

This book is veritable attic full of folklore and ritual. But, like an attic, it is sometimes dusty and overstuffed. First published in 1922 and hardly out of print since, the author states it began as a study of a curious practice in a grove near Nemi, Italy in classical times of the killing of a local divine wood king/priest by his successor. His studies lead him to research one thing after another, which eventually became a multi-volume treatise on many of the ritual and folk practices of the world, especially in regards to gods of trees, vegetation and grain, and other resurrection myths.

At times it is a difficult read as the author does not have the current sense of treating other cultures as different, rather than “lesser”, than ours, but despite repeated references to “savages” he presents practices and customs rather fairly and non-judgementally. It’s only fault lies in it’s length, perhaps, though this may be attributed to modern short attention spans, though it does seem to provide so many examples of a practice that I often thought five examples would have sufficed where he used twenty or more.

A curious thing, when I read this any shred of belief I might have had left in the Christ mythos was shattered with the detailed descriptions of other gods of resurrection. Undoubtedly without meaning to, Frazer presents such a clear picture of the rites and myths concerning Adonis, Attis, Osiris, among others, that you realize how little of the Christ myth (if anything) is original. This, of course, is not to disparage Christian believers, as my gods come as much out of myth as theirs, and so it is just as valid, but even when one has been a pagan as long as I have, there still remains some shred, I think, of a person that wonders if the original religion of our childhood might not be valid.

In any case, this is a long and interesting read. I originally picked it up after encountering numerous references in other pagan texts over the years to “Frazer’s theory of the Divine King”, etc., and finally wanted to read the work for myself. I don’t regret it, and I don’t think you will either, if you approach this book with patience when you have some time to devote to it.

Amazing study. It shows its age, but as long as you keep that in mind, it's all good.

An abridged version of Frazer's massive, multi-volume study, and more than enough for anyone besides specialists and Frazer scholars. Frazer's dubious shoddy scholarship and backwards ethnocentricism have been adequately treated by the critics, but his synthesis of a huge range of material into the title thesis is not only an impressive feat of literary criticsm, but paved the way for such syncretic approaches to folklore as that of Jung, Campbell, et.al.

loved it ! made me believe magic is not lost yet and our world might still have a chance :)