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The Sacred Fire, by B.Z. Goldberg, [1930], at sacred-texts.com


p. vii

CONTENTS

 


BOOK ONE

 

 


FAR AWAY AND LONG AGO

 

 


THE EROTIC MOTIVE IN PRIMITIVE RELIGION

 

CHAPTER

 

PAGE

I.

FAR AWAY AND LONG AGO

3

 

The beginnings of love and religion in the life of early man—Their intricate relationship—The subject of this study.

 


II.

PRIMITIVE MAN IN LOVE AND FAITH

11

 

The preoccupation with sex in primitive society—Primitive art and sex—The age of sexual promiscuity—Social limitations on the creative function—The protest against these limitations and religion as an outlet for the pent-up emotions—Religion as the liberator of primitive man—Fear the father of the religious urge in man—The notions of "doubles," ghosts, and demons—Magic and the birth of the gods—The legend of Nathuram—The multiplicity of gods and the gods of generation—The factors that made for the supremacy of the generative divinities—The story of the Sleeping Beauty.

 


III.

IN THE FOUNDRY OF THE GODS

33

 

THE STORY OF THE GENERATIVE DIVINITIES

 

 

Eternal light the universal symbol of life eternal—The primitive conception of the generative divinity as the sex organs in union—Sacred images of the lingam and yoni throughout the world—The development of separate gods of generation, male and female—The marriage of the generative divinities—

 

 

p. viii

 

CHAPTER

 

PAGE

 

[paragraph continues] Man's share in the divine marriages—The religious tendency to elevate and spiritualize love.

 


IV.

THE SPIRIT OF LOVE IN GOD AND MAN

54

 

THE EROTIC WORSHIP OF THE GENERATIVE DIVINITIES

 

 

The generative gods in the divine family on Mt. Olympus—The worship of each god according to his service to mankind—The worship of the generative divinities not only pleasing to the gods but pleasurable as well to man—Sex worship a release from taboos and social restrictions—Sexual promiscuity in the worship of the generative divinities—The sacrifice of the firstborn—Circumcision and defloration as sacrifices to the generative divinities—The sacrifice of coition—The temple priestess in sexual sacrifice—The life and career of the temple priestess—Homosexual sacrifices to the generative divinity—The revolt against sex in the legend of Amathonte and the story of Siva.

 


V.

LOVE'S HIDDEN WAYS

96

 

The concrete symbol for the abstract idea—The efficacy of the symbol—The primitive concept of life and its symbolism—The sun and fire as gods of generation—The bull and the goat as generative divinities—The serpent as an erotic symbol—The lingam and yoni symbols in their various forms—The symbolism of the female principle—The divine male symbols—The tree in ancient and modern religious symbolism.

 

 


BOOK TWO

 

 


IN THE TEMPLE OF THE GODS

 

 


THE WORSHIP OF THE GENERATIVE DIVINITIES

 


I.

A DAY WITH BAAL

143


II.

A NIGHT WITH APHRODITE

159

 

p. ix

 

CHAPTER

 

PAGE

III.

AT A DIONYSIAN MYSTERY

179


IV.

TWILIGHT WITH MOLOCH

18 5


V.

THE DANCE OF THE SAKTAS

189

 


BOOK THREE

 

 


IN THE HOUSE OF THE LORD

 

 


THE EROTIC MOTIVE IN THE MONOTHEISTIC RELIGIONS OF TODAY

 

 


PROLOGUE. IN THE HOUSE OF THE LORD

197

 

The contrasting views of life in the pagan and monotheistic religions—The attitudes toward sex in the two religions—The position of woman in the pagan and Christian worlds—The suppression of love and its deliverance through symbolism.

 


I.

LOVE IN THE SYNAGOGUE

202

 

The attitude toward sex in the Old Testament—Procreation as the high purpose in life—The attitude toward woman—Relics of primitive erotic rites in the Jewish religion—The rite of circumcision and of redeeming the firstborn—Purification laws for women—Erotic elements in Jewish mysticism—Erotic symbols in the synagogue.

 


II.

ROMANCE IN THE CHURCH

229

 

Romance in the careers of the founders of the Christian faith and in their attitude toward sex—The attitude of Jesus toward the sex life and woman as compared with that of Paul—The Pauline suppression of the sexual impulse—The escape of sex through spiritual love—The spiritual love of Paul and Thecla—Spiritual love as an institution in the Church—The relationship between the sexes in the early Christian communities—The

 

 

p. x

 

CHAPTER

 

PAGE

 

[paragraph continues] Agapæ—Spiritual marriages between monks and nuns—The erotic aspect of Christian mysticism—Romance in the lives of the leading mystics—Erotic elements in sacred Christian art—The Virgin Mary as an elevating influence.

 


III.

MARRIAGE IN THE MOSQUE

275

 

The place of woman in the Mohammedan faith—The prophet and his attitude toward sex and woman—The Moslem heaven as a place of supreme sexual pleasures—The Sufis and their attitude toward love—The Mohammedan saints and the erotic phase of Mohammedan mysticism.

 


IV.

LONGING IN THE DARK

289

 

The erotic motive in the Christian religion among the Negroes—The religion of the black man as compared with the faith of his white brother—The primitive religion that the Negro brought with him from Africa—The black man's first steps in the white man's church—Psychological differences between the white and the black Christian faith—The elements of longing and love in the Negro religion—The revival as a release from sexual suppression—The erotic symbolism of the primitive religion carried over to Christianity—The strange mixture in Voodoo.

 

 


BOOK FOUR

 

 


THE SPIRIT OP REVOLT IN RELIGION

 

 


THE SEXUAL MOTIVE IN SECTARIANISM

 


I.

REBELS IN THE FAITH

319

 

The liberator of a people later its oppressor—Korah's revolt against Moses—The spirit of revolt in every generation—Religion's inception in spontaneity—Social aspect of religion—The non-conformist as rebel and as ruler.

 

 

p. xi

 

CHAPTER

 

PAGE

II.

LOVE THE FORCE OF REBELLION

326

 

Various causes underlying religious revolts—All religious insurrections indirectly related to sex—Reasons for the erotic element in religious revolts—Leaders in revolts highly sexed individuals—Reversion to religion in its original form.

 


III.

THE REVOLT AGAINST RELIGION

330

 

Sexual indulgence among the Nikolaites—The Mormon church and its relation to the sex life.

 


IV.

THE REVOLT AGAINST GOD

336

 

The devil worshippers—The devil elevated to a divine position by Manes—Sexual gratification in the religion of the Manichæans—The Messalians and sex—The erotic element in witchcraft.

 


V.

THE REVOLT AGAINST MAN

342

 

Sects denying human nature—Asceticism—Physical torture—Flagellants—Self-destructive sects in Russia—The Skopzi—Suicide a form of self-destruction—Murder and self-destruction basic doctrine of Thugs—Causes of such perversions in religion.

 

 


EPILOGUE. GOD'S WAY IN LOVE

359

 

The result of the close relationship between sex and religion—The story of Wandawind—What religion did for love—What love contributed to religion.

 

 


BIBLIOGRAPHY

369

 


INDEX

377

 


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