The Sacred Fire: Contents

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

	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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