Violence, Desire, and the Sacred Volume 2 Violence, Desire, and the Sacred Volume 2 René Girard and Sacrifice in Life, Love, and Literature Edited by Scott Cowdell, Chris Fleming, and Joel Hodge Bloomsbury Academic An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Inc 1385 Broadway 50 Bedford Square New York London NY 10018 WC1B 3DP USA UK www.bloomsbury.com Bloomsbury is a registered trade mark of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published 2014 © Scott Cowdell, Chris Fleming, Joel Hodge and Contributors, 2014 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury or the author. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN: 978-1-6235-6306-6 Typeset by Fakenham Prepress Solutions, Fakenham, Norfolk NR21 8NN For René Girard Contents Contributors ix Foreword, Paul Dumouchel xiii Introduction xvii 1 Mimesis, Violence, and the Sacred: An Overview of the Thought of René Girard Chris Fleming 1 Part One Politics 2 Abolition or Transformation? The Political Implications of René Girard’s Theory of Sacrifice Wolfgang Palaver 17 3 Sacrifice in the Democratic Age: Rivalry and Crisis in Recent Australian Politics Joel Hodge 31 4 Mimetic Theory and Hermeneutic Communism Paolo Diego Bubbio 45 5 War on Terror: The Escalation to Extremes Sarah Drews Lucas 57 6 Scapegoating the Guilty: Girard and International Criminal Law Nathan Kensey 67 Part Two Cultural and Textual Analysis 7 The Scapegoating of Cheerleading and Cheerleaders Emma A. Jane 83 8 “Things Hidden”: On Shame, Violence, and Concealment in Autobiography Rosamund Dalziell 101 9 “That False Paradise”: Desire, Sacrifice, and the American Dream in Jeffrey Eugenides’ The Virgin Suicides Carly Osborn 115 Part Three Theology 10 Hearing the Cry of the Poor: René Girard and St. Augustine on the Psalms Ann W. Astell 133 viii Contents 11 Sacrifice, Pagan and Christian Robert J. Daly SJ 147 12 Living Faithfully “Where Danger Threatens”: Christian Discernment According to John Cassian and René Girard Kevin Lenehan 161 Part Four Psychology 13 A Psychologist Venturing Across an Interdisciplinary Bridge to Mimetic Theory and Its Applications Marie R. Joyce 175 14 Internet Offenders as Girardian Scapegoats Bruce A. Stevens 183 Part Five Applied Mimetic Theory 15 A Girardian Reading of the Evagrian “Eight Kinds of Evil Thoughts” Draško Dizdar 195 16 Forsaking Our Violent Ways: A Girardian Reflection on the Sermon on the Mount as a Path to a New Social Order Peter Stork 207 17 Girard’s Interdividual Psychology Applied to Pastoral Leadership in Churches Bruce Wilson 221 18 Ecclesial Roots of Clergy Sexual Abuse: A Girardian Reflection Scott Cowdell 233 19 Practical Reflections on Nonviolent Atonement Michael Hardin 247 Glossary of Key Girardian Terms 259 Further Reading 263 Index 271 Contributors Ann W. Astell (PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison) is Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana. She is the author of six books, including Joan of Arc and Sacrificial Authorship (University of Notre Dame Press, 2003) and Eating Beauty: The Eucharist and the Spiritual Arts of the Middle Ages (Cornell University Press, 2006). She is also the editor or co-editor of six books, including Sacrifice, Scripture, and Substitution: Readings in Ancient Judaism and Christianity (University of Notre Dame Press, 2011). Paolo Diego Bubbio (PhD, University of Turin, Italy) is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy in the School of Humanities and Communication Arts at the University of Western Sydney, Australia. He is the author of Il Sacrificio Intellettuale: René Girard e la Filosofia della Religione (Intellectual Sacrifice: René Girard and the Philosophy of Religion; Il Quadrante, 1999) and Il Sacrificio: a Ragione e il suo Altrove (Sacrifice: Reason and Its Other; Città Nuova, 2004), and the co-editor of two other books. Scott Cowdell (PhD, University of Queensland) is an Anglican priest, currently Associate Professor in the Public and Contextual Theology Research Centre (PACT) at Charles Sturt University, Canberra, Australia, and Canon Theologian of the Canberra–Goulburn Diocese. He is the author of seven books, most recently Abiding Faith: Christianity Beyond Certainty, Anxiety, and Violence (Cascade, 2009) and René Girard and Secular Modernity: Christ, Culture, and Crisis (University of Notre Dame Press, 2013). He is also Founding President of the Australian Girard Seminar. Robert J. Daly SJ (Dr Theol, Julius Maximilians Universität, Würzburg) is Professor Emeritus of Theology at Boston College. Specializing in liturgical theology, his recent publications include Sacrifice Unveiled: The True Meaning of Christian Sacrifice (Continuum, 2009). Rosamund Dalziell (PhD, Australian National University) is an Associate Researcher in the Public and Contextual Theology Research Centre (PACT) at Charles Sturt University, Canberra, Australia. Her publications include Shameful Autobiographies: Shame in Contemporary Australian Autobiographies and Culture (Melbourne University Press, 1999). Draško Dizdar (PhD, University of Queensland) is Prior of Emmaus monastic community in Tasmania, Australia (affiliated with the ecumenical monastero di Bose,