Abstract
The intriguing title of this volume will be clear enough to anyone familiar with the long debate about René Girard’s relationship to theology, through several decades up to his death in November 2015. Girard is not a ‘theologian’ in any formal sense of the word, and it is a label he himself consistently shied away from. Yet his work, almost from the beginning, is saturated with thinking about religion and the sacred, and the particular significance of the Jewish and Christian revelation for truth of his own mimetic theory. Girard engaged extensively and directly with biblical texts—in his third book, Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World, and numerous writing since, including a study of the Book of Job. His early polemical stance on ‘sacrifice,’ a concept and practice which for a long time he regarded as incompatible with Christianity, ignited considerable debate among theologians as to appropriate understanding of the atonement. There is a prima facie case, therefore, for conceding that Girard is indeed a theologian, in at least a broad understanding of the term.
While this particular question will probably never be resolved definitively (nor, in a sense, is it all that important), Grant Kaplan has done a fine job of examining the pros and cons. The fruit of his labours is the most comprehensive overview yet of Girard’s theory, as it relates to philosophical or fundamental theology. As Kaplan notes, with Girard’s death ‘the canon is now closed,’ and it is hard to see how this short (248 pages) but excellent treatment of the subject will be surpassed.
The endeavour is much more than attempting to see how Girard can be ‘fitted into’ theology. The exchange runs both ways: Kaplan shows how taking Girard seriously as a theological voice potentially reshapes and transforms the discipline, untying ancient knots. The debate on sacrifice, mentioned above, is the best-known example. Kaplan shows how many of the central themes of a fundamental theology curriculum might be similarly energized and illuminated: theological method (as heuristics and hermeneutics); reason and faith; the nature of revelation; the theology of religion and the religions; ecclesiology; modernity; atheism. René Girard, Unlikely Apologist could easily serve as an introductory textbook of fundamental theology, though the reticence and suspicion still accorded Girard in many academic circles does make this improbable.
To deal first of all with Girard’s status as an unlikely (apologetic) theologian: Kaplan argues in his Introduction for admitting Girard to the guild, if we take the term ‘theologian’ in the broadest sense. Kaplan’s primary reference points are two Catholic theologians, Hans Urs von Balthasar and Bernard Lonergan. Girard, it is alleged, shares the spiritual-mystical emphasis of Balthasar, as well as a respect for the dramatic nature of the biblical witness. With Lonergan, we have the possibility of explicating a crucial theme of Girard’s mimetic approach, namely the importance of conversion. This is the term Girard uses to describe the realignment of human desire, a liberation from mimetic entanglements which entrap us in patterns of resentment and violence. Insofar as spiritual progress is impossible without intellectual and affective conversion, Lonergan and Girard are agreed on the self-implication of the theologian, in the craft which he or she professes.
The principal counter-argument, however, is Girard’s own allergy to being so labelled. On one occasion, when pressed, Girard described himself as simply a ‘reader of texts,’ and Kaplan is perhaps wise not to urge the issue. More significant is what Girard’s mimetic theory brings to the theological conversation in the areas listed above.
The book includes, in its opening chapter, the standard exposition of the basics of mimetic theory. Each Girardian fills out the picture with her or his own lurid examples of resentment and scapegoating, and I’m grateful to Kaplan for letting us know about the case of Steve Bartman, the unfortunate Chicago Cubs fan whose intervention in a crucial game in 2003 cost the Cubs an appearance in the World Series. His error unleashed upon him the venom of the city of Chicago (pp. 30–32). Juxtaposing this incident with more ancient examples, such as the evidence of the pre-Colombian burial mounds of Cahokia, Mississipi, Kaplan sets out the anthropological case for the enduring complicity of violence and culture.
How do these anthropological insights interweave with formal theological investigation? Of the themes listed above, I will briefly summarize two: chapter three, ‘Mimetic Theory and the Theology of Revelation,’ examines prominent exponents of contemporary understanding of the doctrine of revelation (René Latourelle, Avery Dulles). Kaplan finds each unsuccessful in his attempt to escape the false Enlightenment polarity of objective/exterior facts and subjective/interior interpretation. Kaplan’s proposed alternative draws on hermeneutics, specifically the work of Hans Georg Gadamer and Walter Ong, as well as Girard, to re-construe ‘revelation’ as a reading process of ‘destabilizing discovery.’ Such a process is modelled and exemplified by Jesus in key passages of Luke’s gospel, where he reads and interprets the sacred text (Lk 4: 16–21; Lk 24:13–15).
Chapter Four, ‘Realizing a Mimetic Theory of Religion,’ is a sensible exploration of one of the problematic areas of Girardian exegesis. How do we reconcile apparently contradictory statements: about the incomparable effectiveness of the Judeo-Christian revelation as exposure of the scapegoating mechanism, on the one hand, and the possibility that other world faiths may have a similar revelatory significance. There is an abundance of frankly evangelical statements, which has left Girard vulnerable to charges of exclusivism and supersessionism. Kaplan takes us carefully through the spoken and written evidence in a way that rebuts the more serious accusations and points up the ongoing work by Girardians and interlocutors in the area of inter-religious dialogue.
Given the conciseness of the volume there are, inevitably, sins of omission. The discussion of ‘revelation as hermeneutics,’ for example, would have been the place to introduce Paul Ricoeur, who acknowledged the influence of Girard on his own intersubjective hermeneutical theory. In the chapter on the theology of religion, Girard’s approval of Benedict XVI’s controversial Regensburg lecture in 2006 is noted. It would have been interesting to explore—in a mimetic key—the Islamic reactions to the speech: the turbulence of enraged mobs, certainly, but also the ‘Common Word’ document, composed by Muslim scholars in response to Benedict’s address. And with regard to the thematic arrangement of fundamental themes, it seems odd that there is a chapter on ‘Mimetic Theory and Atheism’ (giving a fine survey of Girard’s long ‘dialogue’ with Nietzsche), but not directly on God. The significance of mimetic theory for the doctrine of the Trinity is indeed signalled early on, but a chapter-length treatment would have been invaluable.
These are minor complaints, in comparison to the book’s achievements. Kaplan’s epilogue restates his twofold task, firstly, underscoring Girard’s importance for contemporary fundamental theology, and secondly, an ‘apology’ for Girard, through which a degree of ‘hermeneutical generosity’ will enable us to resolve many of the alleged or real problems in his work. Kaplan notes, for example, that many of the criticisms have been corrected by Girard himself, or have turned out to be misreadings to be clarified. There is therefore no excuse for theologians not engaging seriously with mimetic theory in its totality, even if they disagree with it.
I have suggested another accomplishment: René Girard: Unlikely Apologist could serve as a fresh and attractive introduction to fundamental theology per se, though one in which its main themes are provocatively rendered through the heuristic lens of mimetic theory. In its sympathetic and balanced treatment of a daunting range of themes and thinkers, Kaplan’s book is itself is a fine model of ‘hermeneutical generosity’ for theology students learning their difficult trade.