Reproduction of the original: The Belief in Inmortality and the Worship of the Dead by J.G Frazer

The author calls attention to the importance of the Vedic domestic ritual codes in the creation of what has come to be known as "classical Hinduism."

Of all the many forms which natural religion has assumed none probably has exerted so deep and far-reaching an influence on human life as the belief in immortality and the worship of the dead. This first volume of Frazer's book comprises the Gifford Lectures he gave at the University of St. Andrews in the years 1911 and 1912, and deals with the belief in immortality and the worship of the dead, as these are found among the aborigines of Australia, the Torres Straits Islands, New Guinea, and Melanesia. In the second volume, the author describes the corresponding belief and worship among the Polynesians, a people related to their neighbors the Melanesians by language, if not by blood._x000D_ Contents:_x000D_ Introduction_x000D_ The Savage Conception of Death_x000D_ Myths of the Origin of Death_x000D_ The Belief in Immortality among the Aborigines of Central Australia_x000D_ The Belief in Immortality among the other Aborigines of Australia_x000D_ The Belief in Immortality among the Natives of the Torres Straits Islands_x000D_ The Belief in Immortality among the Natives of British New Guinea_x000D_ The Belief in Immortality among the Natives of German New Guinea_x000D_ The Belief in Immortality among the Natives of German and Dutch New Guinea_x000D_ The Belief in Immortality among the Natives of Southern Melanesia (New Caledonia)_x000D_ The Belief in Immortality among the Natives of Central Melanesia_x000D_ The Belief in Immortality among the Natives of Northern and Eastern Melanesia_x000D_ The Belief in Immortality among the Natives of Eastern Melanesia (Fiji)_x000D_ The Belief in Immortality among the Maoris_x000D_ The Belief in Immortality among the Tongans_x000D_ The Belief in Immortality among the Samoans_x000D_ The Belief in Immortality among the Hervey Islanders_x000D_ The Belief in Immortality among the Society Islanders_x000D_ The Belief in Immortality among the Marquesans_x000D_ The Belief in Immortality among the Hawaiians

Living with the Dead presents a detailed analysis of ancestor worship in Egypt, using a diverse range of material, both archaeological and anthropological, to examine the relationship between the living and the dead. Iconography and terminology associated with the deceased reveal indistinct differences between the blessedness and malevolence and that the potent spirit of the dead required constant propitiation in the form of worship and offerings. A range of evidence is presented for mortuary cults that were in operation throughout Egyptian history and for the various places, such as the house, shrines, chapels and tomb doorways, where the living could interact with the dead. The private statue cult, where images of individuals were venerated as intermediaries between people and the Gods is also discussed. Collective gatherings and ritual feasting accompanied the burial rites with separate, mortuary banquets serving to maintain ongoing ritual practices focusing on the deceased. Something of a contradiction in attitudes is expressed in the evidence for tomb robbery, the reuse of tombs and funerary equipment and the ways in which communities dealt with the death and burial of children and others on the fringe of society. This significant study furthers our understanding of the complex relationship the ancient Egyptians had with death and with their ancestors; both recently departed and those in the distant past.

his paper on primitive burial customs placed the study of the belief in immortality and the worship of the dead in a new light. He has now given us the first instalment of a comprehensive survey of the whole institution. Psychical and ceremonial though it is, the doctrine and cult form an institution as deserving of the name as political government. The belief in some degree of immortality has been practically universal, and is still a "last infirmity of noble mind"; some form of "worship,"fear of the ghost or actual veneration of the deified ancestor, has accompanied the belief in the case of the majority of peoples. The author acutely points out, for the consideration of "historians and economists, as well as of moralists and theologians,"that the direct consequences of this moral institution have been grave and far-reaching, such as no mere sentiment could have produced, not only in primitive but in civilised history. Natural theology, and the three modes of handling it, the dogmatic, the philosophical, and the historical.

A sweeping, authoritative, and entertaining history of the Christian cult of the saints from its origin to the Reformation From its earliest centuries, one of the most notable features of Christianity has been the veneration of the saints—the holy dead. This ambitious history tells the fascinating story of the cult of the saints from its origins in the second-century days of the Christian martyrs to the Protestant Reformation. Robert Bartlett examines all of the most important aspects of the saints—including miracles, relics, pilgrimages, shrines, and the saints' role in the calendar, literature, and art. The book explores the central role played by the bodies and body parts of saints, and the special treatment these relics received. From the routes, dangers, and rewards of pilgrimage, to the saints' impact on everyday life, Bartlett's account is an unmatched examination of an important and intriguing part of the religious life of the past—as well as the present.