Quote:
Originally Posted by KSA
It's been awhile since I was here.... I'd like to drop one name here - Rene Girard - whose work really helped me to understand the dynamics of social interactions and especially how they were manifest in LC.
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Always nice to see your moniker pop up KSA. Girard I read some years ago and it was an impressive presentation. Not sure I understand or agree with him, but was really impressed nonetheless.
Here's what I remember: that shaming is intrinsic to our social structures, and we develop mythologies to support them. We persecute, then deify. Like what Jesus said, we kill the prophets then we build shrines to them.
All of which seems to strike down Christianity in the myth-making business, as well, except Girard points out that the testimony of Christianity is not built by the oppressor, but by the oppressed. The one "silenced by death" rises again by the power of the Holy Spirit to testify of God's saving love.
So our myth-making voices are stilled, as God has now spoken to us in the person of the Son. And our social structures of shaming no longer work in the face of Jesus Christ.
Now some religious structures like in the LC, under the guise of "good order in the church", and "training, or discipling the saints", still practice shaming. If you ever saw WL and TC in public it was pretty obvious. And with the blendeds I've seen it to a lesser degree. But with WL and TC it was, like, wow; like you were watching MB "disciple" WN all over again.
And we need to beware lest we in turn scapegoat WL, and the blendeds, and pretend they are the source of all our troubles. No, it is our own nature, which has been dealt with on the cross of Christ, and new creation now awaits to flourish in its stead. So we should have peace with all, especially those whose behavior has troubled us. "Pray for those who persecute you." Forgiveness and peace, and reconciliation, are the order of the day.
I am babbling, I know, but just wanted to give an "amen" to KSA. Hopefully I didn't miss the thrust of Girard's work by too much.