This Single Perspective Makes Christianity Unique | Girard’s Apologetic

For Girard, Christianity is radically different from all other religions in one crucial aspect: it takes the side of the innocent victim and, in doing so, exposes the violence and deceit of worldly order. We will explore how this intuition of innocence begins to take root in the Hebrew bible and blossoms into a resounding declaration in the Crucifixion. Girard presents us with an anthropology of the Cross: a translation of Christian phenomena into this-worldly, humanistic language. Girard’s success in placing this world in the foreground, however, forces the other world and even God himself to retreat into the background. In Girard’s unorthodox Christianity, God’s absence is just as loud and jarring as humanity’s presence. Some links to further guide your study: Join my email list to be notified of future episodes: greatbooks.io Full transcript: https://open.substack.com/pub/johnath... TIMESTAMPS 00:00:00 Introduction 00:03:36 The Myth Vaccine 00:08:56 Cain and Abel 00:14:19 Joseph and His Brothers 00:18:30 The Incompleteness of the Hebrew Bible 00:21:31 Completing the Message 00:26:51 The Crucifixion 00:30:18 Christ's Innocence 00:33:50 Christ's Truth 00:37:31 Christ's Love 00:41:28 An Anthropology of the Cross 00:42:31 Girard's Interpretation of Satan 00:44:57 Girard's Interpretation of the Christian Revelation 00:45:47 Girard's Interpretation of the Anti-Christ 00:49:05 Girard's Interpretation of the Kingdom of God 00:50:08 Girard's Interpretation of the Apocalypse 00:51:08 A Christian Dictionary 00:54:10 Girard's Unorthodoxy: The Sacrificial Reading 00:56:45 Girard's Unorthodoxy: God's Absence 01:03:17 Girard's Unorthodoxy: Historical Christianity 01:05:39 Girard's Unorthodoxy: Apocalyptic Ambivalence