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Violence Unveiled: Humanity at the Crossroads
This is a Girardian-influenced, engagingly written classic on the nature of violence and the hope for overcoming it in our conflict-ridden world. It is also a literary work, an often miraculous interplay between cultural documents and historical periods.
312 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1995
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June 26, 2014
"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that. What the world needs is people who have come alive."
With these words, Gil Bailie's exploration of Rene Girard's work began.
Sacred violence helps to put an end to other forms of violence when it arose. Cathartic violence ends social chaos
Disdain for religion is no antidote for religious superstition (e.g. all the bloody atheistic regimes)
Scripture's intent is to achieve a conversion of the human heart allowing humanity to dispense with organised violence without sliding into the abyss of uncontrollable violence.
If everyone is a victim, who is the victimiser?
Myth is fragile and survives only when its premises are accepted uncritically, while the gospel can be trashed and betrayed without fatally compromising its demythologising power.
Contrition is the specifically Christian form of lucidity.
The contest for respect between gangs and police often ends up with the two groups propagating violence becoming indistinguishable.
The central anthropological issue: A brutal act done in the name of civilisation. (e.g. public execution)
Sacrificial rituals, when they work, transfer all the antagonism onto the scapegoat, dissolving them and replacing them with a social bond.
Those compelled by moral indignation to wreak vengeance are often blind to the absurdity of their actions.
Collective fascinations are no longer enthralled by the religious cult, instead turning to the modern celebrity.
Reactionary: Not aware that sanctioned forms of violence are losing their power to restore order.
Revolutionary: Unaware that converting moral outrage into complicity with the kind of behaviour that provoked the outrage is not going to lead anywhere.
Romantic: Views transference of fascination as a good thing.
Mimetic desire: Can never be satisfied.
You never get enough of what you don't really want.
We shape our lives according to our experience of God or whatever functions as a god for us.
Pleasing sacrifices are effective sacrifices.
Covetousness is wanting more at the expense of others.
The stricter the ritual, the higher the chances of violating them are, and the greater the anxiety, the more determined the scrupulosity. Vicious cycle.
Sacred violence is violence that leaves no spirit of revenge in its wake.
God-centredness confers immunity from the vortex of mimetic desire and rivalry.
The essence of Jesus' sinlessness was his immunity to the contagion of desire.
Jews crucified Jesus, Jews also followed him.
Philosophy has become an intellectual bermuda triangle. Something intriguing seems to be taking place, but whatever it is forever eludes existing methods of detection.
Philosophy is not so much the love of wisdom as the yearning for wisdom in her absence.
Metaphor was born to allow humans to avoid direct contact with the sacred. -Ortega
We are restless till we rest in God - St Augustine
In reality no purely intellectual process and no experience of a purely philosophical nature can secure the individual the slightest victory over mimetic desire and its victimage delusions. Intellection can achieve only displacement and substitution, though these may give individuals the sense of having achieved a victory. For there to be even the slightest degree of progress, the victimage delusion must be vanquished on the most intimate level of experience.
With these words, Gil Bailie's exploration of Rene Girard's work began.
Sacred violence helps to put an end to other forms of violence when it arose. Cathartic violence ends social chaos
Disdain for religion is no antidote for religious superstition (e.g. all the bloody atheistic regimes)
Scripture's intent is to achieve a conversion of the human heart allowing humanity to dispense with organised violence without sliding into the abyss of uncontrollable violence.
If everyone is a victim, who is the victimiser?
Myth is fragile and survives only when its premises are accepted uncritically, while the gospel can be trashed and betrayed without fatally compromising its demythologising power.
Contrition is the specifically Christian form of lucidity.
The contest for respect between gangs and police often ends up with the two groups propagating violence becoming indistinguishable.
The central anthropological issue: A brutal act done in the name of civilisation. (e.g. public execution)
Sacrificial rituals, when they work, transfer all the antagonism onto the scapegoat, dissolving them and replacing them with a social bond.
Those compelled by moral indignation to wreak vengeance are often blind to the absurdity of their actions.
Collective fascinations are no longer enthralled by the religious cult, instead turning to the modern celebrity.
