Mimetic Theory and Its Shadow: Girard, Milbank, and Ontological Violence

by Scott Cowdell

Leading Girardian theologian Scott Cowdell seeks to resolve a long-standing challenge to mimetic that it entails a fundamental brutishness—an ontological violence. Girard’s account of scapegoating violence, seen as providing the initial stability for our species to emerge and consolidate, hardly seems compatible with Christian belief in God’s good creation, with violence only appearing after a subsequent Fall. The brilliant but controversial theologian John Milbank has long raised this concern about Girard, grounded in a remarkably sophisticated (though seldom fathomed) philosophical theology. Unpacking Milbank’s program, along with Girard’s recasting of Continental philosophy in light of mimetic theory, Cowdell finds a way between two apparently irreconcilable positions. With irenic spirit but analytic tenacity, he probes for ways through Milbank’s arguments while pressing on growth points in Girard’s. Cowdell’s proposals involve reframing divine creation in light of salvation history, reimagining divine participation by thinking Christ and evolution together, and developing a semiotic approach to mimetic theory that delivers ontological peace hermeneutically. Cowdell shows how Girard’s vision of human transformation through faith in Christ reveals a different world beyond ontological violence while preserving the divine participation that Milbank champions.

208 pages, Paperback

Published August 1, 2023

Reviews

[Aaron C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Premise: John Milbank and René Girard, both Christians, respond differently to the pervading violence and suffering in the world. The author frames their diverging views as Alexandrian (Milbank) and Antiochene (Girard). Milbank views creation as fundamentally peaceful, a "pacific" ontology that refuses to grant violence metaphysical priority (that means he does not see violence as a principle of divine creation) and absolves God any part in our suffering. Girard, by contrast (seems less concerned with ontology itself), sees violence and suffering as intrinsic to human experience, anthropologically (mimetic theory and all). Cowdell’s project is to bridge that gap. There's a mix of semiotics, biology, phenomenology, Franciscan theology, a bunch of other fancy, verbose stuff, but culminates in—where I think all serious theology ends up—poetry, leaning on a favorite of mine: Gerard Manley Hopkins, a Victorian gentleman with the heart of a High Romantic. Dense work. But if you can define metaphysics, mimesis, and ontology (ontotheology maybe), you can rawdog this too. Nietzsche and Augustine helps.