Rene Girard | The Scapegoat | Complete 5-part CBC 'Ideas' series with David Cayley (2001)

According to French thinker René Girard, human beings copy each other's desires and are in perpetual conflict with one another over the objects of our desire. In early human communities, this conflict created a permanent threat of violence and forced our ancestors to find a way to unify themselves. They chose a victim, a scapegoat against whom the community could unite. Biblical religion, according to Girard, has attempted to overcome this historic plight. From the unjust murder of Abel by his brother Cain to the crucifixion of Christ, the Bible reveals the innocence of the victim. It is on this revelation that modern society unquietly rests.

Girard's ideas influenced social scientists over his long career as a writer and teacher, until his death in the fall of 2015. In this classic 'Ideas' series from 2001, David Cayley explores the thought of René Girard.

0:00:00 Part I - Girard's career and discovery of the nature and power of mimesis
0:51:25 Part II - The breakdown of ancient sacrifice and the revelation of the Hebrews
1:43:22 Part III - Jesus - God incarnate - as revelatory Scapegoat
2:34:16 Part IV - Mimetic Theory on the impact of the innocent, scapegoated God-man
3:25:46 Part V - The inversion of scapegoating in a world saturated by the Christian revelation

[kjmav]

I never dreamed I’d see an intelligent discussion of Rene Girard on YouTube, of all places! I read him in graduate school. Fascinating.

[brianzahnd]

Excellent! I can't imagine a better introduction to the work of René Girard.

[MrsAVZC]

Thank you for putting this on youtube. I listened to the podcast years ago and it was life-changing for me. I am so happy to see it reposted here.

[EspressoMonkey]

1 hour 20 in and my mind has been blown several times...

[kkkkkristo]

Deeply grateful for posting this, thanks a lot.

[tensevo]

This is brilliant, I had never before view the complete Bible as a book almost exclusively about deconstructing mythology and revealing deep human truths.

[frayfray]

I'm getting the sense that a new Girardian Snowball is happening (not to be confused by a mimetic snowball). -- I mean that, the spread of his ideas are beginning to snowball on social media.

[tensevo]

This might be one of the most sophisticated videos on this platform. It identifies the beginning of the modern legal justice system and clearly demonstrates that without the substrate of Christianity, there is no justice system, just decree or mandate of the mob or emperor.

[AncestryNerd]

Rene Girar, where have you been all my life?! 😍🥰

[Danny-qtvt]

We need more of this kind of production

[mrfake]

This series brought me to Jesus on an intellectual level. Then it's moved beyond the intellect to a spiritual level. Thank you Rene.

[harrison]

1:40 3:31 4:27 5:48 6:57 7:40

1:57:51 1:59:36 2:01:16 2:03:40 2:06:12 2:07:03 2:07:45 2:49:37 2:51:49
2:52:40 - Witch hunt. Finding a marginalized outsider
3:10:18
3:12:57 - Innovation
3:13:37 - The more people innovate, the more pressure there is is to innovate. And then more people claim to innovate, but really many aren't. And are just copying each other
3:13:56 - Food & eating disorders
3:17:12 - Line in history of more and more uncovering of human nature
3:18:58 - Even handwriting changed from copying
3:19:58 - In a story, dying in the end is what happens when you realize everything done before hand was junk
3:21:26 - Even a life full of illusions and wrong interpretations later in life people can get period of extreme clarity
3:23:34 - Apocalypse is an unfolding of implications.
3:26:24 - No society without religion, without it, society cannot exist. Modern secularism is a form of Christianity. It might be the case that people are copying, and insights in bible could just natural human behavior
3:29:11 - The apocalypse is when we stop scapegoating. Then we either die or love each other
3:39:16 - Enlightenment was like religion in 18th century
3:40:37 - The media & the news
3:41:21 - Borders and violence not actually coming from differences.
And a global borderless world

Nobody can tell you how much violence was stopped due to Christianity.
Englightnement can only come from Christianity, it was a result of it.
View that institutions are bad. But institutions are good.

[Whiteplane]

I work isolated from society with small cadre of men. The scapegoating is constant. We often find one person and attach all our own negative attributes and denigrate that person. It's like clockwork. There is always an odd man out.

[danmusic]

In 'The pursuit of Victory - The Life and Achievement of Horatio Nelson', Roger Knight writes:

"In early September 1803 Nelson wrote to a society that had sent the 'Victory' bibles and prayer books, which had been distributed to the seamen:

'a ship where divine service is regularly performed is by far more regular and decent in their conduct than where it is not, and in this ship only 2 men have been punished for upwards of two months'.

Public worship was necessary for welfare and good order."

[davidtagauri]

This is great. Thank you for posting this. it was a peasure.

[cloudmonkeys]

Oh René, you're so fine
You're so fine, you blow my mind
Hey René, hey René!

[elel]

16:33 admire me but don’t
18:24 imitate me but don’t be too effective
27:53 unifying power of a common enemy
31:05 victim is bad before getting killed
1:38:12 in order to transcend old gods, you must obey them

[jkjk]

this leaves me with a sense of wonder and gratitude 🤓

[marvinbecker]

This stuff makes my head smoke but I love it.

[hudsontd]

I had to rehear the 1min of the video, Abosolutly mind bending.