Moses And Monotheism - by Sigmund Freud - PDF ebook

Download Moses And Monotheism - by Sigmund Freud - PDF ebook

Moses And Monotheism 

Moses And Monotheism - by Sigmund Freud 

Review by Tony Sunderland

Moses and Monotheism is Sigmund Freud's last book and was only published after his death. It contains a concise summary and revision of his major theories but even more importantly he expresses his true beliefs about the history of the Judeo/Christian religions. Freud believed that the origins of Judaism begin with the Egyptian heretic king Akhenaten.

 He was so concerned about this premise that he believed he could be assassinated by the Catholic church. I understand that many of Freud's teaching have been discarded however, his views on history are unique and depart from mainstream orthodoxy. His work on patriarchal dominance in ancient societies is particularly insightful.

some quotes from the book :

“If our research leads us to a result that reduces religion to the status of a neurosis of mankind and explains its grandiose powers in the same way as we should neurotic obsession in our individual patients, then we may be sure we shall incur in this country the greatest resentment of the powers that be.”
“We live in very remarkable times. We find with astonishment that progress has concluded an alliance with barbarism.”

“Religion is an attempt to get control over the sensory world, in which we are placed, by means of the wish-world, which we have developed inside us as a result of biological and psychological necessities. But it cannot achieve its end. Its doctrines carry with them the stamp of the times in which they originated, the ignorant childhood days of the human race. Its consolations deserve no trust. Experience teaches us that the world is not a nursery. The ethical commands, to which religion seeks to lend its weight, require some other foundations instead, for human society cannot do without them, and it is dangerous to link up obedience to them with religious belief. If one attempts to assign to religion its place in man’s evolution, it seems not so much to be a lasting acquisition, as a parallel to the neurosis which the civilized individual must pass through on his way from childhood to maturity.”

CONTENTS


PART I

MOSES AN EGYPTIAN - - - - n

PART II

IF MOSES WAS AN EGYPTIAN 29

PART III

MOSES, HIS PEOPLE, AND MONOTHEISTIC

RELIGION 89

PREFATORY NOTES 89

SECTION I:

1. The Historical Premisses 95

2. Latency Period and Tradition - 107

3. The Analogy - - - 116

4. Application - - - 129

5. Difficulties - - - - 148

SECTION II:

1. Summary - - - - - 163

2. The People of Israel - - 166

3. The Great Man - - - 169

4. The Progress in Spirituality - 176

5 . Renunciation versus Gratification 182

6. The Truth in Religion - 193

7. The Return of the Repressed - 197

8. The Historical Truth - - - 201

9. The Historical Development - 207

GLOSSARY 217

INDEX - - - 219


Author: Sigmund Freud
 Publication Date: 1939
Translator: Katherine Jones

Download 14 MB PDF book