(Animism) Primitive Jewish Culture (E.B. Tylor)

Jewish culture and Judaism spot E.B. Tylor’s monumental Primitive Culture.

There is no special theory of Jewish culture or Judaism in Primitive Culture.

Judaism is nothing special, just one more dataset in the ethnographic record.

Primitive Judaism is folklore

Primitive Judism is not monotheism, not ethics.

Primitive Judaism is animism

Monotheism is animism.

These are the Jewish data in Primitive Culture:

Here in Vol. I

1, p.86, chad gadya

1, p.189 hallel

1, p.295, death and pestilence take the personal form of destroying angel

1, p.431 soul and blood

1, p.433, nefesh, ruach, neshama

1, p. 435

1, p.441; kabbalah and Vedanta

1, p.446 Samuel’s ghost

Here in Vol. 2

2, p.14 kabbalah transmigration of souls

2, p.68, 81-2 sheol, gehenna, Babylonia,

2, p.71, 78 paradise, firmament

2, p.73 heaven, bright vague thought

2, p.81 Sheol

2, p.166; stone pillars

2, p.196; jews and mulim believe that dogs howl at angel of death

2, p.330 yetzer, Persian influence

2, p.355, supreme god, jews today and nationality among monothests

2, p.386, sacrifice in ancient Israel

2, p.440, lustration, water, Levitcus

Leviticus gets the last word, just like it got the first word in the traditional heder.

Readers of Hasidism might take special note in relation to the term chiyut (life-force)

About zjb

Zachary Braiterman is Professor of Religion in the Department of Religion at Syracuse University. His specialization is modern Jewish thought and philosophical aesthetics. http://religion.syr.edu
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2 Responses to (Animism) Primitive Jewish Culture (E.B. Tylor)

  1. dmf says:

    some lurking remains of polytheism/paganism?

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