Reactionary: Not aware that sanctioned forms of violence are losing their power to restore order.
Revolutionary: Unaware that converting moral outrage into complicity with the kind of behaviour that provoked the outrage is not going to lead anywhere.
Romantic: Views transference of fascination as a good thing.
Mimetic desire: Can never be satisfied.
You never get enough of what you don't really want.
We shape our lives according to our experience of God or whatever functions as a god for us.
Pleasing sacrifices are effective sacrifices.
Covetousness is wanting more at the expense of others.
The stricter the ritual, the higher the chances of violating them are, and the greater the anxiety, the more determined the scrupulosity. Vicious cycle.
Sacred violence is violence that leaves no spirit of revenge in its wake.
God-centredness confers immunity from the vortex of mimetic desire and rivalry.
The essence of Jesus' sinlessness was his immunity to the contagion of desire.
Jews crucified Jesus, Jews also followed him.
Philosophy has become an intellectual bermuda triangle. Something intriguing seems to be taking place, but whatever it is forever eludes existing methods of detection.
Philosophy is not so much the love of wisdom as the yearning for wisdom in her absence.
Metaphor was born to allow humans to avoid direct contact with the sacred. -Ortega
We are restless till we rest in God - St Augustine
In reality no purely intellectual process and no experience of a purely philosophical nature can secure the individual the slightest victory over mimetic desire and its victimage delusions. Intellection can achieve only displacement and substitution, though these may give individuals the sense of having achieved a victory. For there to be even the slightest degree of progress, the victimage delusion must be vanquished on the most intimate level of experience.
January 18, 2009
Appalling and glorious both.
October 19, 2024
Der Autor ist ein Schüler von René Girard. Mit dem Buch will er Girards Denken um eigene Aspekte fortführen. Er macht das indem er Anekdotisches aus Popkultur, Zeitgeschehen, Mythen, Philosophie und Bibelgeschichten heranzieht und darin mimetisches Begehren, den Sündenbockmechanismus und andere Konzepte von Girard herausarbeitet. Damit hat er denselben Ansatz wie Girard - deduktiv selbst ausgewähltes Material mit der eigenen Theorie abgleichen.
Für mich unterscheidet sich das Buch hier dadurch kaum von Girard selbst. Zwei Unterschiede sind dennoch hervorhebenswert:
1. Das Buch ist zugänglicher als Girard selbst, nicht zuletzt durch die Wahl der Themen, an denen dessen Konzepte aufzeigt werden. Als gute Einführung zu Girard würde ich es dennoch nicht empfehlen, v.a. wegen der Länge und dem dennoch etwas wirrem Aufbau.
2. Ein Aspekt, der mir schon bei Girard aufgefallen ist, wurde mir hier nocheinmal wesentlich stärker klar - im sehr negativen Sinn. Und zwar, dass Girard seine Theorie als Welterklärungsfolie versteht. Das ist insofern problematisch, als dass er stark den christlichen Ursprung in einer absoluten Weise betont, die schnell in Kulturkampfrhetorik verfällt. In etwa geht krass verkürzt so: Der Sündenbockmechanismus (Gesellschaften organisieren durch die Konzentration des Gewaltpotentials auf einen Sündenbock) hat zwar ganz gut funktioniert, ist aber in einer Krise. Die Lösung ist das Christentum oder vom Christentum infizierte Kulturen, da sie ein Gesellschaftmodell zu bieten haben, die Sündenböcke überflüssig machen. Was mir hierbei fehlt ist die Anerkennung von Pluralität. Wer sagt, dass es nur diese eine Deutung und damit auch nur eine bestimmte Lösung gibt? Warum kann es nicht nur eine - statt die - mögliche (und in bestimmten Kontexten auch richtige) Deutung sein?
Weitere Bedenken habe ich bei der Sicht Girards und der von diesem Autor in Bezug auf Kultur und Religion. Das ganze Gelaber von "primitiven Religionen" ist zu sehr der veralteten Konzeption einer evolutioniären Entwicklung von Religion verhaftet (an dessen Ende natürlich die christliche Religion steht, die besser als alle anderen sei). Überhebliche Scheiße ist das, die immer in der Gefahr steht, die Potentiale zu einer besseren Gesellschaftsordnung durch nichtchristliche Religionen und Kulturen im Vornherein kategorisch abzulehnen. Genau das passiert meines Erachtens auch.
