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Progressive Christian

Mimetic Theory

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May 2014

May 12, 2014

Faith Forward: The Future of Christian Education, Part 4

What’s Emerging? A New Story Dave Csinos, the founder and president of the Faith Forward...

May 05, 2014

Faith Forward: The Future of Christian Education, Part 3

What’s Emerging? A New Theology of Atonement Why do violence and religion appear to be...

April 2014

April 07, 2014

Mimetic Mondays: Does God Create Evil? Mimetic Theory and Isaiah 45:7

We recently received a message on the Raven Foundation Facebook Page that raised a great question...

March 2014

March 24, 2014

The First Lie: Language’s Big Bang

“Once a person begins to desire what the model desires, he learns very quickly that...

March 10, 2014

Attn SBNR: Biblical Violence Matters to Peace

It baffles me when people who are deeply concerned about peace and peacemaking define themselves...

February 2014

February 24, 2014

Scandalized by Gangs: A Live Chat with Rev. Romal Tune

Before we chat with Rev. Romal Tune at Teaching Nonviolent Atonement this Wednesday, February 26,...

February 11, 2014

Valentine’s Day: The Myth of Love and Desire

The most recent short lived celebrity marriage lasted only two weeks: Rachel Snider is filing...

February 03, 2014

David Brooks and Religious Hostility: Tasting Goodness

In his column for the New York Times called Alone, Yet Not Alone, David Brooks...

January 2014

January 27, 2014

Mimetic Theory Goes to Prison

I recently had the pleasure of discussing mimetic theory and scapegoating with our friends at...

January 13, 2014

Mimetic Mondays: Christianity 21 Talk: Mimetic Theory and the Nonviolent God

(Mimetic Theory and the Nonviolent God was delivered at the Christianity 21 Conference in Denver as part of...

December 2013

December 30, 2013

Mimetic Mondays: 2013 Scandals – Attraction, Repulsion, and the Top 5 Ways to Become Scandal-less in 2014

As defined by mimetic theory, scandal gives offense and arouses indignation. Mimetic theory spells out...

December 09, 2013

Mimetic Monday: Reflecting on Christmas & the Incarnation by Stephanie Perdew VanSlyke, M.Div., Ph.D.

Why did the birth of Jesus matter to the early church? What did they think...

November 2013

November 25, 2013

The Truth about Thanksgiving: Why You Should Celebrate

The antidote to feel-good history is not feel-bad history but honest and inclusive history. James...

November 18, 2013

New York Times Video and Mimetic Theory Part 1: The Contagion of Yawning and the Social Glue

It just so happens that middle schoolers and the New York Times are asking the...

October 2013

October 28, 2013

Hellbound? on Halloween: A Live Chat with Director Kevin Miller about Mimetic Theory and Hell

Who would you like to see bound to Hell to suffer eternal conscious torment? Okay,...

October 21, 2013

Politics and Mimetic Theory: Dick Cheney, Barack Obama, and the Search for a Common Enemy

This morning on the Today Show, co-host Savannah Guthrie interviewed Dick Cheney about his heart...

October 15, 2013

Video Interview with Author David Dawson: Violence, Atonement, and the Scapegoat: The History of an Idea

René Girard has said that his entire mimetic theory “has existed silently in common language”, hidden...

October 07, 2013

Converting Jesus: Anger and the Pharisees

One of the big hurdles when it comes to teaching nonviolent Atonement is the anger, or wrath,...

September 2013

September 17, 2013

Mimetic Theory and American Exceptionalism

By Suzanne Ross and Adam Ericksen The Raven Foundation So out of the entire op-ed...

September 09, 2013

Mimetic Mondays: Reflections on Syria

By Adam Ericksen and Suzanne Ross As the world wrestles with how to respond to the...

September 03, 2013

The Nonviolent Atonement: Brian McLaren and James Alison on Violence, God, and Mimetic Theory

[Editor's Note: This post, by Adam Ericksen from The Raven Foundation, is the second in...

August 2013

August 26, 2013

Introducing Mimetic Mondays: Exploring God and Violence

Mimetic Theory. It's a phrase that's been popping up in conversations and blogposts about violence, and...