The study attempts to bring together the mimetic theory of René Girard and the theology of Raymund Schwager to address questions inherent in the contemporary notion of human rights. The impetus derives from the phenomenon of human violence, the universal presence of which points to a problematic that seems to defy conventional explanations and political solutions. In dialogue with Girard and Schwager, the project seeks to shed light on the causes not only of the apparent fragility of the human rights system, but also of the persistence with which large-scale human rights violations recur despite the proliferation of human rights norms. It argues that the human rights crisis is neither an accident nor a shortfall in techniques of implementation, but reflects the subconscious and collective structure of civilization. Following a description of the crisis, this investigation examines the nature of human violence, especially the contagious manner in which it works at the root of the crisis, offering understanding where conventional anthropological reflections fall short. The study argues with Girard that vengeance and retribution resonate deeply with the human psyche and easily evoke an archaic image of the divine. While this arouses moral protest in the post-modern mind, we meet here one of the fundamental issues mimetic theory elucidates, namely that it is on account of such an unconscious image of the “sacred” that vengeful violence has remained for so long a determining element in human history. In a theological key, the study presents human mimesis as a divinely constituted structure that makes possible divine/human intimacy and reciprocity. However, this exalted capacity is perverted. Human sin casts God into the image of an envious rival which corrupts the personal and structural dimensions of human sociality of which the so-called “human rights crisis” is but a contemporary manifestation. What rules the social order is not the true image of God but a resentful human projection that deceptively demands victims in exchange for peace and security. Thus “mimetic victimage” is the essential clue to the fallenness of nations and their institutions, including the institution of human rights, as well as to the fallenness of individuals in their profound alienation from God, from themselves and from one another. Nonetheless, mimesis is also a structure of hope and transcendent longing. So understood, it opens the way to a profound and practical appropriation of the meaning of Christ as the restoration of the image of God in humanity whereby rivalistic resentment, the epicenter of the human predicament, is undone through forgiveness. While there is an enabling aspect to violence when it restrains and coerces us for our benefit as we rightly fear the greater violence that might ensue in its absence, the study also argues that because mimetic human agents carry out the “deed of the law”, the human rights system cannot overcome the mimetic impulse. As a judicial system, human rights belong structurally to the same order as the system they seek to correct. This ambiguity takes on special significance in the “age of annihilation”. For the first time in history limitless violence has become feasible through weapons capable of planetary destruction so that humanity not only faces its own complicity with violence, but also the relative powerlessness of the human rights project to keep its mimetic escalation in check. This raises the central question of the study. If the institution of human rights cannot offer a rigorous critique of structural violence, let alone free humanity from complicity with it, where shall the world place its hope for a more humane future? It concludes that such a hope is not to be found in the proliferation of rights norms and their enforcement but in the transformation of human desire through the restoration of the true image of God as revealed in the Christ-event. This revelation judges as futile all attempts at human sociality that retain violence as their hidden core. Thus God’s freedom granting action in history is both revelatory and “political”: in its prophetic stance against the powers of human sin and domination, it calls humanity to its true vocation to be the image of God grounded in a new pacific mimesis that resonates freely and unflinchingly with the self-giving love of God in Christ.

In 1994 genocide occurred in the tiny, crowded country of Rwanda in the Great Lakes region of Africa. What was unique to that genocide was its efficiency and use of low technology weapons: somewhere around 800,000 to one million persons were killed, mainly by machetes and bullets, and often by neighbors, former friends, or relatives that they knew by name. The killers had been well-prepared for their roles via myth-building and reinforcement of old fears against the victims. There was little to no international intervention, although Rwanda had close political ties with France and a colonial history with Germany and Belgium. Although dozens of books and articles have been written seeking to understand, in both practical and theoretical ways, the motivations of the killers, this research looks to add to that body of knowledge by considering the ideas of a theorist outside traditional political theory — René Girard — and how they may shed some light on the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Girard's conception of mimetic rivalry and his theorization of scapegoating illuminate society-based characteristics of political competition between well-established factions of Rwandan society. These characteristics, if subjected to various manipulations of social positioning and control, can serve to precipitate brutal acts of believed conciliatory violence against a perceived causal group. Without examining the origin of violence in society, an understanding of the 1994 genocide is incomplete, and policies designed to prevent such genocides from recurring may not be effective. / Master of Arts

