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Scapegoats: The Gospel through the Eyes of Victims
Scapegoats are innocent victims who have experienced blame and violence at the hands of society. René Girard proposes that the Gospels present Jesus as a scapegoat whose innocent death exposes how humans have always created scapegoats. This revelation should have cured societal scapegoating, yet those who claim to live by the Gospels have missed that message. They continue to scapegoat and remain blind to the suffering of scapegoats in modern life.
Christians today tend to read the New Testament as victors, not as victims. The teachings and actions of Jesus thus lose much of their subversive significance. The Gospels become one harmonized story about individual salvation rather than distinct representations of Jesus's revolutionary work on behalf of victims. Scapegoats revisits the Gospel narratives with the understanding that they tell scapegoats' stories, and that through those stories the kingdom of God is revealed. Bashaw goes beyond Girard's arguments to show that Jesus's whole public ministry (not only his death) combats the marginalization of victims. These scapegoat stories work together to illuminate an essential truth of the Gospels--that Jesus modeled a reality in which victims become survivors and the marginalized become central to the kingdom.
Christians today tend to read the New Testament as victors, not as victims. The teachings and actions of Jesus thus lose much of their subversive significance. The Gospels become one harmonized story about individual salvation rather than distinct representations of Jesus's revolutionary work on behalf of victims. Scapegoats revisits the Gospel narratives with the understanding that they tell scapegoats' stories, and that through those stories the kingdom of God is revealed. Bashaw goes beyond Girard's arguments to show that Jesus's whole public ministry (not only his death) combats the marginalization of victims. These scapegoat stories work together to illuminate an essential truth of the Gospels--that Jesus modeled a reality in which victims become survivors and the marginalized become central to the kingdom.
304 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 24, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 6, 2024
What a masterpiece she wrote! She did an amazing job explaining history and context in which the gospels were written so we could fully understand. She first explains the life and mission of Jesus and how throughout his ministry, he welcomed and dignified individuals at the very margins of society at that time. Then she goes to walk us through the history of the church and mentions groups of individuals we have Scapegoated since its origins (groups of different faiths, racial/ethnic minorities, LGBTQ community, women, etc). She emphasizes that in order for us to follow Jesus wholeheartedly, it is of utmost important that we are first honest about the Church's history and end the scapegoating cycle.
November 30, 2023
The best unpacking of René Girad’s work on scapegoating I’ve read. Very challenging!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews