
Evolution and Conversion
Description
Alles über E-Books | Antworten auf Fragen rund um E-Books, Kopierschutz und Dateiformate finden Sie in unserem Info- & Hilfebereich.
Rene Girard is one of the most brilliant and striking intellectuals of the 20th century. His theory on the imitative nature of desire and on the violent origin of culture has been at the centre of the philosophical and theoretical debate since the publication in 1971 of his seminal book: Violence and the Sacred. His reflection on the relationship between violence and religion is one of the most original and persuasive and, given the urgency of this issue in our contemporary world, demands a reappraisal.
Girard, who has been hailed by Michel Serres as "the Charles Darwin" of human sciences, is in fact one of the few thinkers in the humanities and social sciences that takes into full consideration an evolutionary perspective to explain the emergence of culture and institutions. The authors draw out this aspect of his thought by foregrounding ethological, anthropological and evolutionary theories.
Methodological and epistemological systematization has also been lacking in Girard's previous books, and by questioning him on the issue of evidence and truth, the authors provide a convincing framework for further inquiries. In the last chapters, Girard proposes a provocative re-reading of the Biblical texts, seen as the culmination of an enduring process of historical awareness of the presence and function of collective violence in our world. In fact, Girard's long argument is a historical spiral in which the origin of culture and archaic religion is reunited with the contemporary world by means of a reinterpretation of Christianity and its revelation of the intrinsic violent nature of the human being.
Reviews / Votes
Review in Church Times. * Church Times * Review in Church Times. * Church Times * "For those who want a lively, general introduction to the thought of this seminal religious thinker [Rene Girard], Evolution and Conversion is a book not to be missed." - Theology 'Girard is now well known for his multidisciplinary writings on religion and violence ... This book develops and reassesses ideas set out thirty years ago.' Theological Book Review, Volume 20, No 2, 2008 * Theological Book Review * Mention in International Review of Biblical Studies, vol. 54:2007/08 * Biblical Studies * Reviewed by Michael McGhee, Theological Book Review Vol.19 No.1 2007 * Michael McGhee *More details
Other editions
Additional editions

Person
Content
Chapter 2. "A theory by which to work": the Mimetic Mechanism
Chapter 3: The Symbolic Species
Chapter 4. Critique and Dialogue: From Frazer to Levi-Strauss
Chapter 5: Method, Evidence and Truth
Chapter 6: The Scandal of Christianity
Chapter 7: Modernity, Postmodernity and the End of History
System requirements
File format: PDF
Copy-Protection: Adobe-DRM (Digital Rights Management)
System requirements:
- Computer (Windows; MacOS X; Linux): Install the free reader Adobe Digital Editions prior to download (see eBook Help).
- Tablet/smartphone (Android; iOS): Install the free app Adobe Digital Editions or the app PocketBook before downloading (see eBook Help).
- E-reader: Bookeen, Kobo, Pocketbook, Sony, Tolino and many more (only limited: Kindle).
The file format PDF always displays a book page identically on any hardware. This makes PDF suitable for complex layouts such as those used in textbooks and reference books (images, tables, columns, footnotes). Unfortunately, on the small screens of e-readers or smartphones, PDFs are rather annoying, requiring too much scrolling.
This eBook uses Adobe-DRM, a „hard” copy protection. If the necessary requirements are not met, unfortunately you will not be able to open the eBook. You will therefore need to prepare your reading hardware before downloading.
Please note: We strongly recommend that you authorise using your personal Adobe ID after installation of any reading software.
For more information, see our eBook Help page.