This essay aims to examine the scapegoat motif in Birgitta Trotzig's novel En berättelse från kusten (1961). The important part is to study how the scapegoat motif is portrayed in the novel, how the plot leads to persecution and final sacrifice and how it is related to the novel as a whole. I discuss the term scapegoat through the French theoretician René Girard, who developed some criteria to be met in order to the scapegoat motif to work. The essay results show that the three stages in Girard's theories exist in the novel. At first a great disease that causes children of almost every family to die and it makes the society to slowly collapse. The frustration leads to a search for a cause to the disease, however not the real cause, rather a crime and someone to blame. Someone, is not just anyone, the person has some distinctive victims markers. The scapegoat, Merete, is both socially and physically aberrant and that makes her the perfect scapegoat. The result shows that her death is a ritual reconciliation that ends the chaos and makes people free of the guilt they felt. This motif is also a part of a bigger reconciliation theme. Everything seems to weave into a pattern that requires suffering and great sacrifice to achieve reconciliation. Both the city and the monastery's restoration required suffering where Merete and Apelone both suffered and died to save the whole nation from perish. / Denna uppsats syfte är att studera syndabocksmotivet i Birgitta Trotzigs roman En berättelse från kusten (1961). Huvudsakligen studeras hur motivet gestaltas i romanen, hur berättelsen leder till förföljelser och det slutliga offrandet samt hur syndabocksmotivet kan relateras till romanhelheten. Jag diskuterar begreppet syndabock utifrån den franska teoretikern René Girard kriterier och stadier. Resultatet visar att kriterierna har uppfyllts och att Girards tre stadier också förekommer i romanens samhälle. Till en början drabbas barn från nästan varje familj av en dödlig sjukdom och det får samhället att långsamt kollapsa. Frustrationen hos folket övergår i ett sökande efter orsaken till sjukdomen, dock inte den verkliga orsaken, snarare ett brott och någon att anklaga. Någon, är inte vem som helst, utan personen har tydliga offermarkörer. Syndabocken Merete är både socialt och fysiskt avvikande och det gör henne till den perfekta syndabocken. Resultatet visar att hennes död blir en rituell försoning som avslutar det rådande kaoset och friar folket får deras skuldkänslor. Motivet är också en del av en större försoningstematik, nämligen ett mönster som kräver lidande och stora uppoffringar för att nå försoning. Både staden och klostrets återupprättelse kräver offrande och både Merete och Apelone lider och dör för att inte hela samhället ska förintas.

This study assesses René Girard's claims regarding the Gospels' understanding of Jesus' death. Though Girard contends that the Gospels never depict Jesus' death as an atonement for sin, there are significant passages that Girard avoids discussing like the Last Supper sayings in the Synoptic Gospels. This dissertation investigates whether these central passages, along with other supporting texts in the Synoptics, jeopardize the viability of Girard's assertions, especially when they are read in light of restoration theology. <br>The core components of Girard's thought, his reading of salvation history, and the ways in which Girard's followers have adapted his thought are adumbrated in the opening chapters. Once the Girardian approach to soteriology has been depicted with its various permutations, the research turns towards Israel's hopes for restoration after the exile, including the reconstitution of its covenantal relationship with YHWH, as they are articulated in the Old Testament and intertestamental literature in order to establish the historical and theological context for reading the Gospels. After identifying the core components of restoration theology, it is argued that the Synoptic Gospels situate Jesus within Israel's hopes for restoration and that this backdrop should inform one's reading of the Synoptics rather than presupposing a polemical relationship between the Gospels and mythology as Girard does. After establishing restoration theology as the leitmotif of the Synoptics, specific attention is devoted to the Last Supper sayings along with other passages that, when read in light of restoration theology, indicate Jesus' death reconstitutes God's covenant relationship with his people by atoning for their sin. Should the exegesis and hermeneutical approach of this study prove persuasive, the conclusions jeopardize Girard's global claims regarding the Gospels' dearth of atonement theology. As a result, concessions or alterations will be necessary. The final segment of the study offers several ways in which Girardian soteriology could be reframed in order to account for the results of this particular study. / McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts; / Theology; / PhD; / Dissertation;

