Discovering Girard Book

This little book is a great introduction to Rene Girard's thought. In chapter one we are introduced to mimetic desire - we get our desires from others around us so that we end up desiring the same thing. This leads to conflict so, in chapter two, we learn of the scapegoat mechanism. To let off the steam necessary for culture to survive, scapegoats are found, blamed and killed. Girard sees this as the root of religion. This scapegoat can be internal (someone in the culture) or external (when one nation may go to war). Once you begin to grasp it, you see it everywhere.

The third chapter is on how the Christian Bible overturns the scapegoat mechanism by showing the innocence of the scapegoat. This is seen throughout, though most clearly in Jesus of Nazareth, the innocent victim. In killing an innocent scapegoat, the whole system is shown as faulty. Or we could say, the cycle of redemptive violence is broken.

The last two chapters are on some critiques of Girard as well as the future of his work.

Overall this is a good book if you want an introduction to Girard. That said, you can probably find almost as good an introduction online for free.