COV&R-Bulletin No. 14 (March 1998)

A Note from the Editor

Finally, my time as the editor of this newsletter is over. This should really be the last issue of the Bulletin for which I am responsible. Thanks again to all those of you--especially Jim Williams--who helped me to do that job. Johan Elsen will be in charge from next October on. I wish him all the best and ask all of you to help him too.

The Bulletin is also available on Internet. You can find this issue and three previous issues (No. 9 to No. 13) at the following World Wide Web address:

http://info.uibk.ac.at/c/c2/c204/bulletin/

Let me raise also some administrative matters:

(1) We ask you to send us your contributions to the Bulletin on a floppy disk or by e-mail. It greatly simplifies the publication of the Bulletin.

(2) If you would like to write a book review for the Bulletin please contact the editorial office or James G. Williams, the executive secretary. The length of a review should be between 600 and 1000 words. Longer reviews (at most 2000 words) will only be published in special circumstances.

(3) The length of an abstract should be between 100 and 300 words.

(4) Please find out if you have paid your annual dues. You will find the date of your last payment at the top of your mailing label. The regular membership fee is $40.00. Matriculated students may enroll for $20. It is also possible to subscribe to the Bulletin without membership for $15. The Bulletin appears biannually. The terms of payment you will find on the front-page.

Wolfgang Palaver

A Note from the Executive Secretary

As many of you know, I will retire from Syracuse University in May. Yvonne and I anticipate moving eventually to the southwestern part of the US, probably to our home state of Oklahoma. It is therefore an appropriate time to find another person to take over the position of Executive Secretary. I expect to continue to be active in COV&R, but since I am not sure of what retirement will bring in terms of our living situation and my professional work, it is a good time to hand the responsibilities over to someone who has a good university position and who is well connected, not only with our COV&R colleagues, but with others in theology, literature, or other fields. I had hoped this would be an American, in that one of the initial goals of COV&R was to contribute to establishing a Girardian base in the USA. But it may be time for a European to do this job, given the number of Europeans interested in Girard's work.

In any case, I would like to express my appreciation to and for the many outstanding friends and colleagues I have come to know and have worked with in COV&R. I can't mention everyone, of course, but I will limit my word of thanks here to our honorary chair Renéé Girard; present officers: Cesááreo Bandera, Gil Bailie, Wolfgang Palaver, and Andrew McKenna; and past president Raymund Schwager and past editor of Contagion Judy Arias. These and many other good friends and colleagues are the most outstanding group of people with whom I've had the privilege to work. I hope it won't embarrass them to say that knowing them has been a blessing for me.

James G. Williams

Bibliography of Literature on the Mimetic Theory, vol. XIV

1) Books concerning the entire work of Renéé Girard

Martini, Carlo Maria. Fedi e violenze. Cattedra die non credenti promossa da 9. Torino: Rosenberg & Sellier, 1997.

2) Articles concerning the entire work of Renéé Girard

Baudler, Georg. "Jesus - der vollkommene Süündenbock? Zu Renéé Girards Revision seines Opferbegriffs." In Lebendiges Zeugnis 52 (1997): 212 -223.

Menges, Thomas. "Opfer sind immer und üüberall: Eine Einfüührung in Renéé Girards mimetische Theorie in didaktischer Absicht." In Zeitschrift füür Didaktik der Philosophie und Ethik 19/3 (1997): 171 -183.

Moerschbacher, Marco. "Gott und Gewalt: Menschliche Projektionen und gööttliche Offenbarung." In Tauwetter 11/4 (1997): 40 -59.

Lascaris, Andréé. "Renéé Girard als literaire criticus." In Kultuurleven 62/6 (1995): 42 -45.

Lascaris, Andréé. "Renéé Girard onder de filosofen." In Filosofie 5/3 (1995): 5 -7.

Lascaris, Andréé. "Sleutelbegrippen bij Renéé Girard." In: Toerusting no. 6 (1994): 7 -19.

Nordhofen, Eckhard. "Mimesis." In Zeitschrift füür Didaktik der Philosophie und Ethik 19/3 (1997): 146 -148.

Palaver, Wolfgang. "Renéé Girard: Die mimetische Theorie." In Zeitschrift füür Didaktik der Philosophie und Ethik 19/3 (1997): 184 -192.

Schwager, Raymund. "Mimesis - Nachahmung." In Zeitschrift füür Didaktik der Philosophie und Ethik 19/3 (1997): 149 -156.

Scobel, Gert. "Das Denken auf den Kopf stellen: Renéé Girards Vortrag üüber ""Religion und Gewalt""." In Frankfurter Rundschau Nr. 268, 16 November 1996.

Scubla, Lucien. "Vindicatory System, Sacrificial System: From Opposition to Reconciliation." Stanford French Review 16/1 (1992): 55 -76.

Vanheeswijck, Guido. "Zelfrerruiming of loutering? Over de betekenis van gefagmenteerde subjectiviteit in het vroege werk van Renéé Girard." In Bijdragen 57/3 (1996): 242 -263.

3) Interviews with Renéé Girard

Girard, Renéé. "Dialogo tra il Cardinale Carlo Maria Martini e Renéé Girard." In: Martini, Carlo Maria. Fedi e violenze, 37 -42. Cattedra die non credenti promossa da 9. Torino: Rosenberg & Sellier, 1997.

4) Reviews about single works of Renéé Girard

Ortner, Herwig. """Auswege aus dem Kreislauf der Gewalt"": Review of ""Wenn all das beginnt ... Ein Gesprääch mit Michel Treguer""." In prääsent no. 16, 17 April 1997, 9.

Pachet, Pierre. "Review of ""Quand ces choses commenceront ... Entretiens avec Michel Treguer." Quinzaine litteraire no. 648 (June 1994): 19.

5) Books with references to Renéé Girard

Bieler, Martin. Befreiung der Freiheit: Zur Theologie der stellvertretenden Süühne. Freiburg im Br.: Herder, 1996.

Borg, M. Het geloof der goddelozen. Baarn, 1996.

Calasso, Roberto. Der Untergang von Kash. Aus dem Italienischen von Joachim Schulte. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1997.

Herzog, Markwart. ""Descensus ad inferos"": Eine religionsphilosophische Untersuchung der Motive und Interpretationen mit besonderer Berüücksichtigung der monographischen Literatur seit dem 16. Jahrhundert. Frankfurter theologische Studien 53. Frankfurt am Main: Knecht, 1997.

Houtepen, A. God, een open vraag. Zoetermeer, 1997.

Lascaris, Andréé. Meer dan ikzelf: Onbevangen kijken naar wat christenen geloven. Baarn, 1996.

Ley, Michael. Genozid und Heilserwartung: Zum nationalsozialistischen Mord am europääischen Judentum. Mit einem Vorwort von Lééon Poliakov. Wien: Picus Verlag, 1993.

