The Mimetic Theory from the Perspective of Fundamental Theology

Abstract

The practitioners of fundamental theology have essentially two goals to achieve – defending Christianity (apology) and entering into dialogue with those on the margins or outside of Christianity who have open hearts and minds. In the implementation of the above tasks, the mimetic theory developed by the French-American literary scholar and anthropologist René Girard (1923–2015) is useful. Girard, starting from man as an imitator, points to a negative mimesis that leads to competition and conflict. In extreme cases, where there is no institutional preventive mechanism, the mimetic crisis could result in complete social destruction. Girard points out that the way out of the threat is to imitate individual aggression, which leads to collective violence that unites the participants in it. The experience of transition from chaos to peace is later repeated as part of the sacrificial ritual. It is important not to know what the scapegoat mechanism, which is the basis of the religious and political order, actually consists of. Girard optimistically points out that thanks to the discovery of the truth about the scapegoat mechanism, it is losing power. It happened fully in the biblical space, mainly thanks to Jesus Christ. The problem is that people did not want and still do not want the truth about the scapegoat mechanism. It is attractive to them because it efficiently transforms hostility into friendship, and the costs are small – there will always be someone to sacrifice. The above situation is not typical of ‘barbarian cultures’. Also in today’s Western world, as the Viennese journalist Kirstin Breitenfellner points out, especially in the media space, the victim is something socially useful, and hence desirable.