Sunday, April 25, 2010

Who You Going to Trust

Essential reading: Joseph Bottum's Anti-Catholicism, Again - The permanent scandal of the Vatican. He understands the significance of mimetic theory here, because years ago he wrote Girard among the Girardians (1996).

Given the anti-Catholics' presuppositions, their logic is correct. The same way that parents in the ancient world sacrificed their first born to insure having many progeny. The same way the guy next-door blows a trumpet at 6:00 a.m. to insure no elephants will stampede ("Why the heck do you blow that thing every morning?" "So the elephants won't stampede." "THERE ARE NO ELEPHANTS HERE!" "See?")

It's all about who are you going to trust for your epistemology, ontology, anthropology, and soteriology. Who are you going to trust for truth, goodness, and beauty.

3 comments:

Mike O'Malley said...

Thanks for the link Athos.
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Therein Joseph Bottum reviews books by James G. Williams and Robert G. Hamerton-Kelly. Are you acquainted with either of these two authors? I’d like to gain experience interpreting Scripture from a Girardian perspective. Would you recommend either of these two books and if so why?
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Thanks
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I hope the MRI went well.

Athos said...

James Williams edited The Girard Reader which is pretty important to have on your shelf if you can find a copy. His introduction is a vital read.

Hamerton-Kelly's two published books are astoundingly hard to find ($$ on Amazon), but you can still access recent work here.

Williams is a bit of a lurker on the COV/R list, but comments on occasion.

H-K's understanding of (1) democracy as the cultural result of the death of kings, and (2) modernity's still trying to resort to the sacred by increasing the number of victims or prestige of its victims - genocide and regicide - are two great insights. Best

Mike O'Malley said...

They seem to have stocked a supply of James Williams' reader over at Christianbook.com at a price that's better than Amazon. I'm going to put an order in shortly.

Thanks