Mimesis and atonement: Rene Girard and the doctrine of salvation
- New York Bloomsbury Academic 2017
- xv, 185 p.
Table of contents
List of Contributors Preface Foreword Rowan Williams (Master, Magdalene College, The University of Cambridge, UK) 1 Traversing Hostility: The sine qua non of Any Christian Talk about Atonement James Alison (Imitatio Foundation) 2 Jewish Atonement and the Book of Jonah: From Sacrifice to Non-Violence Vanessa Avery (Webster University, USA) 3 Orthodox Debates in the Twentieth Century on the Question of Atonement Antoine Arjakovsky (Collège des Bernardins, Paris, France) 4 Wright, Wrong and Wrath: Apocalypse in Paul and in Girard Stephen Finamore (Bristol Baptist College, UK) 5 Paul and Girard Agonistes: Against Theological Violence Anthony Bartlett (Syracuse University, USA) 6 Salvation through Forgiveness or through the Cross? Raymund Schwager's Dramatic Solution to a False Alternative Nikolaus Wandinger (University of Innsbruck, Austria) 7 'Strategies of Grace': Mimesis as Conversion in Girard and in Theology Michael Kirwan(Heythrop Institute, University of London, UK) 8 Violence Unveiled: Understanding Christianity and Politics in Northern Ireland after René Girard's Re-reading of Atonement Duncan Morrow(University of Ulster, UK) 9 Sacrifice and Atonement: Strengthening the Trinitarian Aspects of Mimetic Theory Arpad Szakolczai (University College, Cork, Ireland) Index
How are we to best understand the statement of faith that Jesus Christ lived, died and rose again 'for us and for salvation?' This question has animated Christian thought for two millennia: it has also bitterly divided believers, not least in Reformation and post-Reformation disputes about atonement, justification, sanctification and sacrifice. René Girard's Violence and the Sacred (1972) made startling connections between religion, violence and culture. His work has enlivened the theological and philosophical debate once again, especially the question of whether and how we are to understand Christ's death as a 'sacrifice'. Mimesis and Atonement brings together philosophers from Catholic, Evangelical, Orthodox, and Jewish backgrounds to examine the continued significance of Girard's work. They do so in the light of new developments, such as the controversial 'new scholarship' on Paul.