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Sacrifice (Breakthroughs in Mimetic Theory) Paperback – April 1, 2011

4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 23 ratings

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In Sacrifice, René Girard interrogates the Brahmanas of Vedic India, exploring coincidences with mimetic theory that are too numerous and striking to be accidental. Even that which appears to be dissimilar fails to contradict mimetic theory, but instead corresponds to the minimum of illusion without which sacrifice becomes impossible.
     The Bible reveals collective violence, similar to that which generates sacrifice everywhere, but instead of making victims guilty, the Bible and the Gospels reveal the persecutors of a single victim. Instead of elaborating myths, they tell the truth absolutely contrary to the archaic sense. Once exposed, the single victim mechanism can no longer function as the model for would-be sacrificers.
     Recognizing that the Vedic tradition also converges on a revelation that discredits sacrifice, mimetic theory locates within sacrifice itself a paradoxical power of quiet reflection that leads, in the long run, to the eclipse of this institution which is violent but nevertheless fundamental to the development of human culture. Far from unduly privileging the Western tradition and awarding it a monopoly on the knowledge and repudiation of blood sacrifice, mimetic analysis recognizes comparable, but never truly identical, traits in the Vedic tradition.

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About the Author

René Girard is a member of the French Academy and Emeritus Professor at Stanford University. His books have been translated and acclaimed worldwide. He received the Modern Language Association’s Award for Lifetime Scholarly Achievement in 2008.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Michigan State University Press (April 1, 2011)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 104 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0870139924
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0870139925
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.21 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.5 x 0.6 x 6 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 23 ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on November 3, 2014
    It is not accidental that sacrifice is found universally throughout time and place. There is a common thread that binds. Girard has found that common thread which ties cultures together. The search for that common thread has been done by many thoughtful scholars throughout the centuries but none have come up with what Girard's theory suggests. I continue to marvel at Girard's profound scholarship and insight.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on December 13, 2014
    Defining something modern Christendom needs to explore.
  • Reviewed in the United States on September 22, 2011
    Purchasers need to be aware that this book is very tiny... it will hardly make a contirbution to your bookshelf. Its content is Girardian theory, and if you subscribe to, or are curious about his thoeries then fair enough, but if you are on a budget the money spent may buy more value on other volumes.
    4 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on May 24, 2020
    This was my first exposure to a deeper dive into what "mimetic theory" is.

    As a Bitcoiner, I've often heard people describe the tribalism you see in cryptocurrencies as mimetic theory, but I'm not so sure that's an accurate statement after reading this book.

    Sacrifice covers the various religions and how mimetic behaviour shows up through the practice of ritual sacrifice.

    Rene Girard walks you from the start to the end of using sacrifice as a method of control using mimetic behaviour ... starting as a way to 'appease the gods' to keep peasants from murdering each other, to ending ritual sacrifice with the spread of Christianity & the story of the ultimate sacrifice of God's son.

    The book explores the subject very thoroughly with good logic, through many different periods of history and different religions.

    A short book, it's recommended reading if you're interested in learning more about human psyche and mimetic theory.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2011
    In this diminutive-sized monograph in the publisher's series Breakthroughs in Mimetic Theory, Girard casts Vedic (Asian Indian) sacrifice into the perspective by which sacrifice in Western religion as recounted in the Bible has come to be understood. The religious grounds for such sacrifice in the Vedic religion are found mainly in the "Brahmanas," a "selective anthology" of Vedic writings ignored or scorned by most leading scholars of Indian religion when this became a subject of interest in the late nineteenth century. Because of this marginalization of writings dealing with Vedic sacrifice, the place of sacrifice in Indian religious practices and Indian society was not generally known by Westerners.

    Vedic sacrifice, most importantly human but animal too, served the same purpose in Indian society as in Western society. Mainly, a scapegoat was sought for sacrifice to keep social cohesion and confirm community conventions and mores. In the Western tradition, as recorded in the Bible, Jesus was the ultimate sacrificial victim. His sacrifice however, as ultimately with Vedic sacrifice, meant to strengthen social cohesion resulted eventually in breaking up such cohesion and serving as a passage to a successive social form. Girard's focus is this ambivalence--or what he in places calls the "enigma"--of sacrifice by which it is at its deepest level an agency for social transformation.

    Sacrifice is ambivalent because the sacrificer such as the Brahmins in early Indian religion know that sacrifice is murder. Thus elaborate ceremonies often involving drugs--the hallucinogenic "soma" for the Brahmins--and rationalizations such as the victim as the "other" or the "outsider" surround sacrifice. Some ceremonies call for apologizing to the victim before the sacrifice. Others gloss over the violence done to a human victim or try to disguise it; while with plant sacrifices, for instance, exaggerated powers are attributed to the "victim" so the purpose of sacrifice in confirming social cohesion against "threats" is fulfilled. Because of the ambivalences of sacrifice exposed by such anomalies, sacrifice is analyzed as a type of mimesis, or imaginative acting out.

    After introducing Vedic sacrificial practices, Girard then integrates these into the larger topic of sacrifice by comparison with sacrificial acts found in the Bible and general understandings of sacrifice of scapegoats developed by scholars over the 20th century. In giving attention to the overlooked subject of Vedic sacrifice in Indian religious tradition, this Stanford Emeritus Professor and member of the French Academy deepens understanding of the universal practice of sacrifice.
    15 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on August 15, 2011
    I have to say that after reading Stephen Finlan's works on sacrifice that this was a bit less engaging, both technically and in style, as it reads like a grad school paper. I was glad it was so brief. And before anyone thinks I am dissing, I fully acknowledge Girard's genius and influence in the mimetic realm. I found his comparison of certain Hindu texts to the idea of scapegoat sacrifice to be very informative, as I have no working knowledge of it beyond academics. His application of the mimetic concept was new to me as well, and for that I am glad to have read the book. I wonder, however, if he might not overplay his hand in casting the argument too narrowly along the scapegoat lines of sacrifice as if that is THE definitive model in Judaism, and by extension, Christianity, upon which a great deal of his thesis hangs. Sometimes to make all-encompassing generalizations for specific applications we paint with too wide of a brush. He does make the disclaimer that his thoughts, while not preliminary, are not as detailed as he could be. Perhaps I am asking too much.

    I do have to say, however, that a book dealing with sacrifice in the Gospels, which concludes that Christianity has forever abolished blood sacrifice wherever it goes, seems a little off base when it fails to recognize the centrality of the Eucharist as an anamnesis, a making present, of the sacrifice of Christ. The very heart of the earliest Christian ritual was this participation in the sacrificed and glorified blood and body of Christ. (He mentions Celsus briefly, and could have worked this angle in here, as one of his the Roman arguments against the new faith was its supposed cannibalism.) Fertile soil there for planting was ignored I am afraid.
    Not sure I would read this again. But if you have an interest in the notion and influence of sacrifice in the Judeo-Christian tradition, see Finlan's "Problems with Atonement". He does an excellent job introducing the concepts and tracing their influences and outcomes.
    13 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Carlton Larsen
    5.0 out of 5 stars Ground breaking book
    Reviewed in Canada on May 25, 2021
    Brilliant book. Girard is a great thinker and a clear writer.
  • joseph fitzpatrick
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent delivery and value for money
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 4, 2021
    This book arrived in very good time and in perfect condition and was entirely what I require for my academic writing so I am very happy with it.