Glossary
Clicking the words below(as will also happen when you click certain instances of them in other pages) will open a small window with a brief definition of the word or phrase. Where it seems helpful, we'll also refer you to other texts that discuss the term in greater detail.
Occasional Articles
As with the Introductory Articles, we will add other articles as time permits or as our readers request. If you have a suggestion for anything, please let us know.
Michael Hardin
Is the Apocalypse Inevitable?: Native American Prophecy and the Mimetic Theory presented to the Colloquium on Violence and Religion 2008
Michael's Essay for a Celebration Volume honoring Rene Girard
Does Peace Make A Difference? - Michael's essay in response to Rick Warren's P.E.A.C.E. plan (which somehow never mentions peace).
An Analysis of Rick Warren - Michael's response to "The Purpose Driven Life."
"The God of Pat Robertson" - a response to Pat Robertson's words to the people of Dover, PA.
"A response to Charles Stanley's "A Nation at War"
"Must God be violent? A Diagnosis and Prescription for Modern Christianity"
The Scapegoat: Christologies in Conflict - A Study in Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Biblical Testaments as a Marriage of Convenience: Rene Girard and Biblical Interpretation
Finding Our Way Home: A Brief Note On The Authority and Interpretation of Scripture
"Does The Passion of the Christ Preach the Gospel?"
A sermon for the holiday devoted to Dr. Martin Luther King. (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.)
GRASPING GOD: Philippians 2: 1-11 in the Light of Mimetic Theory
Rene Girard and the Recovery of Early Christian Perspectives (Brethren Life and Thought)
The Dynamics of Violence and the Imitation of Christ in Maximus Confessor (St. Vladimir's Theological Quarterly)
"EcoSpirituality"
Or What Happens When You Sit Down With A French Literary Critic
Jeff Krantz
Mighty One or Crucified Messiah? Competing Christologies and the Chiastic Structure of Mark's Gospel
There's No Such Thing as the Rapture - A sermon preached at the Church of the Advent, Westbury (requires Acrobat Reader)
Holy Scripture and the Consecration of Gene Robinson - a response to the request of the Windsor Report for a Scriptural rationale. (requires Adobe's Acrobat Reader)
Worship - The Redemption of Desire by Jeff Krantz
Myth and Film - a piece written for the City of Angels Film Festival
The Stations of the Cross - Rewritten by Jeff Krantz
A Dramatic Presentation of the Stations of the Cross for Youth by Barb Fabijan-Waddell
Escaping the Power of "My" - A NonViolent Approach to Stewardship
Preaching Peace in Hollywood: The Theologies of Terminator, Lord of the Rings, and the Matrix
V for Vendetta - The Name Says It All A review of the movie.
Essays, Sermons and Liturgical Pieces by Friends of Preaching Peace
Mark Heim's "No More of This" - A hymn on Nonviolent Atonement
Kate Layzer's "No More of This" - A hymn on Nonviolent Atonement (and inspiration for Mark Heim's hymn!)
Alan Cork, "Transformation" in L'Arche: A Mimetic Account presented to the Colloquium on Violence and Religion 2008
"The Wisdom of God's Peace" a sermon by Jim Amstutz, co-pastor of Michael's church.
Girard's Christology - Per Bjornar Grande
Violence, Anarchy and Scripture: Jacques Ellul and Rene Girard - Matthew Patillo
Comparing Plato's Understanding of Mimesis to Girard's - Per Bjorner Grande
C. Frank Terhune, an Easter Sermon: "God's Big But" (no kidding!)
Gerald Biesecker-Mast's paper from Theologia Pacis on Pacifist Gospel Epstimology.
An essay by the Rev. John Hill on Mimetic Theory and Catechesis
Finally, Tinker seeks to read the New Testament through a Native lens, taking up Jesus’ notion of the ‘basileia tou theou’ and querying whether western notions of temporality have not hidden the most powerful aspects of Jesus’ teaching. The notion of ‘basileia’ is ‘radically disjunctive for any American Indian reader or listener quite beyond the inherent sexism of the usual ‘kingdom’ translation, simply because Indian peoples in North America never functioned with political systems that included hegemonic monarchs…the only possible analogue for the notion of ‘basileia’ might be the Bureau of Indian Affairs or the U.S. War Department.”
