In René Girard’s reading of history, the time after Christ unleashes an apocalyptic violence, which accords with the apocalyptic portion of the New Testament. The insight which Girard brings is his explanation of how the Cross inaugurates apocalypse. Christ’s sacrifice exposes the fact that human civilization is a result of sacrificial religion (the sacrifice of the scapegoat). Only sacrificial religion has been able to direct and contain the violence which has allowed for the rise of civilization but the life and death of Christ expose this evil and thus the scapegoating mechanism is no longer effective. As a result, as Christ explained, he did not come to bring peace but a sword, as the evil means of suppressing violence (the very violence which put him on a cross) is rendered inoperative. As Girard puts it, “We are aware that the Gospels reject persecution. What we do not realize is that, by doing so, they release its mechanism and demolish the entire human religion and the resulting cultures…”[1] Continue reading “Are We in the Midst of Violence Unleashed by Christ?”
Tag: René Girard
The Story of Frank and Two Goats
Hans Urs von Balthazar has formulated what he calls the “theological law of proportionate polarization” in which “the more God intervenes, the more he elicits opposition to him.” Love and sin, intervention and opposition, work in reciprocal relation: sin escalates in the presence of love and ever-greater mercy arouses ever-greater anger.” What is most holy and pure, such as the Tabernacle and the Temple, will draw to itself—like a magnet—what is least holy and what is least pure. This is why the day of atonement requires two goats, this is why evil accumulated in direct opposition to Christ, and this is why the Church is peculiarly conducive to the growth of both wheat and tares. Great evil and great good will grow up together and tend to accumulate in one time and place. It is the story Scripture tells and it is a life principle which calls for a peculiar discernment. Continue reading “The Story of Frank and Two Goats”