The Golden Bough

The study of biblical text is bound to raise questions. Did this actually happen? How did these improbable events provide substance for belief systems that have prospered for thousands of years? What were these people thinking? James George Frazer never writes about the bible in his publication, “The Golden Bough,” but his study of thought provides groundwork for anthropologists for years to come. His definitions of magic and religion offer a basis as to which one can use to classify these bible stories. Based on his publication, it is evident that James George Frazer would acknowledge the Moses story as a direct depiction of religion.

In “The Golden Bough” Frazer delves into the differences between magic, religion, and science. By his definition,

The following excerpt from Exodus directly relates to the definition of religion that Frazer provides in his publication.

And as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the Israelites, they looked toward the wilderness, and the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. The Lord spoke to Moses and said, “I have heard the complaining of the Israelites; say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’”

The assumption that God is responsible for a change in conditions directly relates to Frazer’s definition of religion. The text depicts a change in nature – something that is impossible in science without a law to uphold such change – that is directly impacted by the actions of the Children of Israel. Frazer’s principle that religion represents variation in nature, stimulated by the appeasement of Gods, is a near parallel to this excerpt. While one may argue that this text represents magic, based on Frazer’s definition of magic it is evidently religion. Frazer is adamant that magic abides by an assumption that there are immutable laws of nature which cannot change. Because God was the stimulant for changes in nature, it is clearly not magic. Furthermore, it is apparent that the story represents religion to the highest