Frazer also tackles the weighty subject of creation myths, comparing the account in Genesis to a multitude of other primitive accounts that also describe God creating man out of clay and earth and breathing life into him, as well as the story of the fall of Man from the grace of Eden by deception and jealousy. For instance, the Hottentots of Africa substitute a hare for the serpent of Genesis, but the same sad outcome of death and misery quickly follows. There is also a fascinating section on the Mark of Cain, which details how many widely-separated cultures dealt with murder and bloodguilt. While these stories may today be looked on as superstitious and silly, Frazer points out that they nevertheless served the invaluable purpose of frightening man into following certain moral prerogatives. Without these stories and the religious laws that came from them, we would be a sorry lot indeed.

"The Great Flood and Other Myths and Legends of the Old Testament" is required reading for the spiritually inclined. Sir James George Frazer spent a lifetime compiling a mountain of research and some of the fruits of that mighty labor are offered here again in this timely Global Communications reprint. It's the kind of religious scholarship that both endures and enthralls nearly a century later.

For more information or to purchase this book, click on the title: The Great Flood and Other Myths and Legends of the Old Testament

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