The Girardian Lectionary: A Monumental Transformation of Christianity

Last updated on: April 23, 2014 at 10:51 am by Suzanne Ross

The Girardian Lectionary: A Monumental Transformation of Christianity 2014-04-23T10:51:02-05:00 Suzanne Ross

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Subscribers to Teaching Nonviolent Atonement will have the opportunity to talk with the Rev. Paul Nuechterlein, creator of Girardian Reflections on the Lectionary: Understanding the Bible Anew Through the Mimetic Theory of René Girard and one of the leading voices of nonviolent Christianity. Beginning in September, we will conduct monthly online video chats with this innovative Girardian thinker who is helping to make possible a nonviolent understanding of Christianity.

The monumental task of preaching and teaching nonviolent Christianity requires a monumental resource. Happily, that is exactly what Rev. Paul Nuechterlein has created with his extensively researched website, Girardian Reflections on the Lectionary: Understanding the Bible Anew Through the Mimetic Theory of René Girard. For each reading in all three years of the lectionary cycle, Paul lists the resources from the vast Girardian library that deal directly with those texts. We are delighted that Paul will be joining the community at Teaching Nonviolent Atonement in September for a conversation about his website, what inspired him to create it, and what he hopes to inspire in his readers. Every month thereafter subscribers will be able to discuss with Paul upcoming lectionary texts and get input on their sermons and education classes or just enjoy having Paul as a resource for their personal practice of Scripture reading.

Paul has been an ordained minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America since 1985 and is currently Senior Pastor at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Portage, MI. Girardian Reflections on the Lectionary began in 1996 as a weekly email from Paul to his friends and was established as a website in 2000. It was nominated for a Webby Award in 2003 in the Spirituality category, has been cited by Brian McLaren as a “monumental contribution,” and has become an indispensable resource for the ever growing community working in nonviolent Christianity. Trained in systematic theology and philosophy, Paul is ably qualified to situate Girard’s theory within the broader context of Biblical studies, which adds a welcome dimension to the website.

So what can you expect to find on the website? A good place to start is with the “Main Index and Instructions”. The site is indexed according to the Revised Common Lectionary, an assignment of Scripture readings to the various days of the church year calendar (e.g., the First Sunday in Advent). Paul offers separate resources for each of the readings. Sometimes he lists articles and books with their relevant chapters. Sometimes he offers excerpts as well. In the feature he calls “Reflections and Questions” you can find Paul’s personal reflections on the texts. He also provides separate pages of reflections and sermons for most (though not yet all) church year dates.

One would think that was enough, but there is more! On the home page and through a collection of his own essays and sermons, readers can find a detailed and readable introduction to mimetic theory’s relevance for nonviolent Christianity. Paul does not just summarize the theory, he demonstrates how it helps us “characterize the biblical message in general, and the Christ event in particular, as God’s rescue of homo sapiens from its own implosive violence.” Through a powerful exploration of the idolatry of righteous violence, Paul exposes the ways human beings have refused to acknowledge our own violence as violence with the “help of our idols, gods who command violence.” The Christian revelation, Paul maintains, “is an anthropological revelation, even as it is a theological one.”

Nonviolence thus becomes central to the Christian faith to the extent that the revelation of our idolatry of violence is manifested in the central events of the Christian faith. In the cross Jesus, the ‘Lamb of God,’ submits to our human act of righteous violence, and the vindication of the resurrection reveals that righteous violence as violence – thus ‘taking away the Sin of the world’ (John 1:29) At the same time that the cross reveals our enslavement to righteous violence, it reveals God’s righteousness as nonviolence – as radical nonretaliation, that is as forgiveness – and as a love that reaches out even to enemies. (My Core Convictions, Part II: Nonviolence as the Heart of Jesus’ Faith)

Paul also provides a listing of upcoming events in the mimetic theory community, including the conferences of the Colloquium on Violence and Religion and Theology and Peace, two organizations that have greatly benefited from Paul as a presenter and board member. You can also benefit from his Girardian Annotated Bibliography and Links page which lists books by Girard, secondary works, articles and internet resources. In short, Paul’s website provides an encyclopedic compendium of primary and secondary works of mimetic theory resources on biblical interpretation and nonviolent atonement indexed according to the revised common lectionary for easy reference.

Whether you are visiting the website for inspiration on lectionary texts or to be fed by one of his sermons, you will encounter Paul’s authoritative yet pastoral voice. Woven throughout his writings is another, bolder and more prophetic voice as well, particularly when he writes about the course Christianity must take to restore its relevancy and return to its true calling. “Westerners are so scandalized by the violence connected with the long history of Christendom,” he writes, “… that they have forsaken the Christian faith in large numbers. And I submit that our failure to be peacemakers is the number one reason for such mass defections.” (My Core Convictions, Part IV, 1.4) Amen, brother. By subscribing to Teaching Nonviolent Atonement you can join us for our first interview about the website coming in September as well as our monthly conversations with the pastoral and prophetic Paul Nuechterlein.

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