Abschließend würde ich sagen, Girard hat einen Mechanismus entdeckt, der wirklich vieles erklärt. Ich bin ihm dafür echt dankbar, das hat mein Denken sehr bereichert. Aber warum muss es so exklusiv formuliert sein - von ihm selbst und hier von einem seiner Schüler? Ich bin überzeugt man verliert nichts, wenn man andere neben sich dulden kann.
Ich fand das Buch persönlich sehr gewinnbringend, da ich damit in Girard Denken nocheinmal tiefer eindringen konnte. Es hat mir aber v.a. damit geholfen, die Probleme klarer zu sehen - auch wenn das natürlich nicht die Absicht des Buches war.
Für mich unterscheidet sich das Buch hier dadurch kaum von Girard selbst. Zwei Unterschiede sind dennoch hervorhebenswert:
1. Das Buch ist zugänglicher als Girard selbst, nicht zuletzt durch die Wahl der Themen, an denen dessen Konzepte aufzeigt werden. Als gute Einführung zu Girard würde ich es dennoch nicht empfehlen, v.a. wegen der Länge und dem dennoch etwas wirrem Aufbau.
2. Ein Aspekt, der mir schon bei Girard aufgefallen ist, wurde mir hier nocheinmal wesentlich stärker klar - im sehr negativen Sinn. Und zwar, dass Girard seine Theorie als Welterklärungsfolie versteht. Das ist insofern problematisch, als dass er stark den christlichen Ursprung in einer absoluten Weise betont, die schnell in Kulturkampfrhetorik verfällt. In etwa geht krass verkürzt so: Der Sündenbockmechanismus (Gesellschaften organisieren durch die Konzentration des Gewaltpotentials auf einen Sündenbock) hat zwar ganz gut funktioniert, ist aber in einer Krise. Die Lösung ist das Christentum oder vom Christentum infizierte Kulturen, da sie ein Gesellschaftmodell zu bieten haben, die Sündenböcke überflüssig machen. Was mir hierbei fehlt ist die Anerkennung von Pluralität. Wer sagt, dass es nur diese eine Deutung und damit auch nur eine bestimmte Lösung gibt? Warum kann es nicht nur eine - statt die - mögliche (und in bestimmten Kontexten auch richtige) Deutung sein?
Weitere Bedenken habe ich bei der Sicht Girards und der von diesem Autor in Bezug auf Kultur und Religion. Das ganze Gelaber von "primitiven Religionen" ist zu sehr der veralteten Konzeption einer evolutioniären Entwicklung von Religion verhaftet (an dessen Ende natürlich die christliche Religion steht, die besser als alle anderen sei). Überhebliche Scheiße ist das, die immer in der Gefahr steht, die Potentiale zu einer besseren Gesellschaftsordnung durch nichtchristliche Religionen und Kulturen im Vornherein kategorisch abzulehnen. Genau das passiert meines Erachtens auch.
Abschließend würde ich sagen, Girard hat einen Mechanismus entdeckt, der wirklich vieles erklärt. Ich bin ihm dafür echt dankbar, das hat mein Denken sehr bereichert. Aber warum muss es so exklusiv formuliert sein - von ihm selbst und hier von einem seiner Schüler? Ich bin überzeugt man verliert nichts, wenn man andere neben sich dulden kann.
Ich fand das Buch persönlich sehr gewinnbringend, da ich damit in Girard Denken nocheinmal tiefer eindringen konnte. Es hat mir aber v.a. damit geholfen, die Probleme klarer zu sehen - auch wenn das natürlich nicht die Absicht des Buches war.