Cette thèse propose un double dépassement de la théorie mimétique de René Girard. Le premier consiste à confronter la théorie mimétique à la psychologie de l’admiration et de l’envie, afin de montrer comment les comportements mimétiques procèdent essentiellement de ces deux émotions. Dès lors, le mimétisme ne doit plus être considéré comme une cause première du comportement humain mais comme une cause seconde, subordonnée à l’admiration ou à l’envie. Le second dépassement, plus radicale, consiste à proposer une théorie émotionnelle du comportement humain plus complète que la théorie mimétique, intégrant non seulement l’envie et l’admiration mais aussi la peur et la piété filiale. Il est alors possible de proposer une théorie émotionnelle du politique distinguant quatre types de rapports hiérarchiques : le pouvoir tyrannique fondé sur la peur, régnant par la menace et le châtiment et visant à la sécurité de tous, le pouvoir fascinant fondé sur l’envie, régnant par la séduction et la récompense et visant à la supériorité de tous, l’autorité vertueuse fondée sur l’admiration, régnant par l’exemplarité et la vertu et visant à l’excellence de tous ; et l’autorité pieuse fondée sur la piété filiale, régnant par la responsabilité et le don de soi et visant à la communion de tous. / This thesis suggests a double « overtaking » of the mimetic theory developed by René Girard. The first one consists of confronting mimetic theory with the help of the psychology of admiration and envy in order to show how mimetic behaviours proceed mainly from these two emotions. Consequently, mimetism cannot be considered as a primary cause of human behaviour but as a secondary cause, subject to admiration or envy. The second one is more radical. It consists of suggesting a theory of human behaviour more comprehensive than the mimetic theory based not only on admiration and envy but also on fear and filial piety. Based on this anthropology, it is possible to develop an emotional theory of politics, distinguishing four types of hierarchical relationships : the tyrannic power based on fear, governing by threat and punishment and aiming to ensure security to all ; the fascinating power based on envy, governing by seduction and rewards and aiming to ensure priviledges to all ; the virtuous authority based on admiration, governing by example and virtue and aiming to ensure excellence to all ; the pious authority, governing by responsability and self-giving and aiming to ensure communion to all.

A partir de la fin du XIXe siècle, et notamment à travers les travaux de Richard Von Krafft-Ebing, de nouvelles représentations des perversions sexuelles humaines se mettent en place. La prise en compte de ces dynamiques dans l’homicide modifie les modes de classification des scènes de crime. Au XXe siècle, ces changements historiques conduisent à l’étude d’un phénomène rare et singulier : le meurtre sexuel sériel. Durant les années 1980, le F.B.I acquiert le monopole des savoirs et pratiques concernant la problématique des « serial killers ». De nos jours, ce monopole est remis en cause. Les profileurs du Bureau d’Investigation seraient les représentants d’une pratique pseudo-scientifique. Le serial killer serait avant tout une construction sociale initiée par la politique conservatrice des années Reagan. Selon certains psychiatres-psychanalystes, le F.B.I, en affirmant la place centrale des fantasmes sexuels dans la dynamique des crimes, aurait donné une image trompeuse du meurtre en série. A l’opposé, la présente étude entend démontrer que le principal enjeu n’est peut-être pas de déconstruire les discours du F.B.I, mais plutôt de confronter ces derniers à l’actualité des recherches scientifiques. Le profilage désignerait plutôt une méthode d’enquête dont les éléments de base sont susceptibles d’être corrigés et complétés. Sous cet angle, les modèles théoriques concurrents, notamment ceux défendus par la psychanalyse française, semblent également souffrir d’un certain nombre de difficultés. Certes, l’intensité des fantasmes sadiques ne peut pas être la seule dimension des actes criminels. Mais les fantasmes interagissent probablement avec les désirs et croyances des meurtriers. Si l’homicide sexuel sériel s’apparente, comme la plupart des commentateurs s’accordent à le dire, à une succession d’actes ritualisés, une approche anthropologique du phénomène pourrait avoir une certaine légitimité. Sous cet angle, des concepts tels que la psychopathie, la pulsion de mort ou l’omnipotence narcissique dissimulent peut-être l’existence d’un mécanisme victimaire à travers lequel les meurtriers engendrent leur propre religion ou mythologie. / From the late Nineteenth Century, in particular through Richard von Krafft-Ebing’s studies, new concepts have shaped the representations of sexual perversion. The study of the sexual dynamics in homicide cases changes the common methods of crime scene classification. In the Twentieth Century, these historical approaches lead to the study of a rare and particular phenomenon: serial sexual homicide. During the 1980s, the F.B.I dominates the field of practices and knowledge concerning the serial murder issue. Today, that domination is challenged. The F.B.I’s profiling methods are qualified as pseudo-scientific practice. Serial murder is nowadays more perceived as a simple social construction initiated by the Conservative politics of the Reagan years. According to some psychiatrists, the motivational model of the F.B.I has given a misleading picture of serial murder. The aim of the present work is to show that the main issue may not be to deconstruct the F.B.I’s studies, but to compare these first studies with current scientific research. Criminal profiling might be a method whose basic elements are likely to be corrected and completed. In this perspective, competing theoretical models, especially those held by psychoanalysis, also raise a number of difficulties. Of course, the intensity of sadistic fantasies can’t be the only dimension of criminal behavior. But fantasies probably interact with the desires and beliefs of the murderers. If serial sexual homicide appears to be, as most commentators agree, as a series of ritualistic acts, an anthropological approach may be legitimate. From this point of view, concepts such as “psychopathy”, “death drive” or “narcissism” do probably conceal the existence of a scapegoat mechanism by which killers are creating their own religion or mythology.

