Moses and Monotheism
Moses and Monotheism (German: Der Mann Moses und die monotheistische Religion, lit. 'The man Moses and the monotheist religion') is a 1939 book about the origins of monotheism written by Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis. It is Freud's final original work and it was completed in the summer of 1939 when Freud was, effectively speaking, already "writing from his death-bed." It appeared in English translation the same year.
Cover of the first edition | |
| Author | Sigmund Freud |
|---|---|
| Original title | Der Mann Moses und die monotheistische Religion |
| Translator | Katerine Jones |
| Language | German |
| Subject | Egyptology Monotheism |
| Publisher | Hogarth Press |
Publication date | 1939 |
Published in English | 1939 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 223 (first edition) |
| OCLC | 1065146858 |
| 221.92 | |
| LC Class | BS580 .M6 |
| Preceded by | Civilization and Its Discontents |
Original text | Der Mann Moses und die monotheistische Religion at Project Gutenberg |
| Translation | Moses and Monotheism at Internet Archive |
Moses and Monotheism shocked many of its readers because of Freud's suggestion that Moses was actually born into an Egyptian household, rather than being born as a Hebrew slave and merely raised in the Egyptian royal household as a ward (as recounted in the Book of Exodus). Freud proposed that Moses had been a priest of Akhenaten who fled Egypt after the pharaoh's death and perpetuated monotheism through a different religion, and that he was murdered by his followers, who then via reaction formation revered him and became irrevocably committed to the monotheistic idea he represented.