Notes - René Girards Mimetic Theory

June 1, 2025

Chapter 1: Life and Work of René Girard

René Girard often emphasized the correspondence between authors' lives and their literary works, particularly personal conversion experiences. He argued that authors like Cervantes, Flaubert, Stendhal, Proust, and Dostoyevsky gained insights into human nature by undergoing personal conversions themselves, allowing them to perceive truth after seeing through their own romantic pursuit of autonomy and authenticity. Girard highlighted these connections most distinctly in Proust and Dostoyevsky, noting that Dostoyevsky's later works critiqued his earlier ones, paralleling his personal spiritual development. Dante's Divine Comedy and Augustine's Confessions already contained this literary structure of conversion, which also characterized modern novelists. Similarly, Girard viewed Camus's The Fall as an attempt at self-criticism.

Girard was aware that this emphasis could lead to accusations of naive biographism, so he clarified that he did not posit direct identification between authors and their characters. Instead, he was interested in a deeper "existential" or "spiritual" form of autobiography that revealed a profound connection transcending superficial correlations. In A Theater of Envy: William Shakespeare, Girard explored this relationship extensively, avoiding purely biographical speculation while arguing for an existential link between great literature and authors' lives. He believed both revealed insights into the mimetic relationships that shape human life, where individuals are formed by imitating models, especially concerning desire. He supported James Joyce's view that Shakespeare's own life, deeply shaped by mimesis (envy, jealousy, rivalry), enabled him to depict these dimensions in his works. Joyce's character Stephen Dedalus in Ulysses presents a biographical approach to Shakespeare, which Girard praised for understanding the mimetic core of Shakespeare's life, rooted in Joyce's own compulsive jealousy.

Girard applied this insight to his own work, stating that his mimetic theory was also formed by a conversion experience. His biographical sketch notes he was born in Avignon in 1923, studied paleography in Paris, and supported the Résistance during World War II. He earned PhDs in paleography and contemporary history, then moved to the United States to teach French. He organized the significant international symposium "The Languages of Criticism and the Sciences of Man" in 1966, which included leading thinkers like Jacques Derrida. His personal conversion occurred in the autumn of 1958 and winter of 1959, while writing his book on the novel. This intellectual conversion, initially a "delicate enjoyment," became a profound shift, prompted by a minor physical ailment, leading to the baptism of his two sons and his marriage in the Catholic Church. He believed God sends signs that are inwardly experienced and provide lifelong support.

Girard’s Work in Overview

The worldwide acceptance of Girard's mimetic theory significantly expanded since 2003, evidenced by numerous honorary doctorates and his induction into the Académie française in 2005. He also engaged with natural sciences, finding support for the importance of mimesis in human and animal behavior through research on imitation in children and mirror neurons, though noting that neuroscience underestimates the conflictual dimension. A future task for the theory is to consider religions beyond Judaism and Christianity. While Girard emphasized Christianity's singularity, Indian essayist Pankaj Mishra criticized this, advocating for finding common "truth of the Gospels" in traditions like Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam. Conferences such as the "Colloquium on Violence and Religion" in Boston (2000) and the "René Girard and World Religions" symposium in Berkeley (2011) explored these interreligious dialogues. Girard noted parallels to the biblical "exodus from sacrificial order" in Eastern religions like the Vedānta, Upanishads, Jainism, and Buddhism. He offered few remarks on Islam but wished for more comprehensive studies, and a research group at Innsbruck University published articles on understanding Islam from a mimetic theory perspective in 2009.

Chapter 2: Religion and Modernity

The mimetic theory is primarily a theory of religion, explaining the "religious" dimension of interpersonal relations, the origins of archaic religions, and the qualitative difference between these and the Judeo-Christian tradition. Its increasing relevance stems from its ability to illuminate violent conflict in human society, acting as a "theory of conflict" that identifies causes and offers solutions.

Since the 9/11 attacks, the world has been marked by religiously motivated violence, making the concept of religion central to understanding modern terrorism. The theory of secularization has proven inadequate, as phenomena once considered purely secular (like fascism, National Socialism, Marxism) are now reinterpreted as "political religions" (Eric Voegelin, Denis de Rougemont). Modern capitalism and media are also seen as religious phenomena; Walter Benjamin's 1921 insight into capitalism as a religion is now central to social analyses, and media culture uses religious or quasi-religious phenomena to shape reality (e.g., Princess Diana's death).

An example of mimetic desire and its impact is found in Marcel Proust's Sodom and Gomorrah, where the narrator Marcel's desire for Albertine is driven by extreme jealousy, causing a dramatic reversal in their relationship. Friedrich Hölderlin's "Thalia Fragment" also illustrates this, depicting a hero oscillating between divine and nihilistic states.

Girard's position is deeply rooted in biblical thinking, as seen in his analysis of Dostoyevsky's "Grand Inquisitor" legend. This legend, set against Matthew's portrayal of Christ's temptation and the prohibition of idolatry (Deuteronomy 5:9), presents the alternatives of "God or idol". Girard emphasized the Gospel story of the return of impure spirits (Matthew 12:43-45) to explain that while Christianity may have enabled globalization, it is not to blame for negative consequences if human freedom is misused. He argued that Christianity is like overcoming demonic possession; failure to use freedom positively can lead to a resurgence of demonic forces.

Girard's mimetic theory advocates for a universal explanation of religion, asserting that the failures of past attempts should not deter the search for understanding. He learned from predecessors to avoid monocausal thought, adopting a "double approach" to explain diverse and "mixed" phenomena. This approach is particularly relevant to contemporary issues such as fundamentalism, terrorism, and ethno-religious nationalism, which Girard and other proponents have directly addressed in conferences and publications since 1989.