February 24, 2016
Bailie has done what I previously thought impossible, and actually managed to write a comprehensive, readable introduction to the work and thought of Rene Girard. A French literary theorist and sociologist, Girard's work is, much like Joseph Campbell, Michael Foucault, and other visionaries, grasping toward defining something they have seen. Their work, as a result, is unsettled, dense, and convoluted. Bailie has written a book that accurately and beautifully introduces the concepts without that baggage, and the insights about modern culture in particular will leave you breathless. Some concepts are absolutely central to understanding a particular age. Girard's work is central to understanding our time, and Bailie's book is vital for anyone who wants to see with eyes made new.
December 18, 2007
Rene Girard's work on sacrificial culture, Christian theology, and modern theory remains for me the most compelling work of the past decades. Apparently the same can be said of Gil Bailie, a Christian theologian who heads his own California institute. This book is an extended reflection (and restatement) of Girard's importance for modern evangelicals. Worth reading, but perhaps the casual reader would do better to go straight to Girard himself. (Read on the train ride back home.)
November 24, 2012
A really good introduction to the thought of René Girard for the general reader. Bailie draws on documents from various sources from all periods to provide evidence for the truth of sacred violence.
March 15, 2013
This is a must read book for anyone who wants to understand the role of religion in human history and the modern world. Paradigm altering!
November 12, 2025
I always enjoy when thinkers take a stab at what has infected the human condition.
In Bailie's mind, it turns out that the culprit was, in fact, stabbing.
There's no way to avoid violence when you read the Bible. There are lots of incredibly violent stories. Good men are killed, bad men are killed. In the great climax God Himself is killed. It's impossible to think that violence is irrelevant as a theme of our broken state.
Bailie borrows rather affectionately from Rene Girard, who sees humanity in a state of mimetic desire, which is desire borne from envy. That envy leads to rivalry, and that rivalry leads to violence. And that desire for violence is innate in every human, which means that eventually every culture and society needs a place to compile their collective violence. This is where scapegoats emerge.
But the biblical narrative created a problem. Scapegoats were traditionally seen as cursed, and ultimately, worthy of their murderous fate. Jesus, the central figure of Christianity, was cursed, beaten, hated, abandoned, and murdered. But He was not a cursed man worthy of blame. The Gospel highlights that Jesus was not a wretch cursed by fate, or a fool cursed by bad luck. He was an innocent man who gave himself to the violent urges of humanity and let it break him so that he could, in turn, break them. So now all of a sudden, the curtain is pulled back. The scapegoat is not a curse. It is a victim, highlighting the bloodlust in those who demand its blood be shed.
Bailie presents an idea that is vastly theoretical but also incredibly practical. Every news cycle we see appears to either deify a victim or scourge a scapegoat. It seems more and more clear that these actions are not all in bad faith, but that doesn't make them valid. Often they are a culmination of the same angst and frustration that turned Cain against Abel, or Herod against John the Baptist. It brings light to the words of Jesus who said that to hate a man is to kill a man. Our violence may not break bones but it is destructive to the soul nevertheless.
This book has a lot to chew on, and will likely need to be revisited several times before it really sinks in. But I enjoyed it thoroughly.
"The only machine capable of restoring a conventional cultural system is the machine whose lynchpin is a lynching, and the effect of the crucifixion has been to remove the lynchpin. Unless and until we can learn to live without resorting to those now dilapidated sacrificial mechanisms, we will be courting disaster. Encouraging the human race to live without them, and instructing us about how to do so, is what the Gospel and the Christian movement exist to do."
In Bailie's mind, it turns out that the culprit was, in fact, stabbing.
There's no way to avoid violence when you read the Bible. There are lots of incredibly violent stories. Good men are killed, bad men are killed. In the great climax God Himself is killed. It's impossible to think that violence is irrelevant as a theme of our broken state.
Bailie borrows rather affectionately from Rene Girard, who sees humanity in a state of mimetic desire, which is desire borne from envy. That envy leads to rivalry, and that rivalry leads to violence. And that desire for violence is innate in every human, which means that eventually every culture and society needs a place to compile their collective violence. This is where scapegoats emerge.
