I believe that in intense conflict, far from becoming sharper, differences melt away.
Rene GirardRead
Society's preservation against the unlimited violence of scandals lies in the mimetic coalition against the single victim and its ensuing limited violence. The violent death of Jesus is, humanly speaking, an example of this strange process.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on how society responds to violence by uniting against a scapegoat to maintain social order.
Rene Girard's quote discusses the concept of scapegoating in society, where the collective forces of a community come together to direct their violence towards a singular victim, which in turn protects the society from chaotic violence. By using the death of Jesus as an example, Girard highlights how this cycle of violence and scapegoating is a recurring theme in human history, suggesting that such mechanisms serve to establish social cohesion at the expense of the individual victim.
Themes
ScapegoatViolenceSocietyCohesionSacrifice
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used during a discussion on the nature of societal violence and blame.
More from Rene Girard
All quotes →We don't even know what our desire is. We ask other people to tell us our desires. We would like our desires to come from our deepest selves, our personal depths - but if it did, it would not be desire. Desire is always for something we feel we lack.
Rene GirardRead
The protective system of scapegoats is finally destroyed by the Crucifixion narratives as they reveal Jesus' innocence and, little by little, that of all analogous victims.
Rene GirardRead
Instead of blaming victimization on the victims, the Gospels blame it on the victimizers. What the myths systematically hide, the Bible reveals.
Rene GirardRead
What I call a mimetic crisis is a situation of conflict so intense that on both sides people act the same way and talk the same way even though, or because, they are more and more hostile to each other.
Rene GirardRead
Salvation lies in imitating Christ, in other words, in imitating the 'withdrawal relationship' that links him with his Father... To listen to the Father's silence is to abandon oneself to his withdrawal, to conform to it.
Rene GirardRead
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