La thèse entend proposer un commentaire de la Chanson de Roland, fondé sur l'analyse minutieuse de toutes les variantes qui nous soient parvenues. Cette prise en considération de l'ensemble des versions françaises, rompant avec le dogme de la précellence du manuscrit d'Oxford, s'explique logiquement par la nature mouvante des œuvres médiévales, mais s'enracine aussi dans la conviction d'une texture mythique du poème de Roncevaux. Aussi le recours à la mythologie comparée constitue-t-il une ligne de force majeure du présent travail : s'inscrivant dans la tradition des études indo-européennes telles que Georges Dumézil a contribué à les fonder, la thèse propose une comparaison morphologique entre les mythes de Baldr et de Roland. Cet essai de mythologie comparée forme un premier temps dans l'analyse de la texture mythique du poème et peut être considéré comme autonome. Il s'articule cependant avec le travail de comparaison typologique qui lui succède. La thèse se propose en effet d'étudier la Chanson de Roland à la lumière de l'hypothèse victimaire élaborée par René Girard, qui permet de penser sous un jour nouveau l'esthétique et l'idéologie de la chanson de geste. De fait, la poétique de la répétition et l'art de la symétrie sont justiciables de la théorie du désir mimétique, tout comme la crise épique entretient des analogies étroites avec le modèle de la crise sacrificielle. C'est autour de la question anthropologique de la violence et de l'ambiguïté de la figure du guerrier mythique que ce travail réconcilie deux méthodes réputées incompatibles et pourtant complémentaires dans l'analyse qu'elles proposent de l'ambivalence des héros épiques. / This doctoral thesis intends to propose a commentary of the Chanson de Roland, based on a meticulous analysis of all the variants which have reached posterity. By paying close attention to the whole of French versions and by refusing to comment the sole manuscript of Oxford, as most of scholars do, we comply with the unsettled nature of medieval poetry and furthermore support the idea that the Chanson de Roland should be considered as a myth. The comparative mythology thus constitutes a main thrust of this work : in the tradition on Indo-european studies as founded by Georges Dumézil, we compare the myth of Roland to the myth of Balder, on a morphological level. The essay of comparative mythology is the first part of our commentary and could be regarded as self-reliant. However, it forms a single entity with the essay of typological comparison which follows. The thesis actually intends to interpret the poem in the light of the theory developed by René Girard, which allows to analyze the aesthetics and the ideology of the chanson de geste in a new light. The poetic of repetition and the art of symmetry are closely linked to the hypothesis of mimetic desire, just like the epic crisis is closely linked to the model of the sacrificial crisis. By studying the anthropological question of violence and the ambiguous figure of mythical warrior, this work combines two approaches, deemed to be irreconcilable and nevertheless complementary, in the sense that they interpret in the same way the ambivalence of epic heroes.