Chapter 3: Mimetic Desire

The mimetic theory is fundamentally a "theory of conflict" that explains the causes of interpersonal clashes and offers solutions. Girard acknowledged the magnitude of human instinct, citing Sancho Panza's natural appetites in Cervantes' Don Quixote. However, he argued that basic needs alone do not explain the essence of desire; once satisfied, humans still yearn, initially uncertain what to desire, leading them to imitate the desires of others. He used terms like "triangular desire," "desire according to Another," "imitated desire," and "mimetic desire" to describe this phenomenon.

Rivalry and violence emerge when two individuals desire the same object they cannot both possess. The prohibition of mimetic desire in the Tenth Commandment (Exodus 20:17) underscores its danger to society. However, mimesis and violence are not synonymous, and mimetic desire does not inevitably lead to conflict; there are ways to avoid this danger. Girard clarified that his emphasis on mimetic desire does not mean all human actions are governed by rivalrous mimesis, nor does it deny autonomous individuality. He simply highlights mimetic desire as a central dimension explaining human propensity for crisis and conflict, noting that love between parents and children, or sexual gratification free from rivalry, exist outside this mimetic dynamic.

Imitation plays a crucial role in social life. Gabriel Tarde's The Laws of Imitation (1903) argued it forms the basis of social harmony. Twentieth-century thinkers across ideologies, like Walter Benjamin ("mimetic faculty") and Friedrich August von Hayek ("ability to acquire skills by largely imitative learning"), emphasized mimesis's central role. Contemporary empirical research on the human brain and basic learning (especially linguistic acquisition) further confirms imitation's importance.

Marcel Proust

In Proust's Remembrance of Things Past, imitation is central. Swann's intense, even suicidal, passion for Odette is not based on her objective beauty or taste but on his extreme jealousy, sparked by others' interest. This illustrates how desire is mediated by rivals, causing the beloved's charm to decline when the counterpoise of other men is removed.

Dostoyevsky

Dostoyevsky takes this further, depicting love inseparable from jealousy and friendship from envy, leading even to murder. He explores mimetic conflict within the family, where social differentiation has diminished, making mimesis most destructive (e.g., the patricide in The Brothers Karamazov). Girard differentiated between "exogamic" mediation (Stendhal, Proust), which remains outside the family, and "endogamic" mediation (Dostoyevsky), which penetrates familial relations. From Cervantes to Dostoyevsky, the proximity between the imitating subject and the model increases, and the object's significance diminishes, with the mediator taking precedence over the hero. Dostoyevsky's The Eternal Husband exemplifies this, with Velchaninov serving as model, mediator, and obstacle to Trusotsky. Despite subtle differences, Girard argued for the "fundamental unity of mimetic desire," stating "Triangular desire is one". He found uncanny similarities between Cervantes' "Ill-advised Curiosity" and Dostoyevsky's The Eternal Husband, using this as a hermeneutic tool to understand all truly novelistic creation, confirming the unity of novelistic literature.

Potential Dangers of Modern Equality

Girard's theory helps understand modern society: as the metaphysical distance between subject and model decreases, the potential for rivalry and violence increases. The proverb that brothers are more prone to conflict than others illustrates this. Modern equality, while enhancing moral quality, also heightens rivalry. Antje Vollmer notes modern equality as a factor in increased social violence. Girard views social differences not as God-given but as products of mimesis and violence, aligning with Heraclitus that war creates distinctions. He supported Tocqueville's view that opposing equality is futile, connecting his theory to biblical revelation, which would be explored later.

Civil War and Mimesis: the Narcissism of Small Differences

Modern civil wars exemplify the link between equality and conflict. Wolfgang Sofsky observed that excessive political violence, like massacres in Bosnia or Rwanda, is prevalent where victims and perpetrators are in close proximity, not distance. He argued that proximity heightens the passion for violence. Misha Glenny also noted the lack of difference between Bosnian enemy groups as a cause for atrocities. Michael Ignatieff applied Sigmund Freud's concept of the "narcissism of small differences" to explain this: smaller real differences lead to larger imagined ones, and enemies need each other to define themselves.

The “Narcissism of Small Differences”

Freud's concept highlights how petty distinctions cause vicious conflict, citing examples like Spaniards and Portuguese or North and South Germans. He noted that "racial intolerance finds stronger expression...in regard to small differences than to fundamental ones". While Freud described the consequences (group cohesion through aggression against a common enemy), he did not explain its origins. This phenomenon was observed before Freud by Saint Thomas Aquinas (disputes among those with common ground, like brothers), Hobbes (envy between "neighbor nations"), and Adam Smith (national hatred limited to neighbors). Georg Simmel extensively studied this narcissism, concluding that conflicts from the same source are "most passionate and radical," citing examples like ancient Jewish law forbidding marrying two sisters, or intense quarrels among Protestant churches post-Reformation. Simmel noted that the pope permitted Mass in the Reformed Church but forbade the Old Catholic Church, illustrating how minimizing difference leads to irreconcilable conflict, relevant to issues like Northern Ireland. Girard's mimetic theory provides the missing explanation: the disappearance of difference (physical or metaphysical) increases conflict, as social limitations on mimetic desire are removed, leading to the particular brutality of civil and fratricidal wars.

Georg Simmel’s Philosophy of Fashion

Simmel's Philosophy of Fashion noted that fashion is driven by both "imitation" and the "need for distinction". Girard's theory showed these are not contradictory but intricate forms of the same phenomenon. Simmel's "slave to fashion" exemplifies intensified imitation, exaggerating trends to appear individual.

Kierkegaard, not Sartre, Elucidates Girard’s Concept of Being

Girard's use of Sartre's "lack of being" in explaining mimetic desire risks being accused of an "ontology of violence". Sartre's philosophy inherently shows violence as defining human relations: "Conflict is the original meaning of being-for-others".

