{"product_id":"things-hidden-since-the-foundation-of-the-world-9780804722155","title":"Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World","description":"\u003cp\u003eAn astonishing work of cultural criticism  this book is widely recognized as a brilliant and devastating challenge to conventional views of literature  anthropology  religion  and psychoanalysis. In its scope and interest it can be compared with Freuds Totem and Taboo  the subtext Girard refutes with polemic daring  vast erudition  and a persuasiveness that leaves the reader compelled to respond  one way or another. This is the single fullest summation of Girards ideas to date  the book by which they will stand or fall. In a dialogue with two psychiatrists (Jean-Michel Oughourlian and Guy Lefort)  Girard probes an encyclopedic array of topics  ranging across the entire spectrum of anthropology  psychoanalysis  and cultural production. Girards point o departure is what he calles \"mimesis \" the conflict that arises when human rivals compete to differentiate themselves from each other  yet succeed only in becoming more and more alike. At certain points in the life of a society  according to Girard  this mimetic conflict erupts into a crisis in which all difference dissolves in indiscriminate violence. In primitive societies  such crises were resolved by the \"scapegoating mechanism \" in which the community  en masse  turned on an unpremeditated victim. The repression of this collective murder and its repetition in ritual sacrifice then formed the foundations of both religion and the restored social order. How does Christianity  at once the most \"sacrificial\" of religions and a faith with a non-violent ideology  fit into this scheme? Girard grants Freuds point  in Totem and Taboo  that Christianity is similar to primitive religion  but only to refute Freudif Christ is sacrificed  Girard argues  it is not becuase God willed it  but becaus ehuman beings wanted it. The book is not merely  or perhaps not mainly  biblical exegesis  for within its scope fall some of the most vexing problems of social historythe paradox that violance has social efficacy  the function of the scapegoat  the mechanism of anti-semitism.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45666282700853,"sku":"ByrdShop_0804722153","price":51.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780804722155.jpg?v=1782426824","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/things-hidden-since-the-foundation-of-the-world-9780804722155","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}