Magic and Religion. Lang Andrew

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СКАЧАТЬ Frazer's remark that there are 'some faint beginnings of religion' in Southern Australia, but that 'traces of a higher faith, where they occur, are probably sometimes due to European influence,' though the people, Mr. Tylor says, were in all things so 'saturated with the most vivid belief in souls, demons, and deities' – 'at their discovery'? There is no use in building a theory of the origin of religion on the case of Australia till we are at least told about the 'concurring testimony of a crowd of observers.' That Mr. Frazer has some reason for disregarding the testimonies which I have cited, that he must have grounds for doubting their validity, I feel assured. But the grounds for the doubt are not apparent, and to state them would make Mr. Frazer's abstention intelligible.

      IV

      THE ORIGIN OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH

      Among the many recent theories concerning the origin of religion, certainly the most impressive is Mr. Frazer's hypothesis as to the origin of the belief in the divinity of Christ. Unlike several modern speculations, Mr. Frazer's is based on an extraordinary mass of erudition. We are not put off with vague and unvouched-for statements, or with familiar facts extracted from the collections of Mr. Tylor, Lord Avebury, and Mr. Herbert Spencer. Mr. Frazer does not collect knowledge, as his Babylonian kings are supposed by him to have been sacrificed – by proxy. No writer is so erudite, and few are so exact in their references. While venturing to differ from Mr. Frazer, I must often, as it were, make use of his own ammunition in this war. Let me say sincerely that I am not pitting my knowledge or industry against his. I rather represent the student who has an interest in these subjects, and peruses 'The Golden Bough,' not as 'the general reader' does, but with some care, and with some verification of the citations and sources.

      It is first necessary to state, as briefly as possible, Mr. Frazer's hypothesis as to the origin of the belief in the Divinity of our Lord, or, at least, as to what he thinks a very powerful factor in the evolution of that creed.

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      1

      Golden Bough, i. xvii, 1900.

      2

      Golden Bough, i. xxi., 1900.

      3

      G. B. i. 77.

      4

      Tylor, Prim. Cult.

1

Golden Bough, i. xvii, 1900.

2

Golden Bough, i. xxi., 1900.

3

G. B. i. 77.

4

Tylor, Prim. Cult. ii. 309, citing Thevet, Singularitez de la France Antarctique, Paris, 1558, ch. 77.

5

Journal of Anthropological Institute, Oct. – Dec. 1900 and N.S. II., Nos. 1, 2, p. 85.

6

Max Müller, Hibbert Lectures, p. 16.

7

Natives of Central Australia, London, 1899.

8

With a case of ignoring the evidence I deal in the following essay, Magic and Religion.

9

Op. cit. p. 284.

10

Le Jeune, Relations, 1633, p. 17.

11

Ibid., 1637, p. 49.

12

Prim. Cult. ii. 310.

13

Historic of Travaile into Virginia. By William Strachey, Gent, (a companion of Captain Smith). Hakluyt Society. Date circ.1612-1616. See Myth, Ritual, and Religion, i. xx-xxxix, 1899.

14

Prim. Cult. ii. p. 308.

15

Prim. Cult. ii. pp. 309, 310 (1873 and 1891).

16

Prim. Cult. ii. p. 308.

17

Howitt, Journal of Anthropological Institute, 1884, 1885.

18

United States Exploring Expedition. Ethnology and Philology p. 110.

19

Ridley, Kamilaroi Vocabularies, p. 17 (1875). Also in an earlier Grammar, 1866.

20

The Life and Adventures of William Buckley, 1852, pp. 40-48.

21

Howitt, J. A. I., 1885. The Kurnai tribe.

22

Backhouse, Narrative of a Visit to the Australian Colonies, 1843, p. 555. Compare Threlkeld, An Australian Language, 1892, p. 47. This is a reprint of Mr. Threlkeld's early works of 1831-1857.

23

Op. cit. p. 47.

24

Journal Anthrop. Inst., 1885.

25

He was supposed to live on an island, on fish which came at his call, probably a childlike answer to a tedious questioner.

26

Exploring Expedition of U.S., 1846, p. 110.

27

Gurre Kamilaroi, or Kamilaroi Sayings. Sydney, 1856. It is a scarce little book, with illustrations and Bible stories.

28

Howitt, Journal Anthrop. Institute, ut supra.

29

Greenway, J. A. I. vii. p. 243.

30

Collins, Account of the Colony of New South Wales, 1798, vol. ii. p. 544.

31

J. A. I.. xvi. pp. 49, 50.

32

Op. cit., 1885, p. 54.

33

For concealment from women and children, see Howitt, J. A. I. xiii. p. 192.

34

Dawson, Aborigines of Australia, p. 49.

35

J. A. I. xiii. 1885, p. 142.

36

Op. cit. p. 194.

37

Two volumes. СКАЧАТЬ