Christian Order of Goods

Augustine's distinction between eternal and temporal goods is foundational to Christian ethics and helps avoid mimetic envy. Thomas Aquinas, building on Aristotle and Augustine, differentiated between laudable emulation of virtuous goods and sinful envy of temporal goods, suggesting that disregard for divisive earthly desires (as in friar communities) prevents conflict. Max Scheler incorporated this into his value hierarchy, noting that values are "higher" if less divisible, with material values being subordinate to "divine" values that unite. However, Scheler's focus on objects was insufficient for Girard, as desire for worldly objects, material or non-material, can be equally conflictual. Girard distinguished between those (like philosophers Hobbes or Rousseau) who merely reflect mimetic desire and those (like Augustine or Dostoyevsky) who reveal its roots, requiring openness to transcendence and authentic conversion to overcome pride.

Thomas Hobbes

Hobbes, at the dawn of modernity, observed growing competition as class-based society dissolved. He compared life to a "race" where the only goal is "being foremost," a view echoed in Goethe's Werther and Dostoyevsky's Underground Man. Hobbes characterized competitive desires as mimetic passions, fueled by "vainglory," "ostentation," and "pride," and saw "imitation of others" as a sign of vanity. In Leviathan (King of the Proud), Hobbes argued that human competition for honor leads to "Envy and Hatred, and finally Warre". Stephen Holmes described man in Hobbes's historical analysis of the English Civil War (Behemoth) as the "imitative being" (L’homme copie). Hobbes saw interpersonal relations defined by comparison, where power, honor, and prestige are relative and fuel a "perpetual and restless desire of Power after power, that ceaseth only in death".

Rousseau also highlighted the "universal desire for reputation, honors, and preferment" that makes all men "competitors, rivals, or rather enemies".

Carl Schmitt

Hans Magnus Enzensberger's work on excessive political violence shows parallels to Carl Schmitt, who argued civil war is a primary form of conflict preceding state wars, with the origin of human conflict located within the community. Schmitt's famous friend/enemy distinction in The Concept of the Political defined global politics, though it lacked Enzensberger's insight that rivalry is most prevalent between groups in close proximity. Georg Simmel and Sigmund Freud also emphasized this link between social unity and hostility towards an external enemy, with Freud noting the advantage of venting aggression against outsiders to bind a group in love.

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Alexandre Kojève

Hegel's concept of recognition in Phenomenology of Spirit, as interpreted by Alexandre Kojève, significantly influenced Girard's early formulation of mimetic desire. Kojève saw humanness achieved through a "life and death fight" for recognition, transcending animal survival. This primal conflict leads to Hegel's master-slave dialectic: the master risks life, the slave fears death, leading to submission. The slave's labor, however, eventually develops self-consciousness, progressing through stoicism, skepticism, and "unhappy consciousness" (pre-Reformation Christianity) towards a yearning for universal recognition, culminating historically in the French Revolution. Kojève initially identified Napoleon with this "end of history," later revising it to Stalin, then to the United States, Japan, and the European Union.

Francis Fukuyama

Francis Fukuyama's The End of History and the Last Man adopted Kojève's thesis, arguing that liberal democracy is the ultimate form of government because it satisfies humanity's need for recognition, not just economic needs. Fukuyama equated Hobbes's "vainglory" and Rousseau's "amour propre" with Hegel's "desire for another’s desire". Enzensberger noted that the desire for recognition has expanded in modern democracies, creating inequalities and frustrations, leading to violence when expectations are unfulfilled.

Girard distinguished his theory from Hegel and Kojève, noting that Hegel's concept of recognition is bipolar, while Girard's mimetic desire is triangular, allowing for forms of desire that do not necessarily end in violent struggle. Kojève's atheist interpretation of Hegel viewed his philosophy as "secularized Christian theology," with the "God-Man" manifesting in historical figures like Napoleon or Hegel himself, not Jesus. Kojève saw pre-Reformation Christianity as "unhappy consciousness," an "absolute bondage to a divine master" to be overcome by human wisdom.

William Shakespeare

Shakespeare skillfully illustrated the "nothingness at the heart of conflict" in works like Much Ado About Nothing. Hamlet's contemplation of Fortinbras's attack on Poland "for a fantasy and trick of fame" or "for an eggshell" shows ambition leading to senseless, bloody war driven by honor. Shakespeare, unlike Hegel and Kojève, who saw this struggle for prestige as the height of philosophical thought, recognized the "deadly nonsense" within it.

Girard argued that negation, annihilation, and violence are not inherent in human nature but are possible consequences of mimetic desire, particularly in the "mimesis of the antagonist". He believed his theory could explain the development of the mimetic process without relying on speculative suppositions.

Chapter 4: The Scapegoat Mechanism as Origin of Culture

The mimetic crisis describes the transformation of rivals into violent twins. Heinrich von Kleist's short story "The Earthquake in Chile" provides a particularly illuminating description of such a crisis, where the natural violence of an earthquake is inseparable from the collapse of social order. The story climaxes with the lynching of innocent protagonists Jeronimo and Josephe, accused of causing the earthquake, revealing the scapegoat logic shrouded by the initial narrative of miraculous rescue. This illustrates how the natural catastrophe is linked with a social one, leading to collective persecution.

Dostoyevsky's vision of a humanity infected with madness, where people cannot understand each other and kill in senseless rage, vividly portrays the escalating chaos of a mimetic crisis. Similarly, Shakespeare's Ulysses, in Troilus and Cressida, warns that when social hierarchy ("degree") is removed, chaos ensues, and "envious fever" from "pale and bloodless emulation" consumes all.

Ancient Tragedy (Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides)

Girard emphasized that ancient tragedies, with their symmetrical oppositions and blurring of good/evil, reveal the identical nature of rivals. Violence intensifies, becoming the object of desire as antagonists reciprocally dominate and are dominated, making a clear distinction between them impossible from an external viewpoint.