Submitted by Noeme Timbo (noeme.timbo@metodista.br) on 2017-01-26T12:02:47Z No. of bitstreams: 1 GideanaSousa.pdf: 2682729 bytes, checksum: 5ec57ecb335f020e008c123896e1f756 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-01-26T12:02:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 GideanaSousa.pdf: 2682729 bytes, checksum: 5ec57ecb335f020e008c123896e1f756 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-09-20 / Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq / This dissertation presents the results of research on Silas Malafaia - a well-known lecturer between evangelicals and among non- evangelicals in Brazil that uses the TV feature for about 33 years , where it holds programs with different formats over the years ; and an incisive speech relevant influence on many followers . His preaching condemns abortion , drug use and what sees as increasing the privileges of homosexuals , while he took the theology of prosperity. Using the theory of Mimetic Mechanism René Girard , and studying the context in which it was created and who was related from its beginnings , this research studies the evolution and positioning changes Silas Malafaia and the influence of his desire models. We will analyze in particular the transition to a more conservative theology Assembly of God to join the Positive Confession and Prosperity Theology, and the use of media not only toward Christians, but as a trade tool , which once fought . It started from the hypothesis that Silas Malafaia change his speech and preaching in that it takes as models of desire televangelists American pastors , as Morris Cerullo and Mike Murdock , who work in television media and are considered successful pastors. That the analysis , we differentiate two types of desire models - according to the mimetic desire theory of René Girard - in the life of Silas Malafaia : internal mediation models and external mediation. It is hoped that this work can contribute to the reflections on René Girard 's theory and for studies concerning the Assembleiano Pentecostalism and its various possibilities. / Esta dissertação de mestrado apresenta os resultados da pesquisa sobre Silas Malafaia – um conferencista conhecido entre evangélicos e entre não-evangélicos no Brasil que se utiliza do recurso televisivo há cerca de 33 anos, onde detém programas com formatos diversificados ao longo dos anos; e um discurso incisivo de relevante influência sobre muitos seguidores. Sua pregação condena o aborto, o uso de drogas e o que enxerga como aumento dos privilégios dos homossexuais, ao mesmo tempo em que assumiu a teologia da prosperidade. Usando da teoria do Mecanismo Mimético de René Girard, e estudando o contexto no qual foi criado e com quem se relacionou desde os seus primórdios, esta pesquisa estuda a evolução e mudanças de posicionamento de Silas Malafaia e a influência dos seus modelos de desejo. Analisaremos em particular a sua transição de uma teologia mais conservadora da Assembleia de Deus para adesão à Confissão Positiva e Teologia da Prosperidade, e a utilização da Mídia não apenas voltada para cristãos, mas como ferramenta de comercio, que antes combatia. Parte-se da hipótese de que Silas Malafaia muda seu discurso e pregação na medida em que assume como modelos de desejo pastores norte-americanos teleevangelistas, como Morris Cerullo e Mike Murdock, que atuam na mídia televisiva e são considerados pastores bem-sucedidos. Nessa na análise, diferenciamos dois tipos de modelos de desejo, -- de acordo com a teoria de desejo mimético de René Girard -- na vida de Silas Malafaia: modelos de mediação interna e os de mediação externa. Espera-se que este trabalho possa contribuir para as reflexões sobre a teoria de René Girard e também para estudos concernentes ao Pentecostalismo Assembleiano e suas diversas possibilidades.

Le présent travail propose une réflexion sur l'aspect social des émotions par l'entremise d'un examen de la dimension conflictuelle de 3 émotions: le désir, la honte et le dégoût. L'aspect problématique de ces émotions se situe au niveau de leur hypertrophie, en ce qu'elle encourage une emphase sur le soi, sur l'autosuffisance et la toute-puissance de l'individu, ce qui se traduit par des répercussions interpersonnelles, notamment la réduction marquée de la diversité des relations humaines qu'entretient l'individu avec les autres, et intrapersonnelles, particulièrement la narcotisation de l'identité individuelle. Cette réflexion est animée par la pensée de 3 principaux auteurs: celle de René Girard et de Martha C. Nussbaum afin d'explorer, pour chaque émotion, les implications de leur hypertrophie chez l'individu, puis de l'incidence du contexte social sur l'hypertrophie de ces émotions; celle d'Hannah Arendt afin de mieux comprendre la dynamique des relations humaines et comme palliatif à ces répercussions interpersonnelles et intrapersonnelles.

Le présent travail propose une réflexion sur l'aspect social des émotions par l'entremise d'un examen de la dimension conflictuelle de 3 émotions: le désir, la honte et le dégoût. L'aspect problématique de ces émotions se situe au niveau de leur hypertrophie, en ce qu'elle encourage une emphase sur le soi, sur l'autosuffisance et la toute-puissance de l'individu, ce qui se traduit par des répercussions interpersonnelles, notamment la réduction marquée de la diversité des relations humaines qu'entretient l'individu avec les autres, et intrapersonnelles, particulièrement la narcotisation de l'identité individuelle. Cette réflexion est animée par la pensée de 3 principaux auteurs: celle de René Girard et de Martha C. Nussbaum afin d'explorer, pour chaque émotion, les implications de leur hypertrophie chez l'individu, puis de l'incidence du contexte social sur l'hypertrophie de ces émotions; celle d'Hannah Arendt afin de mieux comprendre la dynamique des relations humaines et comme palliatif à ces répercussions interpersonnelles et intrapersonnelles.