Mimesis and Desire

ISBN-13: 9783838302393 / Angielski / Miękka / 2009 / 228 str.

Per Bjørnar Grande

Opis

The main assumption in Per Bjørnar Grandes book Mimesis and Desire. An Analysis of the Religious Nature of Mimesis and Desire in the Work of René Girard is that religion is motivated by mimesis. Mimesis is the foundation of religion. It is also primary to violence and scapegoating, and engenders both phenomena. Thus mimesis is the tool by which the religious and anthropological themes may be explained. According to Grande religion does not begin with sacrifice, but with mimesis or imitation. If sacrifice is seen to be the origin of religion, religion will be limited to violence only. For Grande the fundamental core in Girards religious views is found in a mimetically based christology. As Girards anthropology requires a christology, Grande concludes that mimetic theory is founded on religious belief. Interpreting the theory as starting with mimesis and ending in a mimesis of Christ, reveals that it is fundamentally religious and fundamentally mimetic. The analysis of mimesis and desire should be especially relevant for students and scholars in religion, theology and philosophy

O autorze

Grande, Per Bjørnar
Per Bjørnar Grande (pbg@hib.no) is Associate Professor at Bergen University College, Norway, in Religion & Philosophy. His main field is Philosophy of Religion. Grande has published four books and a number of articles on religion and literature. He was elected to the Advisory Board of Colloquium on Violence & Religion for two periods.