Reineke, Martha J.: Sacrificed Lives: Kristeva on Women and Violence. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1997.

6) Articles with references to Renéé Girard

Anon. """Süündenbockprojekt"" an der Theologischen Fakultäät Innsbruck." In Kathpress-Tagesdienst no. 85, 14/15 May 1997, 4.

Anspach, Mark. "Déélire individuel et effervescence collective." In Méécanismes mentaux, méécanismes sociaux: De la psychose àà la panique, ed. Dupuy, Jean-Pierre and Grivois, Henri , 97 -107. Paris: ÉÉditions La déécouverte, 1995.

Bertonneau, Thomas. "Celsus, The First Nietzsche: Resentment and the Case against Christianity." In Anthropoetics: The Electronic Journal of Generative Anthropology 3/1 (Spring/Summer 1997): http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/humnet/anthropoetics/

Birot, Antoine. """God in Christ, Reconciled the World to himself"": Redemption in Balthasar." In Communio (Summer 1997): 259 -284.

Dennett, Daniel. "Comment nous tissons notre moi." In Méécanismes mentaux, méécanismes sociaux: De la psychose àà la panique, ed. Dupuy, Jean-Pierre and Grivois, Henri, 147 -166. Paris: ÉÉditions La déécouverte, 1995.

Gotthardt, Christoph. "Besuch in Platons Hööhle: Ein Unterrichtsmodell ab Klasse 9." In Zeitschrift füür Didaktik der Philosophie und Ethik 19 (1997): 157 -163.

Lesch, Walter. "Grenzfragen kommunikativen Handelns: Erfahrungen von Schuld und radikalem Böösen." In Erkenntniswege in der Theologie, ed. Bogensberger, Hugo a.o., 233 -250. Forum St. Stephan: Gesprääche zwischen Wissenschaft, Kultur und Kirche 10. Graz: Styria, 1998.

Niewiadomski, Jóózef and Palaver, Wolfgang. "Cui bono? Zu Weingarts wissenschaftstheoretischer Löösung des paradoxen Interdisziplinaritäätsdiskurses." In Ethik und Sozialwissenschaften 8 (1997): 564 -566.

Oosterling, Henk. "Een wereld van verschil: Over zingeving en (spi)ritualiteit in postmoderne tijden." In Scherven brengen geluk: Identiteit en geloven in een wereld van verschillen, ed. Lascaris, A., Oosterveen, L. and Willems, A., 13 -32. DSTS-cahier 6. Zoetermeer, 1996.

Regensburger, Dietmar. "Religion, Gewalt ... Film: Symposium 1997." In: Baustelle Theologie: Fakultäätszeitung der Katholisch-Theologischen Fakultäät Innsbruck 1/1 (1997): 2

Schwager, Raymund. "Theologie und Forschungsprogramm." In Bulletin ET 8 (1997): 196 -207.

Schneider, Matthew. "Writing in the Dust: Irony and Lynch-Law in the Gospel of John." In Anthropoetics: The Electronic Journal of Generative Anthropology 3/1 (Spring/Summer 1997): http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/humnet/anthropoetics/

Steinkeller, Anna. "Das Phäänomen der Gewalt: Innsbrucker Theologen befassen sich mit ""Süündenbööcken""." In Salzburger Nachrichten, 16 May 1997, 4.

Vattimo, Gianni. Glauben - Philosophieren. Aus dem Italienischen üübersetzt von Christine Schultz. Stuttgart: Reclam, 1997.

7) Books applying the mimetic theory

Dupuy, Jean-Pierre and Grivois, Henri, ed. Méécanismes mentaux, méécanismes sociaux: De la psychose àà la panique. Textes àà l'appui: Séérie sciences cognitives. Paris: ÉÉd. La Déécouverte, 1995.

Gardeil, Pierre. Quinze regards sur le corps livréé. Avant-propos de Renéé Girard. Geneve: Editions Ad Solem, 1997.

Sandler, Willibald. Bekehrung des Denkens: Karl Rahners Anthropologie und Soteriologie als formal-offenes System in triadischer Perspektive. Frankfurt am Main: Lang, 1996.

Thomas, Konrad. Zugehöörigkeit und Abgrenzung: ÜÜber Identitääten. Bodenheim: Syndikat, 1997.

Wessely, Christian. Von Star Wars, Ultima und Doom: Mythologische verschleierte Gewaltmechanismen im komerziellen Film und in Computerrollenspielen. Europääische Hochschulschriften: Reihe 23, Theologie 612. Frankfurt am Main: Lang, 1997.

8) Articles applying the mimetic theory

Girard, Renéé. "Automatismes et libertéé." In Méécanismes mentaux, méécanismes sociaux: De la psychose àà la panique, ed. Dupuy, Jean-Pierre and Grivois, Henri, 109 -125. Paris: ÉÉditions La déécouverte, 1995.

Grande, Per Bjøørnar. "Dostojevkijs religiøøse utvikling (Dostoevsky's Religious Development)." In Kirke og Kultur 6 (1996): 513 -526.

Grivois, Henri. "De l'individuel àà l'universel: La centralitéé psychotique." In Méécanismes mentaux, méécanismes sociaux: De la psychose àà la panique, ed. Dupuy, Jean-Pierre and Grivois, Henri, 23 -65. Paris: ÉÉditions La déécouverte, 1995.

Holm-Nielsen, Svend. "Is Job a Scapegoat?" In In the Last Days: On Jewish and Christian Apocalyptic and its Period, ed. Jeppesen, Knud, 128 - 135. Aarhus: Aarhus Univ. Press, 1994.

Larmore, Charles. "Une thééorie du moi, de son instabilitéé et de la libertéé d'esprit." In Méécanismes mentaux, méécanismes sociaux: De la psychose àà la panique, ed. Dupuy, Jean-Pierre and Grivois, Henri, 127 -145. Paris: ÉÉditions La déécouverte, 1995.

Lascaris, Andréé. "Being a Christian in Europe." In New Blackfriars 76 (1995): 60 -69.

Lascaris, Andréé. "De confrontatie van christenen met geweldsituaties." In: Kernvraag no. 105 (1994): 32 -41.

Lascaris, Andréé. "De zondebok in de media." In Geweldloos Aktief 30/2 (1995): 18 -20.

Lascaris, Andréé. "Elkaar in het gelaat zien: Zoeken naar veerschillen die de ander niet uitsluiten." In Bouwen met los zand: Theologische reflecties op verschil en verbondenheid, ed. Kalsky, M., Lascaris, A. and Oosterveen, L., 11 -27. DSTS-cahier 7. Zoetermeer, 1997.

Lascaris, Andréé. "Geweld en opvoeding." In Tijdschrift voor vredesopvoeding 11 (1996): 10 -13.