But the biblical narrative created a problem. Scapegoats were traditionally seen as cursed, and ultimately, worthy of their murderous fate. Jesus, the central figure of Christianity, was cursed, beaten, hated, abandoned, and murdered. But He was not a cursed man worthy of blame. The Gospel highlights that Jesus was not a wretch cursed by fate, or a fool cursed by bad luck. He was an innocent man who gave himself to the violent urges of humanity and let it break him so that he could, in turn, break them. So now all of a sudden, the curtain is pulled back. The scapegoat is not a curse. It is a victim, highlighting the bloodlust in those who demand its blood be shed.
Bailie presents an idea that is vastly theoretical but also incredibly practical. Every news cycle we see appears to either deify a victim or scourge a scapegoat. It seems more and more clear that these actions are not all in bad faith, but that doesn't make them valid. Often they are a culmination of the same angst and frustration that turned Cain against Abel, or Herod against John the Baptist. It brings light to the words of Jesus who said that to hate a man is to kill a man. Our violence may not break bones but it is destructive to the soul nevertheless.
This book has a lot to chew on, and will likely need to be revisited several times before it really sinks in. But I enjoyed it thoroughly.
"The only machine capable of restoring a conventional cultural system is the machine whose lynchpin is a lynching, and the effect of the crucifixion has been to remove the lynchpin. Unless and until we can learn to live without resorting to those now dilapidated sacrificial mechanisms, we will be courting disaster. Encouraging the human race to live without them, and instructing us about how to do so, is what the Gospel and the Christian movement exist to do."
September 30, 2021
Fascinating. Once you see what Rene Girard was getting at, you can't un-see it. A great intro to Girard's thought.
May 12, 2022
Mind-blowing. One of the most fascinating books I've ever read.
Still trying to figure out what I make of its claims...
Still trying to figure out what I make of its claims...
October 13, 2023
Find any book about the theology of Rene’ Girard…. You will not be disappointed!
January 8, 2017
Bailie's book examines our present historical crisis (published 1995) in light of the work of Rene Girard.
Girard's anthropology explains the human mimetic condition which in times of crisis results in violence. The violence (murder) is like a fever which builds, and peaks, and breaks the crisis. Peace is restored, but the memory of the violence morphs into myth, suppressing the actual violence by sanctifying it and ritualizing it. And the myth (the 'this is who we are') creates a culture.
The monkey wrench that was thrown into this universal pattern was the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Because his followers, Jews who had been formed in the gradual myth-questioning process of the Hebrew Scriptures, proclaimed their experience of his resurrection, and that he was an innocent victim. He was not a god, but a human person. History replaced mythology as the founding basis of their community.
This is a chunk to digest in one gulp.
Despite the monkey wrench of Christianity, the human condition has not changed overnight, nor will it. The ancient anthropological pattern persists. But there is now an alternative pattern. And it has infected the old one, creating a crisis of choice, for individuals and for communities. Christianity has introduced a struggle between one way of human being and the other. It offers a choice and a change. Not easy. And not of one's own design. We did not figure this out, anymore than we created the world. It was revealed gradually through the Hebrew Scriptures, and culminated in the Jesus experience.
Bailie illustrates this idea using specific examples of myths (old and new), and through the emergence of change through the Hebrew prophets especially, and through the Gospels definitively. He offers too, striking illustrations in contemporary events--the Rodney King incident in 1991, Naziism, the massacre in El Mozote, the 'new nationalism', etc.
This is not a theology. But to one versed in the Gospel, all the familiar theological pieces fall into place, and the picture it creates is stunning. Bailie holds out a way of seeing the Kingdom that Jesus prayed for, a Peaceable Kingdom.
Girard's anthropology explains the human mimetic condition which in times of crisis results in violence. The violence (murder) is like a fever which builds, and peaks, and breaks the crisis. Peace is restored, but the memory of the violence morphs into myth, suppressing the actual violence by sanctifying it and ritualizing it. And the myth (the 'this is who we are') creates a culture.
The monkey wrench that was thrown into this universal pattern was the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Because his followers, Jews who had been formed in the gradual myth-questioning process of the Hebrew Scriptures, proclaimed their experience of his resurrection, and that he was an innocent victim. He was not a god, but a human person. History replaced mythology as the founding basis of their community.
This is a chunk to digest in one gulp.
