Grandpa Kewl

Book Review – The Sacred Fire, B. Z. Goldberg

The Story of Sex in Religion

Published in 1930 so the language is a bit odd perhaps and it would fail all kinds of “political correctness” tests

The last 2 sentences in the book:

“All religious ceremonies of today are expressions of that intimate relationship that love introduced into religion. They who know religion know that no greater love exists and that there is nothing more all-inclusive in life than the love of God.”

A most interesting and well-researched book. It kept me running searches on the internet to define terms, places and events. Well worth the effort.

Some gleanings:

P 119 – Men forced women not only to server him but to worship his virility as well.

P 121 – The horseshoe form as a crude representation of the vulva.

P 233 – Jesus and the accused adulterous woman

P 234 – Every animal is sad after coitis, especially man

P 269 – The virginity of Mary was accepted officially at the Council of Chalcedon in 451. I wonder if this place has anything to do with the mineral known as Chalcedony?

P 272 – The crusades gave birth to the orders of chivalry in which the pagan and Christian ideals attained a heroic harmony

P 273 – The object of chivalry was the protection of the weak, and woman symbolized the knight’s ideal.

P 275 – The mosque knows marriage but it still has to learn of love and romance.

P 295+ – An exceptional, altho dated, analysis of the relationship between the Negro and the Church.

P 301 – The God of the black Christians is what a god should be – a mere form for spiritual content, the container of the divine.

 

RECENT POSTS
Categories
Share this on