Lascaris, Andréé. "Mag ik 'wij' zeggen? Een ontmoeting van de barmhartige Samaritaan met drie postmoderne filosofen." In Herfsttij van de moderne tijd: Theologische visies op het postmoderne, ed. Kalsky, M., Borgman, E. And Merkx, M., 51 -69. DSTS-cahier 5. Zoetermeer, 1995.

Lascaris, Andréé. "Omzien naar scherven: Op zoek naar een identiteit van christenen." In Scherven brengen geluk: Identiteit en geloven in een wereld van verschillen, Lascaris, A., Oosterveen, L. and Willems, A., 93 -109.DSTS-cahier 6. Zoetermeer, 1996.

Lascaris, Andréé. "Oorlog en vrede tussen burgers." In Religie, geweld, verzoening, ed. Van Iersel, F., 187 -198. Baarn, 1996.

Lascaris, Andréé. "The Intervention of the New Testament." In: Humanitarian Intervention and the Pursuit of Justice: A Pax Christi contribution to a Contemporary Debate, ed. Wicker, B. and Van Iersel, F., 29 -40. Kampen, 1995.

Lascaris, Andréé. "Vergelding en vergeving in bijbels-theologisch perspectief." In Terugkeer van de wraak, ed. Burggraeve, R. And De Tavernier, J., 23 -49. Averbode, 1996.

Lohfink, Norbert. "Der gewalttäätige Gott des Alten Testamentes und die Suche nach einer gewaltfreien Gesellschaft." In Tauwetter 11/4 (1997): 5 -39.

Martinez, Marie-Louise. "Pour une anthropologie relationelle en littéérature, au service de l'ééducation." In Philosophie du langage esthéétique et ééducation, ed. Berthier, Philippe and Dufour, Dany-Robert, 51 -71. séémantiques. Paris: Editions L'Harmattan, 1996.

Mishler, William. "Bone of the Lamb, Blood of the lamb: Ibsen's ""Brand"" and Generative Anthropology." In Anthropoetics: The Electronic Journal of Generative Anthropology 3/1 (Spring/Summer 1997): http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/humnet/anthropoetics/

Niewiadomski, Jóózef. "Aufkläärung durch Theologie." In Erkenntniswege in der Theologie, ed. Bogensberger, Hugo a.o., 89 -106. Forum St. Stephan: Gesprääche zwischen Wissenschaft, Kultur und Kirche 10. Graz: Styria, 1998.

Palaver, Wolfgang and Schwager, Raymund. "Ohne Theologie / Religion löösen sich die Human-und Geisteswissenschaften in Beliebigkeit auf!(?)." In Die Wissenschaft - eine Gefahr füür die Welt?, ed. Barta, Heinz and Grabner-Niel, Elisabeth, 245 -268. Wissenschaft und Verantwortlichkeit 1996. Wien: WUV-Universitäätsverlag, 1996.

Price, Robert M. "In the Beginning Was the Deed: A Neo-Girardian Look at the Passion Narrative." FORUM 9/3 -4 (1993): 257 - 303.

Schwager, Raymund. "Apokalyptik: ÜÜber die Verbindlichkeit der biblischen Bilder vom Ende der Geschichte." In Salzburger Theologische Zeitschrift 1/1 (1997): 2 -14.

Schwager, Raymund. "Religion als Begrüündung einer Ethik der Gewaltüüberwindung (Religion as the Foundation of an Ethic of Overcoming Violence)." In Concilium 33 (1997): 555 -564. (Translations of this Article are published in English, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch issues of Concilium)

The Documentation of Literature on the Mimetic Theory is searchable online via Internet. The World Wide Web adress is: http://starwww.uibk.ac.at [for further information see Bulletin no. 9 (1995): p. 6].

You are welcome to send us copies of your articles as well as to refer to any kind of literature dealing with the Mimetic Theory.

Dietmar Regensburger E-mail: Dietmar.Regensburger@uibk.ac.at

Girard-Documentation Fax: (43 512) 507-2761

University of Innsbruck, Universitäätsstr. 4, A-6020 Innsbruck / Austria

Report from the COV&R Meeting in San Francisco, November 22, 1997

There was one session of COV&R in conjunction with the annual convention of the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature, which met in San Francisco November 22 -25, 1997. Renéé Girard gave a paper drawn from his book in progress on the Gospels and mythology. There were about 75 people present to hear Girard, a new attendance record for the COV&R meetings during AAR/SBL.

Most of Girard's familiar topics and themes were represented in the lecture, which focused on the meaning of the Passion in relation and in contrast to the myths and rituals of the non-biblical religions. One relatively new note was something Girard has been reflecting on more and more in recent years, namely the positive as well as negative aspects of the relation of the Gospels' presentation of Christ to the myths and rituals of the non-biblical religions. Here are three key paragraphs from the paper:

"Far from being meaningless abracadabra, archaic religions are the fundamentally rational and functional behavior and belief which follow from the deluded premise [which involves] the mistaking of some highly effective scapegoating episode for the epiphany of some new divinity whose main purpose was to teach the community how to sacrifice victims and thus prevent the return of disruptive crises such as the ones this divinity itself had terminated through its own sacrifice.

"In mythology scapegoating 'works' and therefore is misinterpreted, whereas in the Gospels scapegoating succeeds with the crowd but ultimately fails with the disciples because of the Resurrection which rescues them from the mimetic contagion and turns them into true witnesses of Jesus' death, marturoi able to write a truthful account of what happened, and, if necessary to die the same death as Jesus' death.

"In mythology, scapegoats are divinized because they are mistaken for culprits and never identified as the innocent and helpless victims they really are. As a result, they save their own communities from their own mimetic dissensions. They are a cause of unity in this world, whereas the Gospels are not."

His thesis in this paper complements what he says in the interview printed in The Girard Reader : "I would say that the Word or Christ is at work in this whole long process toward humanity and representation." Citing Gil Bailie, he says that "...the Word was the light accompanying the 'mythic darkness of the sacred violence that accompanied hominization....Humanity generated its own crude forms of illumination precisely by periodically expelling this light'" (269). Most of the questions the participants asked, which continued for an hour after the paper, revolved around comparing and contrasting the Gospels and mythology, as well as around the relation of Christianity to the living religions of the world.

James G. Williams

Giuseppe Fornari: Towards a Biblical Anthropology of Violence. Acquisitive Imitation and Violence in Original Sin

. Is the mimetic theory of Renéé Girard only an anthropological aid to reading the Bible, or is the Bible itself to supply us with a mimetic reading? In the first case a mimetic interpretation could appear as a more or less useful approach, but somehow superimposed on the text; in the second case it would become an interpretative key offered by the text itself. A short analysis of the original sin story, the starting point for biblical anthropology, can help us to find an answer.