Despite the monkey wrench of Christianity, the human condition has not changed overnight, nor will it. The ancient anthropological pattern persists. But there is now an alternative pattern. And it has infected the old one, creating a crisis of choice, for individuals and for communities. Christianity has introduced a struggle between one way of human being and the other. It offers a choice and a change. Not easy. And not of one's own design. We did not figure this out, anymore than we created the world. It was revealed gradually through the Hebrew Scriptures, and culminated in the Jesus experience.
Bailie illustrates this idea using specific examples of myths (old and new), and through the emergence of change through the Hebrew prophets especially, and through the Gospels definitively. He offers too, striking illustrations in contemporary events--the Rodney King incident in 1991, Naziism, the massacre in El Mozote, the 'new nationalism', etc.
This is not a theology. But to one versed in the Gospel, all the familiar theological pieces fall into place, and the picture it creates is stunning. Bailie holds out a way of seeing the Kingdom that Jesus prayed for, a Peaceable Kingdom.
April 27, 2009
This is an amazing book with tons of insights into the formation of human culture and the role Jesus' death and resurrection played in teaching the world about the myth of "sacred violence." Bailie is trying to describe the insights of Rene Girard, a French cultural critic, who is a prolific but difficult to understand writer. (Even my very intelligent husband gave up on Girard and searched for an easier read). Girard believes that humanculture was founded on violence as a way to create cohesion among groups of people. (Just think about how countries band together in times of war). "Sacred Violence" is the role religion plays in given violence legitimacy. Bailie's book isn't for the lighthearted, either, however. It took stamina to read the first half of the book where he lays the groundwork of Girard's theory. The last half of the book became much more interesting as he applied the theory to the Old and New Testaments. My effort was well worth it, though. I had many "aha" moments that really got me thinking. If you've ever wondered how the "God of love" could be so violent in the Old Testament, you should read this book.
I recommend another book for those interested in a very easy-to- read introduction to the topic. It's called "The Wicked Truth: When Good People Do Bad Things." Suzanne is a friend of mine who introduced me to Girard's theory. She uses the musical "Wicked" to explain Girard's theory about mimetic desire and scapegoating. She uses lots of interesting examples from her own personal life, too. If you've seen "Wicked" or read the book by McGuire, check out Suzanne's book.
I recommend another book for those interested in a very easy-to- read introduction to the topic. It's called "The Wicked Truth: When Good People Do Bad Things." Suzanne is a friend of mine who introduced me to Girard's theory. She uses the musical "Wicked" to explain Girard's theory about mimetic desire and scapegoating. She uses lots of interesting examples from her own personal life, too. If you've seen "Wicked" or read the book by McGuire, check out Suzanne's book.
January 5, 2015
If ever there has been a book that changed the direction of my life, this would be it. Poetic, hyperbolic and inaccurate in spots, gloriously filled with faith, carefully crafted, and a good introduction to what is referred to as Girardian theory. Many better books have been written about this brilliant thinker, Rene Girard, but many of us were introduced to Girard by Bailie. If i was trying to introduce Girard to someone now, this book would probably not cross my mind. Michael Hardin or James Alison, James Warren or Wolfgang Palatzer would be my recommendations today. but 20 years ago this lovely book was the one that started me on a different path. I recently reread it over a rainy day and remembered very specific moments through the book. I feel certain that had this book not been written Girard would still be an obscure academic. Thanks to Gil, and so many others the world is changing in response to the work of Rene Girard.
July 22, 2013
I too found the book provocative and somewhat convincing. The only thing I would add to the existing reviews is that Bailie puts a cultural spin on the redemptive value of the crucified Christ. The symbol of the crucified Christ as it has been passed down through history, he maintains, exposes the vestiges of primitive religion in contemporary culture that use various forms of acceptable violence to satisfy a kind of a blood thirst. Sounds weird, yes, but Bailie makes a credible case. See for yourselves.
July 20, 2014
This book changed my understanding of Christianity and the meaning of the cross of Christ. It forced my Christian views to go deeper than ever before. I won't say I understand it all now, or that I believe without reservations. But forcing a better and more thoughtful understanding was powerful for me.
June 16, 2015
absolutely fascinating
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews