On Girard: Mimesis and Cosmic War
Issue: Vol 45 No. 3-4 (2016)
Journal: Bulletin for the Study of Religion
Subject Areas: Religious Studies Buddhist Studies Islamic Studies Biblical Studies
DOI: 10.1558/bsor.v45i3-4.31351
Abstract:
Much of what Freud and Girard have said about the function of symbolic violence in religion has been persuasive. Even if one questions, as I do, Girard’s idea that mimetic desire is the sole driving force behind symbols of religious violence, one can still agree that mimesis is a significant factor. One can also agree with the theme that Girard borrows from Freud, that the ritualized acting out of violent acts plays a role in displacing feelings of aggression, thereby allowing the world to be a more peaceful place in which to live. But the critical issue remains as to whether sacrifice should be regarded as the context for viewing all other forms of religious violence, as Girard and Freud have contended.
Author: Mark Juergensmeyer
References :
Aho, James. 1994. This Thing of Darkness: A Sociology of the Enemy. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
Girard, René. 1977. Violence and the Sacred. Translated by Patrick Gregory. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
———. 1984. “Disorder and Order in Mythology.” In Disorder and Order: Proceedings of the Stanford International Symposium, edited by Paisley Livingston. Saratoga, CA: Anma Libri..
———. 1986. The Scapegoat. Translated by Yvonne Freccero. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Hawley, John Stratton. 1987. “Introduction: Saints and Virtues.” In Saints and Virtues, edited by J. S. Hawley, xi–xxiv. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Juergensmeyer, Mark. 1991. “Sacrifice and Cosmic War.” In Violence and the Sacred in the Modern World, edited by Mark Juergensmeyer, 101–17. London: Frank Cass. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09546559108427118.
———. 2003. Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence. 3rd ed. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Kramer Martin. 1991. “Sacrifice and Fratricide in Shiite Lebanon.” In Violence and the Sacred in the Modern World, edited by Mark Juergensmeyer, 30–47. London: Frank Cass.
Macdonald, Andrew [William Pierce]. 1996 [1978]. The Turner Diaries. New York: Barricade Books .
Sprinzak, Ehud. 1995. “Right-Wing Terrorism in a Comparative Perspective: The Case of Split Delegitimization.” In Terror from the Extreme Right, edited by Tore Bjørgo, 17–43. London: Frank Cass. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09546559508427284.
Tambiah, Stanley. 1996. Leveling Crowds: Ethnonationalist Conflicts and Collective Violence in South Asia. Berkeley: University of California Press.