Doing Political Theology in the Time of Violence: Unmasking Violence with Ren&eacute; Girard and Walter Wink

Helen  C. Romero,

Doing Political Theology in the Time of Violence: Unmasking Violence with René Girard and Walter Wink

Abstract:

This paper examines René Girard’s mimetic theory and uses it to surface the nonviolent resistance offered by Jesus to counter the violence that is waged by certain groups of people who use the sacred texts to perpetuate and legitimize their acts of violence. I use Bonaventure’s journey toward God as a lens to explicate how Girard’s conversion deepens his concept of mimetic desire. Toward the later part of this paper, I proposed pairing Girard’s mimetic theory with the framework of Walter Wink in engaging powers through nonviolent resistance. Mimetic desire could only be countered by desiring God whose presence and language is love, and whose ways are humble, just, and nonviolent as exemplified and lived by Jesus.