The Genesis text says several times that God created man in his image and likeness (1:26 -27) and then, from a rib of the man, created woman, defined as a helpmate similar to him (2: 18). This means that man has a fruitful and correct relationship to God, to himself and to others when he imitates his creator and remains similar to him. This imitation is good because it is founded on love, and love is the profound essence of God's creation project. As is said at the end of each day of creation, God "saw that it was good". At this point, by drawing out the whole theological and anthropological meaning of the text through its literal meaning, one can affirm that the ideal image of man presented at the moment of creation is original, not in a strictly chronological sense but in a final one, representing man as he should be according to God's original project. Here we are shown not a simple historical event but the condition from which history, each history, arises. Human history proper begins with original sin and the expulsion from Eden. In this sense there is no contradiction between the biblical account and the discoveries of modern science.

Yet this underlines that God's commandment not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil is in itself a paradox, as it involves both the fullness of God's love and the concrete presence of evil, both the perfection of a final outcome and the possibility of jeopardizing it from the outset. What is being formulated here, in an apparently mythical and contradictory guise, is the paradox of the origin, the paradox of what we are. The contradiction is resolved if we think of the commandment not as precedent in a chronological sense but as an eternal divine law that man alone can only violate. Man's anthropological rather than theological origin can therefore only reflect God's project in an inverted and monstrous way, affirming it by negating it. Disobedience to the commandment is almost immediate. The serpent insinuates to Eve1 that God does not want the man and woman to eat the fruit because they would become like him. We have here a perfect triangular desire where 1) the serpent is the model, 2) Eve the subject imitating the model, and 3) the fruit, presented as forbidden, the object of desire. Eve eats the fruit and is immediately imitated by Adam. With the greatest simplicity the text shows a repetitive formula that could be propagated to infinity, in a chain process where everybody surrenders to desire and becomes in turn the model of another. Thus it is of quite secondary importance where the chain begins, as the point is that the phenomenon is contagious. This imitation is not the good imitation for which God created man and his companion, but bad imitation for possession. Through the serpent God himself becomes the rival-model of man. The serpent tells Eve: "...ye shall be as gods" (3:5). In this way the text refers directly to the divine transfiguration investing the rival-model in the paroxysmal phase of mimetic desire for possession, the phase of ontological or metaphysical desire. The idea of God resulting from this process is the precise reversal of the God of love who created man and woman: an envious and hostile God, who wants to prevent man from being like him.

Adam and Eve are driven out from Eden, but this expulsion can now be read as the direct consequence of what they have done and their necessarily distorted idea of God. This expulsion, like the whole story of Eden, certainly uses sacrificial mythical outlines taken from the surrounding civilizations of the Near East, but the context and the central situation of the story demystify what happens from within. The mythical outlines are internally disassembled to show their violent meaning. In this sense the expulsion may be read as a self-expulsion. Its profound meaning becomes still clearer if we think of the immediate consequence of Adam and Eve's deed, that is Cain's murder of his brother Abel. Here, too, we have a triangle for possession formed by Cain, Abel and the sacrifice to be performed to God. Abel's sacrifice is preferred to Cain's, for the fundamental reason that Cain, Adam and Eve's first-born, shares their tendency to see God as a rival or object of rivalry. If we put the two episodes side by side, we can see that each helps to read the other2, providing a complete picture of man's violent aptitude. Cain kills his brother, that is, he literally and symbolically sacrifices him. Every murder is nothing less than fratricide, the sacrifice of our own brother to our desire3. After this fratricide-sacrifice Cain, whom God protects from further revenge with a sign symbolic of differentiation, becomes the founder of cities4. The history of civilization begins with ordered activities and divisions, but violence continues to multiply, insufficiently checked by the cultural rules that actually arise from this violence.

This brief analysis already shows clearly enough how Girard has not invented an ingenious key to read the Bible, but has simply underlined and developed an uncomfortable truth that the text tells us from the beginning. This truth appears still more embarrassing if we interpret the tree at the center of Eden as symbol of the victim, as the symbolism of the center suggests. Myths where the murdered victim is transfigured into a tree bearing fruit are widespread, as for instance the myth of Milomaki analyzed by Girard in Things Hidden5 or in the Ancient Greek cult of Dionysus in the shape of a tree (dendrites). A well-known Babylonian seal, considered by some scholars as a precedent of the biblical scene, shows two divinities, one male and the other female, sitting opposite each other on either side of a palm with seven leaves and two date clusters; at the back of the goddess there is a serpent. The victimary symbolism of the image becomes clearer when compared with another Babylonian seal showing some divine figures fighting a seven-headed dragon in their midst6. We need only put these images in genetic succession to obtain the metamorphosis of the victim first as a monster and then as a beneficent divine tree. The serpent next to the goddess in the final image is the symbolic duplication of the victim now expelled and beneficent. The Bible begins to deconstruct the whole process bringing back the serpent to the tree and changing it into a tempter. The fruit of knowledge of good and evil, in their totalizing duality, can be read as a symbol of the double transference that makes the victim appear first as a monster to be killed and then as a god to be worshiped. This reading can be pushed further: the fruit that the tree consists of can be seen at this point as a transformed representation of the pieces of the victim quartered and devoured by the group members in archaic sacrificial rites. There is a dramatic contrast with Eve's creation from Adam's rib and with the image of the two ancestors called to form only "one flesh". Adam and Eve, with the potentially infinite mechanism of their mimetic temptation, are a symbol of multiplicity that can well represent, not only in time but also in space, a whole group, the whole of humanity around the victim.

Further details will serve to corroborate and reinforce this interpretation. The great ethnologist Adolf E. Jensen in 1951 analyzed a typical mythologem where a group of divine beings kills a fertility divinity, afterwards transformed into a beneficent tree7. He notes obvious analogies with the biblical account, that yet seem to him a weakened version of the original mythologem, for the Bible puts this transfiguration at the beginning and shows as negative the consequences of eating the fruit8. Jensen does not realize the demythologizing strategy of the Bible that reverses the constituent elements of the mythical pattern, placing the transfigured victim at the beginning and his killing at the end. It is plausible that the biblical compiler or compilers used a myth of collective murder9 where Jensen's pattern was present, or, better still, made a comparison between a myth of expulsion from Eden and this pattern. The Jewish and Christian tradition of the punishment of the rebellious angels could be a still archaic elaboration of the same mythical material as used in Genesis. The biblical text proves to be an extraordinary palimpsest where we can recognize ourselves and our history. The divine characters of the archaic myths now become completely human, but the meaning of their actions becomes clear in relation to the initial creation by a God giving love and life, a God who is not comprehended and thus remains transcendent. The message of non-violent imitation presented at the beginning, the central situation of the temptation of desire, and finally the direct consequence of the first murder, confirm the coherent, demystifying nature of the whole story. Girard's ideas have an ancient pedigree indeed. If they should prove irksome it is by no means because they are new, but because they are old, far older than our pretension of rational self-sufficiency is willing to admit.