The Emergence of Monsters

As the mimetic crisis intensifies, violence accelerates, blurring the distinction between rivals. This rapid reciprocation leads to a "hallucinatory state" where rivals perceive each other as "monsters"—a "formless and grotesque mixture of things that are normally separate," combining divine, human, and animal attributes. Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream illustrates this with characters transforming into monstrous figures (Bottom with a donkey's head), showing how intensified mimesis leads to the emergence of monsters. From an outside perspective, these are identical "enemy brothers" or "doubles," while from an inside perspective, they appear as monsters, distracting rivals from their own reciprocal nature.

The scapegoat mechanism is the collective violence that transforms the chaos of the mimetic crisis into a new social order. The victim is then experienced as "sacred" (both good and evil), responsible for the crisis and for rescuing the community. This phenomenon is the origin of the "supernatural" or "social transcendence". The Latin root sacer (holy/cursed) and Rudolf Otto's concept of the sacred as fascinosum (fascinating) and tremendum (terrifying) reflect this ambiguity.

Miraculous rescue myths, like those described by Lévi-Strauss among the Bororo people or the biblical Noah's Ark, are often reversals of murder stories. Josephe in Kleist's story, after being "rescued" by the earthquake, briefly becomes a quasi-divine founding mother, symbolizing a cultural rebirth, only to be lynched later, revealing the underlying violence.

Arthur Maurice Hocart

The English anthropologist Arthur Maurice Hocart's insights into the "unity of all rituals" and the ritual origin of political institutions are enlightening. Hocart noted sacrifice as the unifying essence of ritual. Girard's theory explains and demonstrates the meaning of Hocart's observations.

Walter Burkert

Walter Burkert's concept of homo necans (man the killer) highlights sacrificial killing as the basic religious experience, detailing ancient Greek sacrifices as a communal act transforming an animal into a willing victim through rhythmic procession, music, and symbolic gestures like throwing barley grains (an aggressive gesture) before the final cut.

Mircea Eliade

Mircea Eliade's description of the "merging together of forms" in the sacrificial crisis aligns with Girard's, though Eliade did not fully explain why rituals continually re-enact the original crisis. Eliade also spoke of "creative murders" in founding myths but lacked a universal explanation for them.

Hobbes's social contract, where individuals confer rights onto a sovereign who remains outside the agreements, forms a "unity minus one" structure, paralleling the excluded scapegoat and the empowered sovereign. This structure is a fundamental principle of sacred kingship. The global prevalence of building sacrifices from diverse time periods and continents necessitates an all-encompassing theory like Girard's mimetic theory, which proves superior to approaches that reject universal explanations of sacrifice.

Myth

From the perspective of mimetic theory, myths are oral or written accounts that portray a founding murder from the persecutors' viewpoint. They are distorted narratives of real acts of collective violence against actual victims, making the scapegoat mechanism a "mechanism that produces myths". This idea of a historical core to myths distinguishes Girard from modern myth scholars who see myths as illusions. Girard's interpretation aligns with Jacob Burckhardt's "veiled history," where myth contains "truth in the guise of lies".

Claude Lévi-Strauss’s Structuralist Interpretation of Myth

Modern myth interpretation has two tendencies: positivism, which devalues myth, and structuralism (Lévi-Strauss), which rehabilitates myth by emphasizing its intrinsic meaning and the "savage mind". However, structuralism denies the historical reality of myths, seeing them as abstract reflections on the origin of thought rather than real events. Girard praised Lévi-Strauss's insights into the logic of exclusion but criticized the disconnection between myth and reality, viewing collective murder in myths as a "fictive metaphor for an intellectual operation". Unlike Lévi-Strauss, who separated ritual from myth, Girard stressed their parallels, arguing both are rooted in the same founding violence, which is the "matrix of all ritual and mythological significations". Rites, by displaying collective murder more clearly than distorted myths, can offer essential insights into their origin.

Peter Hassler's interpretation of Aztec myths, for example, views divine self-casting into fire as "transformation" rather than sacrifice, meticulously separating myth from ritual. Hassler argued against a literal understanding of "bloody" metaphors in myths. Girard, conversely, contended that metaphors are based on reality and that sacrifice is the origin of "bloody" metaphors, noting the skepticism towards his theory despite archeological evidence of human sacrifice in the Andes.

René Girard’s Interpretation of Myth

To make his interpretation of myth persuasive, Girard employed historical analysis, connecting texts to historical reality, similar to how medieval texts of persecution are understood. He used examples of collective violence against Jews, witches, foreigners, and the sick during crises like the plague. Guillaume de Machaut's Judgment of the King of Navarre, detailing the Black Death and the extermination of Jews accused of poisoning wells, serves as a key example.

Girard identified four "stereotypes of persecution" in such texts:

  1. Crisis: A real social crisis, like the plague.
  2. Accusations: False accusations against victims, such as poisoning wells.
  3. Selection of victims ("symbols of victimization"): Certain groups are frequently persecuted due to religious, cultural (minorities, foreigners), physical (handicaps), gender (women), lack of protection (children), or prominent social position (king) characteristics that make them stand out as "other". Anti-Semitism in Machaut's text is a typical example.
  4. Violence: The community's acts of violence against the perceived culprits. Girard summarized that the presence of these stereotypes indicates real violence, a real crisis, victims chosen falsely for their "signs," and the purpose of shifting responsibility to end the crisis. Applying this to Machaut's text, he concluded the violence and plague were real, but Jews were falsely accused, and their persecution aimed at ending the plague.

