Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #172201 in Books
• Published on: 2004-12-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

Synopsis
This volume provides an introduction to the Life and thought of Rene Girard.

Customer Reviews

Girard made simple
Those of us who study Rene Girard know that his books often have the added ability to put us to sleep - even though they are filled with amazing insights and knowledge. Michael Kirwan has written the book we needed to read before we started on Girard. it is accurate, well written, and points the way to more difficult work.
In this time of violence, the work of Girard is essential to those thinking of a means to a peaceful world. Kirwan has certainly made the ideas accessible to us all. I also recommend anything by James Alison - Mimetic theory from the theologian creative mind becomes exciting and possible. One more recommendation - from my students - Watch "The Devil Wears Prada" - what one student referred to as the perfect movie to understand mimetic desire and resentment.

Good overview
Fr Kirwan's book is a good introduction to Rene Girard. Reading Girard's theory on mimetic contagion and scapegoating and its application to the Old and New Testament is a revelation. Girard sees the revelation of God in the Old and New Testament as not just another myth but rather the process by which God unfolds what has been going on in Human Culture since time began. For Girard, all human cultures are founded on a scapegoat who has been ritually murdered. Myth tells the foundational murder from the perspective of the vitimisers. Girard discovered that, by contrast, the Judeo-Christian scriptures do the opposite: they side with the victim.

However, having read Kirwan, it is always best to go back to Girard and let him speak for himself.