Year AYear B
Advent/Christmas
Epiphany
Lent
Easter
Pentecost

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.


Culture

Dionysus

Faith

Interdividual

Mimesis

Mimetic Desire

Metaphysical Desire

Mimesis as Good

Model/Mediator

Mediation - Internal and External

Model Obstacle

Model-Rival

Religion

Sacrifice

Sacrifice (positive)

Sacrifice and Atonement

Satan

Scapegoat/Scapegoating

Scapegoating and Culture

Scapegoating and Sacrifice

Double Transference

Prohibition

Myth

Scapegoat Mechanism

Skandalon

All that we can think to say about this section of John is pretty well summed up in the previous few weeks' work. Forgive us for referring you to these weeks, but we ask you to have a look (if you haven't already) at:

Proper 12, or

Proper 13, or

Proper 14.

Thank you!

All that we can think to say about this section of John is pretty well summed up in the previous few weeks' work. Forgive us for referring you to these weeks, but we ask you to have a look (if you haven't already) at:

Proper 12, or

Proper 13, or

Proper 14.

Thank you!

All that we can think to say about this section of John is pretty well summed up in the previous few weeks' work. Forgive us for referring you to these weeks, but we ask you to have a look (if you haven't already) at:

Proper 12, or

Proper 13, or

Proper 14.

Thank you!

Either this page has not yet been completed, or we have not found any significant textual issues in the lectionary texts for this Sunday.

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"

"Mimesis"

"The Scapegoat"

"The Pillars of Culture"

"Jesus"

"The Four Gospels"

A Brief Introduction to Luke

What's New: (Hover your mouse over to pause cycling)
Proper 15, Year B

1 Kgs 2:10-12;3:3-14 or * Prv 9:1-6
Ps 111 * Ps 34:9-14

Eph 5:15-20
Jn 6:51-58


(1 Kings 2:10-12)
Then David slept with his ancestors, and was buried in the city of David. The time that David reigned over Israel was forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron, and thirty-three years in Jerusalem. So Solomon sat on the throne of his father David; and his kingdom was firmly established.

(1 Kings 3:3-14)

Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of his father David; only, he sacrificed and offered incense at the high places. The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the principal high place; Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, "Ask what I should give you." And Solomon said, "You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant my father David, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you; and you have kept for him this great and steadfast love, and have given him a son to sit on his throne today. And now, O LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people, so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted. Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?" It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. God said to him, "Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, I now do according to your word. Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you and no one like you shall arise after you. I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor all your life; no other king shall compare with you. If you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your life."

* (Proverbs 9:1-6)
Wisdom has built her house, she has hewn her seven pillars. She has slaughtered her animals, she has mixed her wine, she has also set her table. She has sent out her servant girls, she calls from the highest places in the town, "You that are simple, turn in here!" To those without sense she says, "Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Lay aside immaturity, and live, and walk in the way of insight."

(Ephesians 5:15-20)
Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil. So do notbe foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

(John 6:51-58)
I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh." The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" So Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever."

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.



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

Michael's Response to Willard Swartley's Covenent of Peace at the November Colloquium and Violence Meeting

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

"Jesus and the Gibeonites: Reading the Bible from the Perspective of the Hidden Victim" by James Warren.

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