(Based on a lecture given at C.I.S.A.C. - Stanford (CA), July 1996)

1 On the serpent's subtle technique of temptation see R. G. Hamerton-Kelly, Sacred Violence: Paul's Hermeneutic of the Cross. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992.

2 Cf. R. Schwager, Must There be Scapegoats? Violence and Redemption in the Bible. Engl. transl. San Francisco: Harper &Row, 1987, p. 68.

3 See J. G. Williams, Violence and the Sacred: Liberation from the Myth of Sanctioned Violence. Valley Forge, PA: Trinity Press International, 1991, pp. 33 ff.

4 See R. Girard, Des choses cachéées depuis la fondation du monde. Paris: Grasset, 1991, pp. 221 -22.

5 Ibid., p. 155.

6 The seals are reproduced in A. Heidel, The Babylonian Genesis. Chicago & London: The University of Chicago Press, 1984, figg. 16 -17.

7 A. E. Jensen, Myth and Cult Among Primitive Peoples. Engl. transl. Chicago & London: The University of Chicago Press, 1963, pp. 88 ff.

8 Ibid., pp. 104 -06.

9 See the interesting article by P. Duff and J. Hallman, "Murder in the Garden? The Envy of the Gods in Genesis 2 and 3" in Contagion, vol. 4, 1996, pp. 183 -200.

Reviews

James Alison, The Joy of Being Wrong: Original Sin Through Easter Eyes. New York: Crossroad Herder, forthcoming in 1998.1

The "joy of being wrong" is the Christian experience of being freed from bondage to sin that allows one to recognize and confess that one's way of being in the world is wrong. What James Alison has accomplished is a treatise on "theological anthropology" which is eminently readable not only for the professional scholar in theological studies but also for scholars and students in other fields. By "theological anthropology" he means an understanding of the human self and human culture which is supported and explicated in theological terms. The theological side of his thesis is primarily (though not exclusively) concerned with doctrines and issues in the Roman Catholic tradition. He reinterprets ancient doctrines; but not only that, he seeks to spell out a new basis for the relation of faith and reason on the basis of Renéé Girard's mimetic model of the origins and structure of human behavior.

Alison, who now holds the T. L. James Chair of Religion at Centenary College, works in two directions with Girard's mimetic model. On the one hand, he demonstrates that through the exercise of human reason and critical use of the model, a new and exciting perspective on the human condition and human potential is gained. On the other hand, his theological concern is to shed new light on the ancient Christian doctrine of original sin. Although a "secular" analysis of human behavior and theological interpretation may overlap and agree up to a point, it is only from the standpoint of the meaning and significance of the resurrection of Christ that a radical view of the human predicament and human possibilities is gained. The mediating concept between a secular analysis and a theological analysis based on divine revelation is forgiveness. Both the realm of secular or natural reason and the realm of faith and theology can agree on the problem of desire leading to rivalry, conflict, and violence and the need for reconciliation of parties in conflict or war. From the Christian theological side, however, forgiveness and reconciliation between human beings becomes actual and constant only through divine empowerment.

As intimated in the first sentence, the title of the book catches nicely the object of the argument, which is that our nature may be changed, we are not simply duped by external forces or imprisoned within ourselves. Real conversion is possible. "Original sin" is not known prior to redemption and resurrection, but is seen and acknowledged "through Easter eyes." The author makes his argument in two main parts, "Constructing a theological anthropology" and "Stretching the shape of forgiveness." The third and concluding part is a much shorter but highly instructive essay, "Is this what the Church believes?" Surveying Old and New Testament texts, creeds and statements of church councils, papal teachings, and the thought of Augustine and Thomas, he maintains that his proposed theological anthropology explicating original sin is both understandable and faithful to Scripture, Tradition, and Magisterium, and so should be taken seriously by the church.

One of the greatest virtues of the book is that it brings together and integrates a whole body of Girardian research and writing in the focus on original sin and ecclesiology. As is apparent in his footnotes and bibliography, Alison not only draws upon Girard as "a man who told me all that I ever did" (see "Introduction"), but also Jean-Michel Oughourlian, Eric Gans, Robert Hamerton-Kelly, Andrew McKenna, Raymund Schwager, and others. The work of Schwager and Alison is complementary, and they could profitably be read in tandem. The imminent appearance of two more of Schwager's books in English2 should become the basis of a healthy dialogue, enriching the thought not only of these two theologians, but instructing and stimulating all of those interested in mimetic anthropology as a way of opening up the Christian theological tradition.

Another significant author Alison takes into account at a number of points is John Milbank, particularly for his book Theology and Social Theory: Beyond Secular Reason. Milbank argues that the most important sociological tradition of the 19th century was actually secularized theology. Alison turns this around and asks about the implicit social theory in biblical and Christian thought. He does not accept Milbank's "postmodern" perspective which carves out a place for Christianity by maintaining that Christian faith is no less rational or irrational than dominant secular positions. Milbank's argument works only if one agrees that faith is not rational, at least outside its own boundaries. Alison, to the contrary, argues for the traditional Catholic doctrine of faith and reason, the natural and the supernatural as cooperating realities that not only do not contradict each other, but imply each other. This is important in his concluding essay in which he argues for the relevance of his contribution for understanding and further developing the interlinked spheres of reason, natural law, and rational political ethics.

This is, in my judgment, a ground-breaking work. It is heavily dependent on Girard's theory of the mimetic scapegoat mechanism. But the author takes this base capital and appreciates it in various and illuminating ways and across a broad range of texts. The appearance of this book and the eventual publication of Schwager's Jesus im Heilsdrama (and, it is to be hoped, his Erbsüünde und Heilsdrama) should prepare the way for a new theological movement in the English-speaking world.

James G. Williams

1 Scheduled for publication in March, 1998. Read by reviewer in uncorrected proofs.

2 Both will be published by Crossroad. Dem Netz des Jäägers entronnen. Wie Jesus sein Leben verstand is scheduled to appear in March, 1998 as Jesus of Nazareth: How He Understood His Life. Jesus im Heilsdrama. Entwurf einer biblischen Erlöösungslehre should be published late in 1998 or early in 1999 as a Crossroad Herder book, under the title Jesus in the Drama of Salvation: Sketch of a Biblical Doctrine of Redemption.

Jim Grote and John McGeeney, Clever as Serpents. Business Ethics and Office Politics. Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press (Michael Glazier Book), 1997. 149 pp., $11.95.

This is an impressive little book. Clever in its ethical instruction, yet advocating the innocence of service in the freedom of love (cf. Matt 10:16 and Lk 10:3), it is the best popular book on ethics that I have read in a long time. I say "popular": it is indeed written for a lay audience. Yet it requires some thinking, particularly regarding its theoretical base, and it also demands concentration for the realization of its instructions in "askesis" or practice, which involves an adaptation of the monastic tradition in the work setting.

The authors bring broad experience to their project. Grote works in stewardship and development for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville. He has taught and published articles in ethics, theology, and philosophy. McGeeney is an in-house attorney for a financial services company. He has work experience in securities law and in a social services organization. They draw upon a number of sources for theoretical and practical insight on human evolution, rivalry and competition, and the contemporary work-place, including Scott Adams and his cartoon strip, "Dilbert," and Watterson's comic strip "Calvin and Hobbes." But the theory informing their manual is Girard's concept of mimetic desire ("borrowed desire") and its relation to scapegoating as a social and culturally generative phenomenon. They argue that "Girard's analysis of borrowed desire relocates the central problem of economics" (37). Except for a paragraph on "The Dilemma of Desire" which is not too clear, they offer a nice exposition of borrowed desire, which leads to the dilemma of competition: the loss of desire after winning (because one has overcome the model-rival who seeks the object) or the increase of desire due to losing (because the model-rival has gained the object). Idolatry is perverted transcendence or mistaken identity.

After a further chapter on blame as the secret of management, they turn to an ethical asceticism, dealing with "the Boss and the Mob," competitors, customers, and finally work as the wisdom of tradition. The writers identify their own Christian, Roman Catholic commitment and acknowledge its influence on them. Their ethical insights and recommendations are made in the light of the imitation of Christ. Much of the book, however, could be very useful to people in other religious traditions or who claim no religious affiliation.

I recommend this book very highly for both individuals and study groups. The authors have, in my judgment, written a book on virtue in business from a "micro perspective" which may "enable individuals to bring a modicum of freedom into the unfree market of imitation and sacrifice" (129). The ideal they set forth is not to free the market, "but to free the people within the market...from borrowed desire, from envy, from mindless competition...." (ibid.). Should that occur on a wide scale, the market would of course be affected. But meanwhile, both understanding and practice are required. As the Zen proverb says, "Before enlightenment, chopping wood and hauling water. After enlightenment, chopping wood and hauling water" (ibid.).

James G. Williams

Education, Mimesis, Violence and Reduction of Violence. The Annual Summer Meeting of COV&R in Saint-Denis (near Paris), France. May 27 -30, 1998

The next annual COV&R assembly will take place this year. Once again it will be held in Europe, more particularly, in Saint-Denis France (which is close to Paris) and the exact dates are 27th to 30th May 1998. The advisory board meeting is on the 26th.

It will focus on the question of education. The question of acquisitive mimesis and the relationship with the mediator is at the core of the problematic of education. It supports the mimetic theory and the Girardian approach. It hasn't even been sufficiently considered as a main role in educational relationships with the school, family and society. We know today that, in most countries, violence in education poses serious problems. Many researchers focus on the question with various views. Although, we seem to be capable of bringing a lot of illuminating and clarity to debates on the approaches according to mimetic and Girardian theories (yet not very well-known).

A meeting focusing on this topic is important because it is relevant to the very substance of education. It enables the development of subjectivity; involves self-identity and the social relationship; and raises the question of man and his future. This theme concerns most disciplines. Pedagogy has a word to say as do, likewise, philosophy, human sciences, theology, rights, literary, artistic and sporting disciplines.

This colloquium is going to be an exceptional opportunity to have a combined and multi-disciplinary meeting. Besides it will allow scholars who work on different theories to converse. We believe that it will even contribute to the knowledge and recognition of Girardian thought in France.

To this day, already more than 60 quality proposals have been accepted. They will be organized in the form of either plenary sessions, round tables or workshops. The time allotted for each lecturer will be closely observed: approximately 30 minutes for the plenary session, 20 minutes for the round table and 15 minutes for the workshop. Provided that everyone focus on the substance of what he wishes to present, a greater number of lectures will be permitted. There will be two official languages for the lectures: French and English, with the installation of a simultaneous translation system. Joint activities in evening, stimulating conversations and the publication of the colloquium's proceedings in French and English will enable each person to develop his subject more and have an exchange with the others.

The meeting promises to be exiting. We already have numerous registrations and we expect to welcome more than two hundred people. As soon as you send in your completed registration form accompanied by your payment, we will send you the documentation on the program as well as cultural and festive activities. I look forward to seeing you.

Cordially, Marie-Louise Martinez and the Colloquium Co-ordination committee

Reception, organisation and a scientific contribution to the COV&R colloquium has been assured by the institutional partnerships such as The City of Saint-Denis, CNEFEI, CREA, Conseil de l'Europe, Fondation de France, etc. We have made the conditions for the registrations and accommodations as convenient as possible.

General information

Registration fees for COV&R members is 300 French Francs (payable to CNEFEI)

You can obtain a registration form by contacting Ms. Cordigen Jouy des Roseirs at CNEFEI.

Tel.: 33 / 1 41 44 31 21 - Fax : 33 / 1 41 44 31 21 - or by E-mail: cnefei-brex@education.gouv.fr

Possible accommodations

1) There are still some collective rooms available (3 or 5 persons) at the Municipal Hostel. (please see registration form for more details)

2) Hotels in Saint-Denis or Paris can be directly reserved for example at:

FACOTEL - 196 boulevard Anatole France, 93200 Saint-Denis

Tel : 00 33 / 1 48 13 55 00

Fax : 00 33 / 1 48 13 55 01

E-mail : http://www.oda.fr/aa/facotel

250 F / day / person lodging in a single room

195 F / day / person lodging in a double room

Hôôtel Campanile - 14 rue Jean Jauréés, 93200 Saint-Denis

Tel : 00 33 / 1 48 20 74 31

Fax : 00 33 / 1 48 20 74 26

305 F / day / person lodging in a single room

185 F / day / person lodging in a double room

If you choose to lodge at a hotel, you must make reservation yourself and it is advisable to do this as soon as possible.

Transportation

Access by car is very easy, as well as public transportation:

Méétro line # 13 or

RER (which has a direct line to the Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport)

THE PROGRAM IN DETAIL

TUESDAY, MAY 26

COV&R Advisory Board Meeting - from 10.00 to 12.30 and from 14.30 to 18.00

WEDNESDAY, MAY 27

Moderator: Marie-Louise MARTINEZ (COV&R, CNEFEI)

9.30 Opening of the Colloquium

Patrick BRAOUEZEC (Maire de Saint-Denis)

Luc MATTRAY (Maire-adjoint àà la Culture de Saint-Denis)

Michel LAURENT (Directeur du CNEFEI)

James WILLIAMS (Executive Secretary of COV&R, Syracuse University, New York/USA)

10.30 Marie-Louise MARTINEZ (Coordinatrice du Colloque): "Problèèmatique et préésentation des journéées"

11.00 Bernard CHARLOT (Universitéé de Paris 8/France):

"Violences àà l'éécole, éétat des recherches en France: quelques questions dans une perspective girardienne"

11.45 Paul RICUR (Universitéé de Nanterre Paris X/France - University of Chicago/USA):

"Le religieux et la violence symbolique"

13.00 Pause dééjeuner

Moderator: Cesááreo BANDERA (President of COV&R, University of North Carolina/USA)

14.30 Renéé GIRARD (Stanford University/USA): "Préésentation de la thééorie miméétique dans son ensemble"

15.45 Christoph WULF (Freie Universitäät Berlin/Germany): "Violence et ééducation"

16.30 Pause

16.45 Michel-Claude KIENER (Limoges/France): "La loi des violents: le déésordre au village"

17.30 Henri GRIVOIS (Chef de service de l'Hôôtel-Dieu, Paris): "Adolescence, indifféérenciation et psychose naissante"

18.15 Jean-Pierre BONAFE-SCHMITT (CNRS Lyon/France): "La méédiation des conflits dans la classe"

19.30 Wednesday evening

Soiréée du 25 mai organiséée par la Ville de Saint-Denis

Visite de la ville et cocktail

THURSDAY, MAY 28

Moderator: Maria-Stella BARBERI (COV&R, Universitéé de Messina)

9.00 Antoine GARAPON (Directeur de l'Institut Supéérieur de la Justice, Paris/France):

"La péénalisation et la perte du point de vue du tiers"

9.45 Jacques POULAIN (Universitéé de Paris 8 - UNESCO): "La fin du sacrifice dans l'ééducation"

10.30 Pause

11.00 Round Table: "Le religieux entre violence et ééducation"

Moderator: Michel DEGUY (Universitéé de Paris 8, Collèège International de Philosophie)

Daniel GROSCOLAS (Inspecteur géénééral de L'ÉÉducation Nationale): "Le déérive sectaire et l'ééducation"

Michel LACROIX (IUFM de Versailles/France): "Quand les sectes réépondent àà nos déésirs"

Sandor GOODHART, (Purdue University/USA): "Moses: From the Sacrificial Violence to the Ethical Alternative"

Larbi KECHAT (Recteur de la mosquéée du 19e arrondissement de Paris/France): "L'Islam ou l'apaisement intéérieur et la symphonie extéérieure"

William O'Connel, SJ (Campion Hall, Oxford/Great Britain): "A Girardian Interpretation of the Testament of St. Ignatius Loyola"

13.30 Dééjeuner

14.30 -18.30 Parallel meetings

ATELIER 1: "Violences institutionnelles et anomiques dans l'ééducation"

Moderators: Isabelle VINATIER and Lucien SCUBLA

Marie-Claude COURTEIX (CNEFEI - Inspecteur E.N.): "L'AIS entre violence et rééduction de la violence institutionnelle"

Francis DANVERS (Universitéé Charles de Gaulle-Lille 3/France): "L'orientation professionnelle entre violence et réésolution des conflits"

Martin LEOPOLD (Amsterdam/Netherlands): "Scapegoating the Master"

Enrique GOMEZ LEON (Madrid/Spain): "L'enseignant victime des rééformes ééducatives"

Stééphano TOMELLERI (Parma/Italy): "Zone grise: une rééflexion sur le paradoxe miméétique dans l'ééducation"

Isabelle VINATIER (CNEFEI): "La violence du refus d'apprendre chez les éélèèves en difficultéé d'apprentissage"

ATELIER 2: "Les violences du symbolique dans la communication sociale et l'intéégration du tiers exclu"

Moderators: Marie-Louise MARTINEZ and Jacques POULAIN

Marie-Louise MARTINEZ (CNEFEI ): "L'intéégration du tiers personnel: alternative radicale àà la violence symbolique"

Giuseppe FORNARI (Treviso/Italy): "From the Presocratics to Juvenile Gangs: Plato's Puppets"

Knut MITTENDORFER (Institut Europééen de Florence/Italy): "The Mediation in the Complex Process of the Constitution of the Self"

Pierre D'ÉÉLBÉÉE (France): "Déécision et rééduction de la violence"

Pascale MOLHO (Centre de communication non-violente): "La communication non-violente selon le processus de Marschall Rosenberg"

ATELIER 3: "Le religieux entre violence et ééducation"

Moderators: Diana CULBERTSON and Raymund SCHWAGER

Anne VOIZOT (Sorbonne-Paris): "Les violences sectaires et la toute puissance de la miméésis mystique"

Joséé SEKNADJE (CNEFEI ): "Culture et nature selon l'ééducation juive"

Per BJØØRNAR GRANDE (Norway): "Girardian Theory and the Teaching of Religion"

Willibald SANDLER (Universitäät Innsbruck/Austria): "Imitation and Discipleship"

Roberto SOLARTE RODRIGUEZ (Universitéé de Bogota/Colombia): "The Deconstruction of Violence Educational institution"

Paul G. CRAWLEY SJ (Santa Clara University/USA): "Education and the Violence of Love"

ATELIER 4: "L'art entre violence et ééducation"

Moderators: Maria-Stella BARBERI et Cesààreo BANDERA

Maria-Stella BARBERI (Universitéé de Messine/Italy): "Le songe de la vie: libertéé et servum arbitrium dans La Tour de Hugo Von Hofmannsthal"

Dino S. CERVIGNI (Universitéé de Bologne/Italy): "The Construction of the Self Through Thanatos in Dante"

Tom COUSINEAU (Washington College-Chestertown/USA): "The 'extorted voice' in Beckett's trilogy"

William JOHNSEN (Michigan University/USA): "Joyce's Diagnosis of Ireland's Sacrificial Education"

Mathew KRATTER (University of California, Berkeley/USA): "Solution of Doubles and other Problems: Education in Joyce's Ulysses"

Ilias PAPAGIANNOPOULOS (Universitäät Innsbruck/Austria): "Melville's Moby Dick and the Consequences concerning Violence and the Human Identity"

Thursday evening

Préésentation du spectacle de Daniel PENNAC "Monsieur Malaussèène" (sous rééserve)

FRIDAY, JUNE 29

Moderator: Pierre D'ELBÉÉE (COV&R)

9.00 Michel SERRES (Paris IV, membre de l'Acadéémie Franççaise): "Handicap et ééducation"

9.45 Francis JACQUES (Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris III): "Eduquer, Enseigner"

10.30 Anthony BARTLETT (Syracuse University, New York/USA):

"The Girardian Theory of Knowledge: An Epistemology of the Victim"

11.15 Pause

11.30 Round Table: "Violence intergéénéérationnelle dans la famille et la sociéétéé"

Moderator: Jean-Paul MUGNIER (Directeur de l'Institut d'Etudes Systéémiques, Paris)

