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Turning Toward the Victim

By Thomas Gates

Product Image: Turning Toward the Victim

Turning Toward the Victim

By Thomas Gates

0 - Default Title
Description
Part primer on Rene Girard's groundbreaking mimetic theory, part Bible study (through the lens of mimetic theory), and part dialogue with early and contemporary Quakers, Turning Toward the Victim demonstrates how these three perspectives can mutually inform one another in unexpected ways. Contemporary liberal Friends (Quakers) have largely drifted away from the Bible, due in part to its seeming sanction of divine violence. Girard, by contrast, sees the themes of sacred violence and its overcoming as central to the biblical witness, and so can provide the means by which Quakers and others might reengage with the Scriptures. Girard's claim that the biblical God has ""nothing to do with violence"" will resonate with Friends traditional commitment to nonviolence and peacemaking. Girard's insights into ""the scapegoat mechanism"" can also help us to understand the witness of early Friends, who functioned as ""the scapegoat caste"" in seventeenth century England. Using the traditional Quaker framework of ""conviction, convincement, and conversion,"" Thomas Gates explores the relevance of these concepts for Friends and other Christians today.
Product details
Number of Pages:
326
Release Date:
2025-06-10
Publication Date:
2025-06-10
Publisher:
Wipf and Stock
Languages:
Original: English
ISBN13:
9798385246069
GPSR Manufacturer Reference:
[email protected]
Weight:
624 g
Height:
157 cm
Width:
235 cm
Thickness:
22 cm
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