Magic and Religion

Andrew Lang, the Victorian polymath who translated Homer and founded the study of psychical research, turns his formidable critical eye on the origins of religion in this bracing collection of essays. Lang takes on the great anthropological theorists of his age, E.B. Tylor and J.G. Frazer chief among them, subjecting their grand theories about magic, animism, and the birth of religious belief to rigorous scrutiny. He challenges the notion that magic simply predates religion, questions how scholars reconstruct ancient belief systems from scant evidence, and probes the uncomfortable implications of theories about loan-gods borrowed across cultures. His critique of Frazer's work on the divine character of Christ is particularly sharp. These aren't mere book reviews; they are intellectual combat, one Victorian mind disputing the frameworks of his contemporaries. For anyone curious about how we got the modern study of religion, or who enjoys watching a brilliant scholar pick a fight, this remains a provocative and surprisingly entertaining read.