The adoption of a Native perspective on ‘basileia’ begins with the creation, the entire creation as the realm of God, thus it is not the when of the kingdom as much as the where that is important. Turning to ‘basileia’ in the Markan gospel, Tinker concludes that the spatiality of the metaphor is far more essential than it’s temporality, a conclusion reached by many contemporary researchers on the historical Jesus. ‘Basileia tou theou’ is then “a creation metaphor imaging ideal harmony and balance…hence the ideal world to which Jesus points in the gospels is precisely the realization of the proper relationship between the Creator and the created in the real, spatial world of creation.” Lastly, ‘repentance’ (metanoia) is given its initial thrust found in the Hebrew Prophets of ‘return’, a return to the imaged creation of the Genesis narratives, a return to the land as promise, to the earth as our Mother.
Spirit and Resistance marks a new foray into reading the Scriptures from the perspective of the ‘fourth world’, the view from truly indigenous populations. Unlike theology done from the perspective of the third world, capitalism and individualism, property and wealth are not to be seen as signs of success, but rather of failure to hear the prophetic voice of God in Christ. Tinker’s work will likely satisfy few, yet it his analysis is quite powerful and meshes well with trends in 21st century theological discourse.
.For those engaged with the application of mimetic theory, Spirit and Resistance is most notable for its consistent critique of what Girard calls the ‘romantic lie’, that is the notion of the individual ego, the autonomous self. Tinker’s insistence that community grounds individuality is most applicable to the deconstruction of much modern christian theology and demands contemporary christianity revalue not only its corporate character but also its relation to the cosmos, particularly the unique planet we call Earth.
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Introductory Articles
We will add articles as we are able, or as users of the site request them, so if you have suggestions for additional pieces, please write to us!
"Introduction to Mimetic Theory"
"Jesus"
Finding Our Way Home: A Brief Note on the Authority and Interpretation of Scripture
George E. Tinker (Fortress Press; Minneapolis), 115 pages, notes, index
Spirit and Resistance is an instructive essay in the dialogue between Christians and Native Americans. It serves as a much needed corrective both to mythical views of the subjugation of the Native Americans as well as critiquing the New Age appropriation of Native American beliefs, traditions and ceremonies. Professor Tinker, who teaches at the Iliff School of Theology, expresses himself lucidly and forcefully. His book is written “as an act of defense and resistance to the continuing colonization of Indian peoples in North America.”
Tinker calls the American people (churches) to review their false reading of Native American history and traditions. These false readings have produced a lack of awareness with regard to the appropriation of Native traditions precisely in that the West has been subjected to dualism whereas Native traditions participate in what can be termed communal/wholeness worldviews. Tinker takes great pains to elucidate just how the western notion of the individual, the autonomous ego encourages greed and envy. This will to greed and envy is what will eventuate in the ‘empire-making mythology’ of American expansionism.
Layering his text with both personal reminiscences and objective historical examples, Tinker is able to provide a tapestry that demands repentance. Challenging notions of Native identity (the blood % question) quantified by the ruling elite, Tinker elaborates four basic differences that set apart Native from non-Native cultures: spatiality (not temporality) as a general frame of reference, attachment to particular lands or territories, the priority of the community over the personal and a consistent notion of the interrelatedness of humans and the rest of creation. Those acquainted with mimetic theory already have a significant clue as to how this may play out.
After laying the groundwork for the significant differences between Native thought and ‘the white virus’, Tinker turns his attention to those within and without Native communities that have appropriated Native traditions for profit. His is merciless in his criticism of those who have sold out their Native heritage and pitiless toward those who seek what they cannot and will not find in pretending to adopt Native ways. Throughout his critical appraisal Tinker notes the damage that ‘individualism’ has done to Native life and lifestyles.
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