René Girard and Moral Influence: Part 5, Things Aren't Looking Very Good

Let me return to the thesis of this series, that René Girard's reading of the gospels is a moral influence view of the atonement.

In the last few posts I've made the claim that what René Girard saved many ex-evangelicals from was penal substitutionary atonement. Among evangelicals, it was liberating to discover that the violence of the gospels wasn't demanded or required by God. God was, rather, the innocent victim who entered the sacrificial machinery of sacred violence to expose our scapegoating practices as evil. The bloody roots of our civilization were laid bare. And in doing is, God has called us to stand in solidarity with the victims of the world, especially those produced by our own nations and societies. 

As I've said, this is a profound and powerful way of imagining the crucifixion of Jesus. A deep poison is being withdrawn from the Christian imagination, that God demands and sanctions violence. Girard provides us a way of reading the gospel accounts as an indictment of sacred violence. A peaceable faith opens up before us. 

These are amazing gifts, and I count myself a fan of Girard's theory. And not just as a theory, but as a spiritual and moral practice. As a citizen of the Untied States, the questions I ask myself about my country are these. Historically, who have been the victims of the United States? And today, who are the victims of the United States? Lastly, what sacred narrative is my country using to hide and justify its scapegoating practices? I love Girard because he puts these questions before us. And closer to home, I also ask of myself: Who are Richard Beck's victims? Who do I scapegoat? How do I hide and justify my own violence? 

So, if you're new to Girard I hope you can see the excitement his ideas engender. Suddenly, a way of reading the gospels deemed to be deeply problematic--penal substitutionary atonement--is replaced with a vision of considerable prophetic force. And where the crucifixion of Jesus had once been a bloody and archaic stumbling block for liberal humanists, René Girard transformed it into a rallying cry for social justice.

Okay, back to my thesis. How is Girard's theory an example of the moral influence view of the atonement?

The point is simply made. In Girard's theory salvation comes to us when step away from sacred violence to stand in solidarity with the victim. We're saved when we stop scapegoating. We come to imitate Jesus Christ as the model of a new and transfigured humanity. And as should be obvious, this change is one of moral effort. The demand here is for moral enactment. If we reject violence and embrace peace we shall be saved.

And this is true. Let me be very clear. Moral influence views of salvation are true! The Sermon on the Mount saves us. Love and peace are the way. The Bible describes salvation in precisely these terms:

They will beat their swords into plows
and their spears into pruning knives.
Nation will not take up the sword against nation,
and they will never again train for war.

So, insofar as Girard's reading of the gospels brings us to repentance and calls us to peace salvation comes to us. And yet, as I've highlighted over the last few posts, the path before us is difficult and narrow. The gospels may have stigmatized scapegoating, but our practices of scapegoating remain hidden and masked. We continue to provide sacred justifications for our violence. In addition, in a world of scarcity human relations crackle with paranoia and fear. Survival-driven concerns will perennially tempt us toward self-interest and self-preservation over against the claims and interests of others. And lastly, Girard himself in his later years admitted that the exposure effected by the gospels might have released more violence into the world. That the moral vision of the gospel would fail to save the world is something Scripture seems to forecast in the book of Revelation. 

Simply put, René Girard might be right about everything, but if it's up to us to save ourselves things aren't looking very good.