Violence, Desire, and the Sacred, Volume 2: René Girard and Sacrifice in Life, Love and Literature

304 Pages·2014·2.11 MB·English

by  Scott Cowdell

Violence, Desire, and the Sacred
Volume 2

Violence, Desire, and the Sacred
Volume 2
René Girard and Sacrifice in
Life, Love, and Literature
Edited by
Scott Cowdell, Chris Fleming, and Joel Hodge
Bloomsbury Academic
An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Inc
1385 Broadway 50 Bedford Square
New York London
NY 10018 WC1B 3DP
USA UK
www.bloomsbury.com
Bloomsbury is a registered trade mark of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
First published 2014
© Scott Cowdell, Chris Fleming, Joel Hodge and Contributors, 2014
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or
any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the
publishers.
No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining
from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury or
the author.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN: 978-1-6235-6306-6
Typeset by Fakenham Prepress Solutions, Fakenham, Norfolk NR21 8NN
For René Girard

Contents
Contributors ix
Foreword, Paul Dumouchel xiii
Introduction xvii
1 Mimesis, Violence, and the Sacred: An Overview of the Thought of René
Girard Chris Fleming 1
Part One Politics
2 Abolition or Transformation? The Political Implications of René Girard’s
Theory of Sacrifice Wolfgang Palaver 17
3 Sacrifice in the Democratic Age: Rivalry and Crisis in Recent Australian
Politics Joel Hodge 31
4 Mimetic Theory and Hermeneutic Communism Paolo Diego Bubbio 45
5 War on Terror: The Escalation to Extremes Sarah Drews Lucas 57
6 Scapegoating the Guilty: Girard and International Criminal
Law Nathan Kensey 67
Part Two Cultural and Textual Analysis
7 The Scapegoating of Cheerleading and Cheerleaders Emma A. Jane 83
8 “Things Hidden”: On Shame, Violence, and Concealment in
Autobiography Rosamund Dalziell 101
9 “That False Paradise”: Desire, Sacrifice, and the American Dream in
Jeffrey Eugenides’ The Virgin Suicides Carly Osborn 115
Part Three Theology
10 Hearing the Cry of the Poor: René Girard and St. Augustine on the
Psalms Ann W. Astell 133
viii Contents
11 Sacrifice, Pagan and Christian Robert J. Daly SJ 147
12 Living Faithfully “Where Danger Threatens”: Christian Discernment
According to John Cassian and René Girard Kevin Lenehan 161
Part Four Psychology
13 A Psychologist Venturing Across an Interdisciplinary Bridge to Mimetic
Theory and Its Applications Marie R. Joyce 175
14 Internet Offenders as Girardian Scapegoats Bruce A. Stevens 183
Part Five Applied Mimetic Theory
15 A Girardian Reading of the Evagrian “Eight Kinds of Evil
Thoughts” Draško Dizdar 195
16 Forsaking Our Violent Ways: A Girardian Reflection on the Sermon on
the Mount as a Path to a New Social Order Peter Stork 207
17 Girard’s Interdividual Psychology Applied to Pastoral Leadership in
Churches Bruce Wilson 221
18 Ecclesial Roots of Clergy Sexual Abuse: A Girardian
Reflection Scott Cowdell 233
19 Practical Reflections on Nonviolent Atonement Michael Hardin 247
Glossary of Key Girardian Terms 259
Further Reading 263
Index 271
Contributors
Ann W. Astell (PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison) is Professor of Theology at
the University of Notre Dame, Indiana. She is the author of six books, including Joan
of Arc and Sacrificial Authorship (University of Notre Dame Press, 2003) and Eating
Beauty: The Eucharist and the Spiritual Arts of the Middle Ages (Cornell University
Press, 2006). She is also the editor or co-editor of six books, including Sacrifice,
Scripture, and Substitution: Readings in Ancient Judaism and Christianity (University
of Notre Dame Press, 2011).
Paolo Diego Bubbio (PhD, University of Turin, Italy) is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy
in the School of Humanities and Communication Arts at the University of Western
Sydney, Australia. He is the author of Il Sacrificio Intellettuale: René Girard e la Filosofia
della Religione (Intellectual Sacrifice: René Girard and the Philosophy of Religion; Il
Quadrante, 1999) and Il Sacrificio: a Ragione e il suo Altrove (Sacrifice: Reason and Its
Other; Città Nuova, 2004), and the co-editor of two other books.
Scott Cowdell (PhD, University of Queensland) is an Anglican priest, currently
Associate Professor in the Public and Contextual Theology Research Centre (PACT)
at Charles Sturt University, Canberra, Australia, and Canon Theologian of the
Canberra–Goulburn Diocese. He is the author of seven books, most recently Abiding
Faith: Christianity Beyond Certainty, Anxiety, and Violence (Cascade, 2009) and René
Girard and Secular Modernity: Christ, Culture, and Crisis (University of Notre Dame
Press, 2013). He is also Founding President of the Australian Girard Seminar.
Robert J. Daly SJ (Dr Theol, Julius Maximilians Universität, Würzburg) is Professor
Emeritus of Theology at Boston College. Specializing in liturgical theology, his
recent publications include Sacrifice Unveiled: The True Meaning of Christian
Sacrifice (Continuum, 2009).
Rosamund Dalziell (PhD, Australian National University) is an Associate Researcher
in the Public and Contextual Theology Research Centre (PACT) at Charles Sturt
University, Canberra, Australia. Her publications include Shameful Autobiographies:
Shame in Contemporary Australian Autobiographies and Culture (Melbourne
University Press, 1999).
Draško Dizdar (PhD, University of Queensland) is Prior of Emmaus monastic
community in Tasmania, Australia (affiliated with the ecumenical monastero di Bose,