Jean-Paul MUGNIER: "Violence dans la famille: de l'indifféérence àà l'indifféérenciation intergéénéérationnelle"

Michel ROUCHE (Paris IV Sorbonne): "La violence de la famille matrifocale et de sa rééapparition àà la fin du XXèè sièècle"

Jean-Pierre KLEIN (Directeur de l'Institut d'Art et Théérapie - Paris): "Pièèges et tentations face àà la violence, rééponses en art et théérapie"

13.00 Dééjeuner

14.00 Jean-Luc BOILLEAU (Anthropologue): "Le sport entre violence et ééducation"

15.00 -18.30 Parallel meetings

ATELIER 1: "Violences institutionnelles et anomiques dans l'ééducation"

Moderators: Isabelle VINATIER and Mark ANSPACH

Guido VANHEESWIJCK (University of Antwerpen/Belgium): "The Concept of Good External Mediation and its Role in the Process of Education"

Daniel LANCE (ÉÉducation péénitentiaire, Paris/France): "Education en milieu carcééral: de l'indifféérenciation àà la difféérenciation"

Fred SMITH (University of Georgia/USA): "Mimetic Scapegoating Mechanism Among Black Males in the American Public Schools"

Bob VAN DER MEER (Utrecht/Netherlands): "Bullying in Schools"

Harold WYDRA (European Institute Florence/Italy): "Education and Fear in Post-1989-Eastern Europe: Two Types of Mimetic Crises"

ATELIER 2: "Les violences du symbolique dans la communication sociale et l'intéégration du tiers exclu - La réésolution des conflits pour une vééritable non-violence - Le sport entre violence et ééducation"

Moderators: Marie-Louise MARTINEZ and Luc-Laurent SALVADOR)

Andréé LASCARIS (Centre d'ÉÉtudes Dominicaines, Nijmegen/Netherlands): "Northern Irish Conflict and Peace Education"

Omar OUHADI (Paris): "La symbolique de la violence dans le langage des jeunes"

Association Fondation 93 (Montreuil/France): "Une expéérience de rééflexion sur la violence avec des jeunes colléégiens"

Jean-Christophe GRELLETY (Paris/France): "Le corps et l'autre homme absents de la penséée"

Jean-Charles BASSON (Institut des Hautes ÉÉtudes de la Séécuritéé Intéérieure, Paris): "La socialisation par le sport: paradoxes et ambiguïïtéés"

Luc-Laurent SALVADOR (Laboratoire de robotique de l'Universitéé de Neuchatel/Switzerland): "La construction miméétique de la rééalitéé: la violence du symbolique"

ATELIER 4: "L'art entre violence et ééducation"

Moderators: Andrew MCKENNA and Cesààreo BANDERA

Jacques de MIRIBEL (IUFM d'Antony/France): "Violence et éécriture poéétique"

Maïïka SANCONIE (Paris/France): "Repréésentations de la violence chez les peintres et les sculpteurs noirs amééricains"

Sonia POS (Amsterdam/Netherlands): "L'enfer c'est les autres. Modèèles-obstacles et doubles dans le thééââtre de Jean-Paul Sartre, Jean Genet et Samuel Beckett"

Michael KIRWAN SJ (London/Great Britain): "A Candle in Sunshine: A Girardian Reading of William Blake"

William MISHLER (University of Minnesota/USA): "The Fairy Tale Genre as Mirror of Mimetic Desire (with special emphasis on Hans Christian Andersen as theoretician of violence)"

Julie SHINNICK (University of Austin,Texas/USA): "Mimetic Crisis and its Resolution as Portrayed in a Particular Piece of Medieval Liturgical Music"

COV&R-Subgroup meeting on "Political Science, Economics, Social Ethics"

Moderators: Paul DUMOUCHEL and Wolfgang PALAVER

Tominaga Shigeki (Kyoto University/Japan): "Conversation and Discussion: Transformation of the Sociability at the End of the 18th Century"

Discussion of future projects

20.30 Friday evening (littéérature, art et cinééma)

Paul PELCKMANS (Universitéé de Anvers/Belgium): "Péédagogie et mensonge romantique: le cas de Georges Sand"

Christian NARDIN: "Sortir de la violence c'est possible" suivi de la projection du film "Poil de Carotte" d'aprèès la pièèce de Jules RENARD (rééalisation Christian Nardin)

SATURDAY, MAY 30

Moderator: Raymund SCHWAGER SJ (Universitäät Innsbruck/Austria)

9.00 Klaus BOLZANO (Salzburg/Austria): "The Danger of Violence in the Health System"

9.45 Konrad THOMAS (Universitäät Gööttingen/Germany): "If Control of Mimetic Rivalry Fails"

10.30 Pause

11.00 Round Table: "La rééduction de la violence et la non-violence"

Moderator: Christian NARDIN (lycéée International de Strasbourg)

Jacques SEMELIN (CNRS): "Une interpréétation du combat non-violent àà travers la penséée de Renéé Girard"

Jean-Marie MULLER (Mouvement pour l'Alternative Non-violente): "Vers une culture de non-violence"

Hervéé HOTT (formateur àà l'approche constructive du conflit/France): "Du conflit destructeur au conflit crééatif dans l'ééducation"

12.30 Bilan des ateliers, (plus de 40 communications): "conclusions et perspectives"

13.30 Dééjeuner

15.00 -19.00 COV&R Bussiness Meeting

Future Meetings

1998, November 21 -24: COV&R meeting in conjunction with AAR/SBL, Orlando, Florida. This meeting can be held only if proposals are given to the Executive Secretary. At present there are none. The deadline for paper and section proposals is May 15.

1999, June: Annual conference of COV&R in June at Emory University in Atlanta/USA. Theme: "From Primates to Nations: Violence Reduction in Theory and Practice." Organizer: Professor Thee Smith.

New Books

Martini, Carlo Maria. Fedi e violenze. Cattedra die non credenti promossa da 9. Torino: Rosenberg & Sellier, 1997.

Reineke, Martha J.: Sacrificed Lives: Kristeva on Women and Violence. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1997.

Sandler, Willibald. Bekehrung des Denkens: Karl Rahners Anthropologie und Soteriologie als formal-offenes System in triadischer Perspektive. Frankfurt am Main: Lang, 1996.

Schwager, Raymund. Jesus of Nazareth: How He Understood His Life, tr. James G. Williams. New York: Crossroad, 1998.

Thomas, Konrad. Zugehöörigkeit und Abgrenzung: ÜÜber Identitääten. Bodenheim: Syndikat, 1997.

Wessely, Christian. Von Star Wars, Ultima und Doom: Mythologische verschleierte Gewaltmechanismen im komerziellen Film und in Computerrollenspielen. Europääische Hochschulschriften: Reihe 23, Theologie 612. Frankfurt am Main: Lang, 1997.