The Oedipus Myth

Girard applied this interpretive method to myths like the Oedipus myth. The "mythological crystallization" in myths, a religious veiling, makes uncovering the actual event difficult. In myths, the negative transference (collective aggression) is stronger, portraying the scapegoat as physically and morally monstrous, whose guilt is quasi-ontological. In persecution texts, identification is less absolute, and legal proceedings often attempted to establish guilt. The absence of "positive transference" (divinization of the victim) in persecution texts makes it easier to see through them, while the sacred elements in myth complicate the unveiling of violence.

Chapter 5: Biblical Revelation and Christianity

Biblical revelation, found in both the Old and New Testaments, distinguishes itself from mythical accounts by shedding light on the scapegoat mechanism and adopting the perspective of the victim. René Girard turned to the Bible as the third decisive stage of his career, after developing theories on mimetic desire and the scapegoat mechanism, to explore whether Judaism and Christianity were also rooted in this mechanism. While acknowledging many parallels between general religions and the Judeo-Christian tradition, Girard rejected the modern scholarly dismissal of biblical uniqueness.

Nietzsche: Dionysos versus the “Crucified”

Girard used Friedrich Nietzsche's distinction between Dionysos and the "Crucified" to highlight the fundamental difference. Nietzsche recognized that both mythical and biblical texts deal with martyrdom and collective violence against a single victim. However, unlike scholars like James George Frazer, Nietzsche saw that myth justifies sacrifice, while the Gospels emphasize the victim's innocence and condemn collective violence. Girard incorporated these insights into his own work but diverged from Nietzsche's position by clearly backing the Gospels, whereas Nietzsche accused Christianity of destroying culture due to its rejection of sacrifice.

Max Weber

Max Weber was one of the first to recognize and praise the singularity of the biblical tradition, particularly its partisanship with victims. In Ancient Judaism, Weber explored whether the biblical God was identical to pagan vegetation gods, noting superficial parallels between the martyrdom of the Old Testament Servant of Yahweh (Second Isaiah) and Jesus' crucifixion with pagan deities. Despite these similarities, Weber stressed the "fundamental change of meaning" brought by the Bible, highlighting the "guiltless martyrdom of the Servant of God" and the "ethical turn" unique to biblical teachings, which identified with victims of oppression like the "pariah people" of the Jews. Girard praised Weber's recognition of biblical identification with victims but criticized Weber's Nietzschean-inspired view that this revelation stemmed from the ressentiment of Jewish political defeats. Girard concluded that myths portray founding murder from persecutors' perspective, concealing the truth of the innocent victim, while the Bible fundamentally differs by siding with victims.

The Violent Fate of Korah and His Followers

The Old Testament contains mythical elements, exemplified by the account of Korah and his followers in Numbers 16-17. This story depicts mimetic rivalry for leadership, resolved by a "violent God" who condemns Korah and others to death. Girard argued that this "violent God" is a human projection of collective violence, and the sacred emerges from this murder, as seen when the fire pans of the victims are deemed holy. However, the text is not as undecipherable as archaic myth, openly showing the conflict's roots in mimetic rivalry and hinting at human rather than divine agency in the destruction (Numbers 17:6: "You have killed the people of the Lord"). Nevertheless, the perspective of the victim remains largely absent, preventing a radical differentiation from archaic myth.

The Binding of Isaac

A pivotal moment in the Old Testament's detachment from archaic practices is the "Binding of Isaac" (Genesis 22). This narrative replaces the archaic demand for human sacrifice with a prohibition against it, allowing only animals as sacrificial victims. This renunciation of human sacrifice signifies a fundamental development towards a religion distinct from archaic myth.

The Fall of Man as Revelatory Text

The Genesis account of the Fall of Man, despite mythical parallels, reveals essential complexities of human coexistence. The very presence of God's expulsion of man indicates a difference from myth. The text shows mimetic desire as the primary cause of "sin," with inner mimetic passions like pride and envy leading to the break with God. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas rightly noted these as perverted forms of imitating God; by seeking to be "like God" through their own powers, humans fall victim to metaphysical desire, leading to reciprocal violence and death, exemplified by the murder of Abel. The Book of Wisdom summarizes this: "through the devil’s envy death entered the world".

Joseph and His Brothers

Girard frequently referred to the story of Joseph and his brothers (Genesis 37-50) to illustrate the Bible's divergence from the mythical perspective, contrasting it with the Oedipus myth. Both Joseph and Oedipus are branded as scapegoats from childhood. However, the Bible unequivocally sides with Joseph, portraying him as innocent (e.g., in Potiphar's wife's attempted seduction), unlike Oedipus, who is blamed for Thebes' plague. Joseph expressly rejects deification ("Am I in the place of God?"), which Girard identified as a crucial aspect of the Bible's departure from archaic myth, humanizing Joseph in a way unthinkable in mythology.

The Book of Job

Girard's most extensive Old Testament analysis is Job: The Victim of his People. He argued that Job is the scapegoat of his community, his friends are persecutors, and their "God" is a projection of the community's collective violence ("fever of persecution"). While a mythical reading would only see the persecutors' view (like Oedipus), Job introduces the victim's perspective by insisting on his innocence, thereby undermining the unanimity required by myth. Although Job struggles with self-doubt and sometimes sees God as persecuting him, his ultimate refusal to concede guilt differentiates the text.

The Servant of Yahweh

The biblical defense of persecuted victims is evident throughout the Old Testament, particularly in the psalms of lament and prophetic texts. While psalms express the victim's plight, they sometimes still call for a vengeful God, showing traces of myth. However, the Servant of Yahweh songs (Isaiah 52:13–53:12) introduce the unique element of persecutors' self-incrimination, where the mob acknowledges its own guilt in a retrospective account, revealing the scapegoat mechanism. Despite some mythical influence (e.g., Isaiah 53:10 portraying God as instigator), interpretations exist that see this as the persecutors' viewpoint, indicating the text's overcoming of the mythical perspective.

Girard concluded that the Old Testament contains both mythical texts and revelatory passages that expose the scapegoat mechanism and convey victims' perspectives. He saw the New Testament as the "consummation" and "hermeneutic key" to understanding the Old Testament, where biblical revelation is brought to definitive fruition.

The New Testament

Biblical revelation reaches its fulfillment in the New Testament, especially in the Passion of Jesus. While the Passion narrative superficially resembles a myth—a collective murder of a single victim—the Acts of the Apostles highlight the "snowballing unanimity" against Jesus.

Positive Mimesis

Girard argued that the only nonviolent means to overcome mimetic rivalry is found in the New Testament. This is not a rejection of imitation, but a call for "positive mimesis," specifically the "imitation of Christ". Jesus is presented as the unique role model who does not incite violent rivalry, as he has no "conflictual" desire. He leads people to imitate God as he does ("The Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing"), contrasting with modern gurus who demand imitation while claiming no models themselves. By imitating Jesus's imitation, individuals can achieve an attitude of "renunciation" that frees them from destructive mimetic rivalry.

This renunciation involves surrendering everything to one's rival, doubling what they demand, or turning the other cheek, to "suffocate rivalry at its core". This is the essence of the Kingdom of God, though difficult to achieve. Girard clarified that this is not an "oriental escapism" or denial of life, but a redirecting of desire toward a nonviolent, rivalry-free end. This aligns with Christian ethics of finite and eternal goods, where God is the ultimate aim of desire. Christian renunciation, inspired by Jesus, means bearing the cross in conflict, accepting to be killed rather than to kill, in accordance with the God of life.

Girard concluded that human imitation boils down to imitating either Christ or Satan. Imitating God with Jesus is humble obedience; imitating Satan is a perverse imitation rooted in rivalry. This aligns with Augustine's theology, which distinguished humble imitation of God from Satan's perverse imitation. Augustine's own conversion was influenced by the examples of others, showing the power of positive mimesis.

Original Sin

In his later writings, Girard explicitly referred to Original Sin to clarify his theory. His early work, Deceit, Desire and the Novel, already linked pride-based imitation to a "promethean" or "satanic" character, distinguishing it from genuine Christian imitation, echoing Augustine's identification of pride with Original Sin. Girard notably excluded the "story of the creation of the world" from those produced by the scapegoat mechanism, seeing it as free of violent sacrifice.

Paul Dumouchel questioned Girard's hominization thesis, noting an ambiguity between human freedom to convert and violence as a biological attribute of mimesis. Raymund Schwager resolved this by distinguishing three stages of hominization: continuity of mimesis in man and animal, a break when mimesis makes animal communities impossible, and an opening to the Absolute.

Grace, Resurrection, and the Holy Spirit

James Alison's The Joy of Being Wrong underscored that recognizing sin and achieving liberation require grace and resurrection. Girard's theory, despite claims by some scholars like Tobin Siebers that it metaphorically uses grace, is compatible with it. Girard's primary goal was anthropological apologetics, demonstrating the plausibility of biblical revelation without theological presuppositions, with explicit theological references appearing more in his later works.

Girard's theory paralleled Kant's Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason in its anthropological apologetics and focus on human evil, but diverged sharply on grace. Kant believed humans must overcome depravity "using his own power," leaving no room for grace. Girard, conversely, argued that culture, being rooted in the scapegoat mechanism, is a closed system incapable of overcoming violence internally ("No system of thought is truly capable of creating the thought capable of destroying it"). He stressed that Jesus must come from "outside the human world" for humanity to be freed from violence, distinguishing the "Peace that the world gives" (based on structural violence) from the nonviolent "Peace of God" (from outside the human realm, through grace). Grace, exemplified by the Passion, enables a break from the victimage mechanism. Despite the mimetic attraction of the mob, a "protesting minority" of disciples, empowered by grace, resisted and recognized their involvement in persecuting an innocent victim after the crucifixion.

The Resurrection is presented as a "spectacular sign" of a power superior to violent contagion, which is neither hallucinatory nor deceptive, enabling disciples to recognize previously unrecognized truths. Girard linked his insights on grace and Resurrection to his conception of the Holy Spirit, which he interpreted as the "Paraclete," or "lawyer for the defense," illuminating persecutors' actions and defending victims. While Satan represents the persecutory mob, the Holy Spirit defends victims.

Girard initially struggled with the concept of "Christian sacrifice," rejecting the term to clearly differentiate biblical revelation from archaic sacrifice and to counter theories equating them. However, under the influence of Raymund Schwager (whose Must There Be Scapegoats? offered an interpretation of Hebrews reconciling traditional terminology with biblical distinctiveness), Girard revised his position. He conceded that his earlier rejection of the term "sacrifice" was influenced by a "seductive liberal tendency" that ignored the complexity and danger of the concept. Using the Judgment of Solomon, Girard showed that the "good harlot" sacrifices rivalry to save her child, embodying a "self-giving" spirit distinct from archaic sacrificial logic. This attitude, also seen in the Sermon on the Mount, involves unconditional renunciation and a willingness to concede to the other to end conflict nonviolently. Jesus's self-giving on the cross ("to lay down one’s life for one’s friends") is the ultimate example.

Girard contrasted this with "masochistic sacrifice," exemplified by Father Zossima's "passionate love" in The Brothers Karamazov, which seeks quick, sensational self-sacrifice rather than genuine "active love". His revised view affirmed that Christian sacrifice, while appearing paradoxical, is genuinely "nonsacrificial" in its core, leading authors like Proust and Dostoyevsky to find in the Bible's "grain of wheat" verse (John 12:24) a model for their conversion through self-criticism and renunciation of self-righteousness.

Georg Baudler criticized Girard for emphasizing biblical singularity, arguing it hindered interreligious dialogue. However, Girard's revised view of Christian sacrifice allowed him to demonstrate the "fundamental unity of all religions" while still highlighting their differences. He argued against the "radical devaluation and demonization of all archaic cultures," stressing that while axial religions, especially Judeo-Christianity, represent the most complete overcoming of primitive sacrifice, a "paradoxical unity of all that is religious throughout human history" exists. This unity is a "ghastly and weaseling path from the first to the second type of sacrifice," a path "beyond Christ [that] is unreachable". This paradoxical unity was not an addition but an inherent insight in his earlier work, Things Hidden, noting that myths and Gospels both aim for social peace.

Sacrificial Christianity

Girard systematically examined how Christian history often deviated from the biblical message of nonviolence, leading to persecutions of minorities like Jews and witches, despite the New Testament's uncovering of the scapegoat mechanism. He termed this "sacrificial Christianity," acknowledging these perversions.

Apocalyptical Dimension

The apocalyptical dimension is central to Girard's mimetic theory, though it has drawn suspicion. Girard, however, did not conceal this or desire catastrophe; his interest stemmed from the New Testament's apocalyptic texts providing a clearer understanding of the modern world. He believed a "radically Christian appropriation of history can only be apocalyptical," clarifying past myth/ritual and present history. This perspective indicates humanity's ever-growing liberation from archaic servitudes but also the loss of sacrificial protection. Apocalyptic prophecies, for Girard, speak of human-created danger, not divine revenge, emphasizing human responsibility for violence if biblical warnings against vengeful thinking are disregarded (Matthew 24:6-7). God offers peace without scapegoats or external enemies.

Satan as Embodiment of the Mimetic Cycle

Girard frequently returned to the concept of Satan, describing him as the embodiment of both mimetic rivalry and scapegoat logic, and focusing on this in I See Satan Fall Like Lightning. He bundled the three aspects of the mimetic cycle—mimetic crisis, collective violence of the scapegoat mechanism, and mythical divinization of the victim—into the "cycle of satanic violence".

Satan’s Divided Kingdom: The Paradoxical Order of the Scapegoat Mechanism

Satan is identified with the mimesis that resolves the crisis through the victimage mechanism. As "dragon of chaos" and "prince of this world," Satan embodies both chaos and order, manifesting regulatory power when the community unites against a single victim. John 8:44 ("He was a murderer from the beginning") links Satan to this founding violence. Jesus's rhetorical question in Mark 3:23-26 ("How can Satan cast out Satan?") exposes the paradoxical logic of Satan, who, to prevent his kingdom's destruction, uses disorder as a means of expelling himself. This implies Satan's intrinsically divided kingdom will eventually destroy itself, linking to Girard's apocalyptic reading of history.

Deconstruction and the Truth of the Bible

The paradoxical structure of cultural forms rooted in the scapegoat mechanism and the concept of Satan made a comparative analysis with deconstruction relevant for Girard, given deconstruction's interest in inherent paradoxes. Girard saw biblical revelation as a source for deconstructing cultural order, a view Gianni Vattimo, connected to Derrida, also explored. However, a significant divergence exists: Derridean deconstruction posits no attainable factual truths, seeing everything as interpretation, while Girard argues for a truth outside texts as a precondition for his deconstruction, aligning with the figural interpretation foundational to Christianity.

Supplement and Scapegoat: Girard’s Proximity to Deconstruction

Derrida's "logic of the supplement" reveals a fundamental paradox in Western metaphysics, where a secondary element (e.g., writing) paradoxically enables or even threatens to supplant its supposed origin (e.g., spoken word), exposing the origin's inherent emptiness. This "dangerous" supplement applies to the pharmakon in Greek cathartic ritual, where scapegoats are both remedies and poisons, both evil and indispensable protectors. Girard connected his scapegoat theory to Derrida's deconstruction, radicalizing it by applying the logic of the supplement to deconstruct all cultural order. He argued that myths are heavily influenced by this logic, which is identical to the scapegoat mechanism and the paradox of Satan. The term différer (to differentiate and to suspend) describes the Bible's dissolution of culture, delayed by "sacrificial Christianity," a concept structurally paralleling Derrida's différance. Andrew J. McKenna saw Girard's theory as providing anthropological backing for deconstruction, preventing it from devolving into nihilism.

Gianni Vattimo, influenced by Derrida, found in Girard's biblical interpretation a "nihilistic rediscovery of Christianity" rooted in the love of one's neighbor. Vattimo linked Heidegger's "weakening of strong structures" to Christ's incarnation and the "dissolution" of the "violent God," seeing Heidegger as implicitly transcribing Judeo-Christian revelation. Vattimo extended beyond Girard by equating Nietzsche's "death of God" with a waning secularization culminating in Christian charity, attributing omnipotence and absoluteness to the violent "natural sacred". Girard, however, maintained his theory aligns with Church dogmas and viewed Heidegger, like Nietzsche, as a representative of neopaganism, not a biblically inspired critic of violence.

Facts, Not Only Interpretations: Girard’s Rejection of Postmodern Nihilism

The central difference between Girard and deconstruction lies in the understanding of truth and textual referentiality. Girard rejected the postmodern idea that "only interpretations" exist, arguing that this stems from a misreading of Nietzsche. He insisted that Nietzsche's "Dionysos versus the Crucified" highlighted two interpretations of the same fact, not the absence of facts. Girard criticized deconstructionists for "getting rid of facts," which suppresses the crucial difference between myth (veiling truth with lies) and the Bible (unveiling factual truth). He asserted that "real deconstruction" must address and revive the "concern for victims," which requires acknowledging facts, not just interpretations.

Girard's background as a historian made him resistant to postmodern nihilism. He consistently referred to historical examples, like medieval persecution texts and the Dreyfus affair, to emphasize the link between texts and real origins. He championed the Dreyfus supporters who fought for an "absolute, intransigent, and dogmatic" truth, representing the "truth of innocent victims" that must not be dissolved into mere interpretation.

Girard's defense of biblical truth is not fundamentalist; it refers to the overall trajectory of the text, revealing a God of nonviolent love and solidarity with victims. He connected his reading to the traditional "figural interpretation" of the Bible, where Old Testament figures like Joseph, Judah, the Servant of Yahweh, the good harlot, and Job are seen as figura Christi (prefigurations of Christ). This approach makes the "deep truth" of figural reading plausible again, showing how the uncovering of the founding murder in the Old Testament is inextricably linked to its final revelation in Christ's Passion. Biblical prophecy, for Girard, is the true reading of the mimetic cycle.

Erich Auerbach's essay "Figura" resonated with Girard's mimetic theory, distinguishing Christian figural interpretation from pagan allegory. Auerbach emphasized the historicity of interconnected events, rejecting their transformation into mere metanarrative signs. Figural prophecy interprets one worldly event through another, with both remaining historical but pointing to a future, definitive event, and ultimately to God, who is "at all times present". This "vertical connection to God" is crucial for mimetic theory's concept of true transcendence. Girard prioritized this divine truth over mere referentiality, arguing that the essential truth of the Joseph story lies in its critique of mythical expulsions, not just its factual correspondence. Auerbach's view that the "shrouded fact of the event is subordinated to an interpretation which is fully secured to begin with" aligns with Girard. Unlike Derrida, who was more cautious about "the truth," Girard found in Christ the definitive interpretation of all facts. Auerbach's use of Isaac's sacrifice as a prefiguration of Christ illustrates this vertical interpretation, where God identifies eternally with the world's scapegoats through love and nonviolence. Figural interpretation extends to all events, recognizing traces of divine truth even in pagan figures like Virgil or Antigone. Christ's partisanship, for Girard, encompasses all victims of persecution regardless of their historical context or attributes.

Chapter 6: Political Implications of the Mimetic Theory

Political order and institutions, such as kingship, judiciary, and war, are deeply rooted in the scapegoat mechanism. Cultural institutions are formed by simplifying the "double transference" of the scapegoat mechanism, where one aspect is emphasized and the other suppressed to establish clear order. Girard "deconstructs" this "cultural Platonism" by tracing these institutions back to a single ritual matrix of the scapegoat mechanism.

Decisionism

Carl Schmitt's concept of "decisionism," where the sovereign's decision in an exception acts like God's, is understood by mimetic theory as a result of the mimetic crisis leading to a random choice of victim. Alexander Hamilton's argument in the Federalist Papers for a single executive power, to assign blame and punishment, reflects an ancient political wisdom where the death of one individual saves the entire community ("unity minus one").

Death Penalty

Juan Donoso Cortés warned that revolutions starting against the death penalty can end in bloodbaths, a point echoed by Albert Camus regarding the French and Russian Revolutions. Walter Benjamin noted that the death penalty is not just about punishing but about establishing new law. Sigmund Freud and Karl Bruno Leder traced justice and capital punishment back to archaic sacrifice, seeing the criminal as the community's scapegoat. Wolfgang Sofsky called the scaffold the "community’s altar," where human life is sacrificed to restore order. Louis Gernet's observations of two types of capital punishment in ancient Greece—religious/ritualized execution and immediate lynching (apagoge) of foreigners—both directly relate to the scapegoat mechanism, revealing how statutory punishment originates from founding violence. Both types show elements of negative (victims as guilty criminals) and positive (veneration of criminals) transference.

Friend/Enemy Relations and War

The Cold War exemplified potent political hostility, aligning with Carl Schmitt's friend/enemy distinction as a determinant of global politics. Georg Simmel and Sigmund Freud also emphasized that social unity often requires hostility towards an external enemy, binding groups through aggression directed outwards. Aeschylus's Eumenides illustrates how internal violence can be channeled outward, transforming into enmity and bellicose relations between collectives, with the scapegoat mechanism forming the original channeling of violence against an excluded third party.

Chapter 7: Mimetic Theory and Gender

The relationship between genders in Girard's mimetic theory is complex, analyzed through the lens of mimetic desire and the scapegoat mechanism.

Mimetic Desire and Gender

Freud's "On Narcissism" suggests women's desire lies in being loved, not loving, and are attracted to those who appear self-content and inaccessible. He observed this charm in children, animals, criminals, and humorists due to their "narcissistic consistency".

Pseudonarcissism

Girard interpreted Freud's narcissism mimetically: the apparent self-assurance of a narcissist is a "conscious or unconscious 'strategy'" of indifference designed to attract others. People, lacking "being" themselves, are drawn to those who seem to possess it inherently, imitating their narcissistic self-adoration. The narcissist, in turn, begins to imitate the love directed at them, fostering genuine self-love, but this depends on external confirmation. Thus, all narcissism is a form of "pseudonarcissism". Shakespeare's Twelfth Night exemplifies this with Orsino and Olivia, both archetypes of pseudonarcissism, where their superficial differences mask a deeper, shared dynamic of mimetic desire and rivalry.

Women as Preferred Bearers of Truth

Girard argued that women's historical exclusion from the violent centers of primitive societies gave them a greater capacity to understand the victimage processes on which these cultures were built. In the Gospels, women are excluded from the mimetic contagion that leads most disciples to abandon Jesus, and they are the first witnesses of his resurrection. Great European authors, including Shakespeare, often portray women as the preferred bearers of truth, understanding mimetic dynamics better than their male counterparts (e.g., Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hermione in A Winter's Tale, and Cressida).