ermetikon

Victorian comparative religion surveyor

Frank S. Dobbins

1855 – 1916

Frank Stockton Dobbins was an American writer best known for his 1883 survey Error's Chains: How Forged and Broken, a wide-ranging comparative study of world religions, superstitions, myths, and non-Christian belief systems. Published with contributions from prominent Orientalists, the work offered Victorian readers a systematic examination of global religious traditions from a broadly Protestant perspective.

Comparative ReligionSacrificial ritesReligionMythologyFolk MagicAbrahamicMarriage customs (of various cultures)Amulets and charmsWestern Scholarly / MissionaryComparative study of religious phenomenaFolklore & SuperstitionIdolatry StudiesReligious rituals

Archive Paths

Folk Magic

Folk magic texts and practical traditions covering charms, cures, household rites, prayers, talismans, and vernacular magical practice.

Comparative Religion

Comparative religion texts on ritual, myth, sacrifice, belief, ancient religion, and cross-cultural theories of sacred practice.

Comparative Mythology

Comparative mythology texts on gods, hero cycles, symbolic patterns, classical myth, Indo-European myth, and cross-cultural mythic structures.

Works in the Archive1 volume

Error's Chains

Error's Chains

1883

Intermediate

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Charles Mackay1814–1889Popular delusion history and crowd psychologyHeinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim1486–1535Renaissance occult philosophy and ceremonial magicMax Kemmerich1876–1932German cultural-historical esoteric writerWilhelm Ludwig Wekhrlin1739–1792German Enlightenment anti-clerical journalism

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