Studies into religion and violence often put religion first. Rene Girard started with violence in his book Violence and the Sacred and used the Durkheimian term 'sacred' as its correlate in his study of early religions. During the unfolding of his theory, he more and more distinguished the sacred from saintliness to address the break that the biblical revelation represented in comparison to early religions. This distinction between the sacred and saintliness resembles Henri Bergson's complementing Emile Durkheim's identification of the sacred and society with a dynamic religion that relies on individual mystics. Girard's distinction also relates to the insights of thinkers like Jacques Maritain, Simone Weil, and Emmanuel Levinas. This element explores some of Girard's main features of saintliness. Girard pleaded for the transformation of the sacred into holy, not their separation.
Rezensionen / Stimmen
'[This study's] strength is found in offering normative concepts, select critical interventions, and suggestive connections for scholars working in the area of religion and violence.' Brian D. Robinette, Modern Theology
Reihe
Sprache
Verlagsort
Zielgruppe
Illustrationen
Worked examples or Exercises
Dateigröße
ISBN-13
978-1-108-75222-0 (9781108752220)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Klassifikation
1. Introduction; 2. Why violence precedes religion and not the other way around; 3. Violence and the Sacred; 4. The biblical difference; 5. From the sacred to saintliness in France; 6. Dimensions of Saintliness.
