Girard and theology / Michael Kirwan
- Author
- Kirwan, Michael
- Published
- London ; New York : T & T Clark, [2009]
- Copyright Date
- ©2009
- Physical Description
- 1 online resource (vi, 165 pages).
Access Online
- Series
- Language Note
- English.
- Contents
- Introduction : 'the man on the train' -- René Girard : life and work -- The mimetic theory of René Girard -- The Innsbruck connection : dramatic theology -- A theological 'anthropophany' -- The drama of salvation -- 'Painting pictures on clouds' : the metaphors of atonement -- Girard and the Bible -- Political theology -- Views from the south -- Girard and the religions -- Girard and the theologians. and Introduction : 'the man on the train' -- Renγ̐ưe Girard : life and work -- The mimetic theory of Renγ̐ưe Girard -- The Innsbruck connection : dramatic theology -- A theological 'anthropophany' -- The drama of salvation -- 'Painting pictures on clouds' : the metaphors of atonement -- Girard and the Bible -- Political theology -- Views from the south -- Girard and the religions -- Girard and the theologians.
- Summary
- The work of the French American theorist René Girard (b.1923) has been highly influential in a wide variety of intellectual disciplines. One enthusiastic reviewer in Le Monde suggested that the year 1972 (when La Violence et le Sacré was published) should be marked with an asterisk in the annals of the humanities, including literature, theology and religious studies. There is a paradox here insofar as Girard is, strictly speaking, neither a philosopher nor a theologian. He was trained as a historian, but spent most of his academic career as a teacher of French literature. It is out of his study of great European literature (notably Proust, Dostoyevsky and Shakespeare) that what he calls 'mimetic theory' evolved. Mimetic theory is an account of how religion, culture and violence are interrelated. Its three principal parts consist of: an assertion of the 'mimetic' (i.e. imitated or derivative nature of desire); the function of 'scapegoating' as a means of achieving and maintaining social cohesion; the gospel revelation as the means by which these truths of the human condition are made known to us. A general introduction to his work will comprise an exposition of these three parts or phases in Girard's thinking. In Girard and Theology, Michael Kirwan looks at these ideas and their relevance to theology as well as their reception in the development of 'dramatic theology' and new theological concepts of atonement and sacrifice.
The work of the French American theorist Renγ̐ưe Girard (b.1923) has been highly influential in a wide variety of intellectual disciplines. One enthusiastic reviewer in Le Monde suggested that the year 1972 (when La Violence et le Sacrγ̐ưe was published) should be marked with an asterisk in the annals of the humanities, including literature, theology and religious studies. There is a paradox here insofar as Girard is, strictly speaking, neither a philosopher nor a theologian. He was trained as a historian, but spent most of his academic career as a teacher of French literature. It is out of his study of great European literature (notably Proust, Dostoyevsky and Shakespeare) that what he calls 'mimetic theory' evolved. Mimetic theory is an account of how religion, culture and violence are interrelated. Its three principal parts consist of: an assertion of the 'mimetic' (i.e. imitated or derivative nature of desire); the function of 'scapegoating' as a means of achieving and maintaining social cohesion; the gospel revelation as the means by which these truths of the human condition are made known to us. A general introduction to his work will comprise an exposition of these three parts or phases in Girard's thinking. In Girard and Theology, Michael Kirwan looks at these ideas and their relevance to theology as well as their reception in the development of 'dramatic theology' and new theological concepts of atonement and sacrifice. - Subject(s)
- ISBN
- 9780567496065 (electronic bk.)
0567496066 (electronic bk.)
9780567032263
0567032264
0567032272
9780567032270
1282868551
9781282868557
9786612868559
6612868554 - Bibliography Note
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 151-159) and index.
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