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James George Frazer

James George Frazer’s Followers (306)

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James George Frazer


Born
in Glasgow, Scotland
January 01, 1854

Died
May 07, 1941

Genre

Influences


Sir James George Frazer was a Scottish social anthropologist 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.

Average rating: 4.02 · 10,970 ratings · 672 reviews · 547 distinct worksSimilar authors
The Golden Bough

4.03 avg rating — 8,520 ratings — published 1890 — 605 editions
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The Golden Bough: A Study i...

3.97 avg rating — 763 ratings — published 1890 — 62 editions
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The Golden Bough: A New Abr...

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4.10 avg rating — 423 ratings14 editions
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Folklore in the Old Testame...

4.13 avg rating — 129 ratings — published 1919 — 92 editions
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The Golden Bough: A Study i...

4.15 avg rating — 108 ratings — published 1915 — 96 editions
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أدونيس أو تموز

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4.30 avg rating — 76 ratings — published 1982 — 23 editions
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The Magic Art and the Evolu...

4.08 avg rating — 73 ratings — published 1911 — 21 editions
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The New Golden Bough

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4.17 avg rating — 47 ratings10 editions
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Tabu

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3.24 avg rating — 59 ratings — published 1998 — 10 editions
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İnsan, Tanrı ve Ölümsüzlük

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3.80 avg rating — 46 ratings — published 2012 — 21 editions
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More books by James George Frazer…
Quotes by James George Frazer  (?)
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“Small minds cannot grasp great ideas; to their narrow comprehension, their purblind vision, nothing seems really great and important but themselves.”
Sir James George Frazer, The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion

“The propensity to excessive simplification is indeed natural to the mind of man, since it is only by abstraction and generalisation, which necessarily imply the neglect of a multitude of particulars, that he can stretch his puny faculties so as to embrace a minute portion of the illimitable vastness of the universe. But if the propensity is natural and even inevitable, it is nevertheless fraught with peril, since it is apt to narrow and falsify our conception of any subject under investigation. To correct it partially - for to correct it wholly would require an infinite intelligence - we must endeavour to broaden our views by taking account of a wide range of facts and possibilities; and when we have done so to the utmost of our power, we must still remember that from the very nature of things our ideas fall immeasurably short of the reality.”
James George Frazer, The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, Part 1

“By religion, then, I understand a propitiation or conciliation of powers superior to man which are believed to direct and control the course of nature and of human life. Thus defined, religion consists of two elements, a theoretical and a practical, namely, a belief in powers higher than man and an attempt to propitiate or please them. Of the two, belief clearly comes first, since we must believe in the existence of a divine being before we can attempt to please him. But unless the belief leads to a corresponding practice, it is not a religion but merely a theology; in the language of St. James, “faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.” In other words, no man is religious who does not govern his conduct in some measure by the fear or love of God. On the other hand, mere practice, divested of all religious belief, is also not religion. Two men may behave in exactly the same way, and yet one of them may be religious and the other not. If the one acts from the love or fear of God, he is religious; if the other acts from the love or fear of man, he is moral or immoral according as his behaviour comports or conflicts with the general good.”
James George Frazer, The Golden Bough

Polls

2nd Quarter 2018 (April-June) Long Read Poll

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, 1849, 882 pages
 
  63 votes, 15.9%

 
  62 votes, 15.6%

The Arabian Nights, 800, 1049 pages
 
  42 votes, 10.6%

 
  35 votes, 8.8%

The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu, 1008, 1182 pages
 
  29 votes, 7.3%

 
  28 votes, 7.1%

The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough, 1977, 692 pages
 
  23 votes, 5.8%

Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace, 1996, 1088 pages
 
  22 votes, 5.5%

 
  20 votes, 5.0%

The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio, 1353, 909 pages
 
  20 votes, 5.0%

The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing, 1962, 640 pages
 
  15 votes, 3.8%

 
  11 votes, 2.8%

The Histories by Herodotus, 400 BCE, 716 pages
 
  9 votes, 2.3%

Daniel Deronda by George Eliot, 1865, 796 pages
 
  6 votes, 1.5%

 
  5 votes, 1.3%

 
  4 votes, 1.0%

Five Smooth Stones by Ann Fairbairn, 1966, 933 pages
 
  3 votes, 0.8%

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