Mimetic Theory and World Religions

Wolfgang Palaver is a Professor of Catholic Social Thought at the School of Catholic Theology at the University of Innsbruck, where he was also the Dean from 2013 to 2017.Richard Schenk, a Roman Catholic Priest of the Dominican Order, served as a Professor of Philosophy and Theology at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley from 1990 to 2011, and as the President of the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt from 2011 to 2014.

“Insightful, critical, and wide-ranging, this is the book we have been waiting for on Girard and world religions. But beyond mining the mimetic theory and comparing religious traditions in its light, these essays also illuminate philosophy, theology, and the secular. From limpid pools, via steep ascents, to commanding vistas, this collection points the way to rational, faithful, converting religious dialogue.”—Scott Cowdell, Research Professor, Public and Contextual Theology, Charles Sturt University, Canberra, Australia, and author of René Girard and Secular Modernity

• Contents Introduction Part 1. Mimetic Theory and Religion Neither Dawkins nor Durkheim: On René Girard’s Theory of Religion, by Jean-Pierre Dupuy Sacrifice in Hegel and Girard, by Anselm Tilman Ramelow Reason and Revelation: An Important Distinction?, by John Ranieri The Messianic Moment: Bergson and Girard, by Benoît Chantre Girard and Religion in the Age of Secularism, by Otto Kallscheuer Why Rousseau Cannot Laugh: Structuring Motif—“Achever,” by Jeremiah Alberg Girard and the Feminist Critique of Religion: Intimate Mediation in Kristeva and Girard, by Martha Reineke Part 2. Mimetic Theory, Christianity, and Interfaith (Interreligious) Dialogue Girard and World Religions: The State of the Question, by Robert J. Daly René Girard and World Religions, by Michael Kirwan The Ambivalence of Interreligious Historiography: Foreign and Domestic Narratives, by Richard Schenk Sacrifice as a Contested Concept between R. Schwager and R. Girard and Its Significance for Interreligious Dialogue, by Nikolaus Wandinger The Abrahamic Revolution, by Wolfgang Palaver The “Hellenic” Rationality of Interreligious Dialogue: René Girard, Simone Weil, and Pope Benedict XVI, by Ann Astell Part 3. Rivalry, Sacrifice, and World Religions Burning Desires, Burning Corpses: Girardian Reflections on Fire in Hinduism and Buddhism, by Brian Collins Girard and Hindu Sacrifice, by Noel Sheth The Roots of Violence: Society and the Individual in Buddhism and Girard, by Jacob Dalton and Alexander von Rospatt Religious Sacrifice, Social Scapegoating, and Self-Justification, by Ted Peters Judaism and the Exodus from Archaic Religion: Reading René Girard among the World Religions, by Sandor Goodhart Tawhid: The Oneness of God and the Desire for the Good, by Adam Ericksen Islam: Law and Violence (and Nonviolence), by Rüdiger Lohlker Girard and the Analogy of Desire, by James Alison Contributors Index