Jesus saves. But how?

Perhaps the most exciting theory I've learned about during my first year at HDS is the Giradian theory of atonement. Whereas most Christians understand the bumper sticker slogan "Jesus saves" to mean that "Jesus died to pay for our sins," René Girard argues that the Gospel, as a story about an entirely innocent victim, exposes the violence that forms the very foundation of human society.

His theory revolves around two principles: mimetic desire and the interconnection of violence and the sacred.

Girard understands all desire to be imitative: we don't desire objects for their own sake, we desire them because others do. As such, the people whose desire we imitate become obstacles to our obtaining the object, and thus our rivals. He suggests that if two people desire the same object there will soon be a third, then a fourth, and so on. Because desire is not for the object itself, the object is soon forgotten and what is left is only the antagonism of rivalry. With the object no longer in the picture, people cease to imitate others' desires and instead start to imitate their antagonism. Whereas before they wanted to share the same object, they now want to destroy the same enemy.

Due to this growing antipathy, an outbreak of violence occurs and an individual or group is made the arbitrary victim. After the victim's death, the group's desire for violence is suddenly appeased and peace suddenly restored. The victim comes to be understood as both the origin of the conflict and also the origin of the renewed peace. That paradox imbues the victim with a quality of sacredness. Girard argues that this process is cyclical and is at the very heart of human society.

In a survey of world myths, Girard discovered that most center on the culpability of the sacred victim and the righteousness of his or her killers. He found in the Gospels, however, a different pattern. The Gospels tell a story of an entirely blameless victim. In the accounts of Jesus' crucifixion everyone (from the disciples to Pontius Pilate) is culpable for Jesus' death BUT Jesus. The "good news," then, affirms the innocence of the victim and exposes the sacrificial means by which society maintains its equilibrium.

WHOA.