Violence, Desire, and the Sacred, Volume 1

Scott Cowdell is Associate Professor and Research Fellow in Public and Contextual Theology at Charles Sturt University, Australia, Canon Theologian of the Canberra-Goulburn Anglican Diocese, and Founding President of the Australian Girard SeminarChris Fleming is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy and Anthropology, School of Humanities and Languages, the University of Western Sydney, Australia. His is the author of Violence and Mimesis (2004) and is current Vice-President of the Australian Girard Seminar.Joel Hodge is Lecturer in Systematic Theology, School of Theology, Australian Catholic University, Australia. He is the author of Resisting Violence and Victimisation: Christian Faith and Solidarity in East Timor and is current Treasurer and Secretary of the Australian Girard Seminar.Wolfgang Palaver is Professor and Chair of the Institute for Systematic Theology at the University of Innsbruck, Austrian, and President of the Colloquium on Violence & Religion (COV&R).

• ForewordAnn AstellContributorsIntroductionScott Cowdell, Joel Hodge and Chris FlemingPart I: Finding Our Bearings1. René Girard, Modernity, and ApocalypseScott CowdellPart II: Biblical Studies2. "Like Being Dragged Through a Bush Backwards": Hints of the Shape of Conversion's AdventureJames Alison3. Finding the Way: How to Study Scripture with the Help of Scripture and the Desert FathersDraško Dizdar4. Sacred Men and Sacred Goats: Mimetic Theory in Levitical and Passion IntertextDebra AnstisPart III: Theology5. Beyond Locked Doors: The Breath of the Risen OneAnthony J. Kelly, CSsR6. Torture and Faith: The Violent Sacred and Christian Resistance in East TimorJoel Hodge7. Girard and the Tasks of TheologyKevin LenehanPart IV: Literary Studies8. René Girard, Jacques Derrida's The Gift of Death, and Salman RushdieVijay Mishra9. Grace Can Be Violent: Flannery's O'Connor's Novelistic TruthJeremiah AlbergPart V: History and Political Thought10. Europe and Enmity: How Christianity Can Contribute to a Positive IdentityWolfgang Palaver11. Herodian Aspects of the English Reformation Monarchy: Girardian Insights into Unacknowledged Brutality Ivan Head12. Human Rights: Controlling the Uncontrollable?Peter StorkPart VI: Developments and Critiques13. Hard Evidence for Girardian Mimetic Theory? Intersubjectivity and Mirror NeuronsScott Cowdell14. Nietzsche, the Last AtheistChris Fleming and John O'Carroll15. Is All Desire Mimetic? Lonergan and Girard on the Nature of Desire and AuthenticityNeil OrmerodGlossary of Key Girardian TermsSome Further ReadingIndex

This very impressive volume shows how mimetic theory has broken free of its transatlantic origins, inspiring first-rate scholarship from around the world, most notably Australia. The interdisplinary richness of the theory remains intact: established scholars and new voices provide the customary insightful readings of theological and literary texts, alongside new trajectories, in history and in neuroscience. Violence, Desire and the Sacred is an indispensible survey of the state of play with regard to the latest wave of Girardian studies.