Atonement, Justice, and Scapegoating
“Blame” by 周小逸 Ian. Creative Commons 2.0.
This series relates to both the topic of atonement and the topic of desire because, like fallen Adam in the garden, we desire to deflect blame, and therefore we scapegoat others. On the political level, this builds group cohesion and creates a social outsider, who is blamed for the group’s woes, who the group must exile or kill or marginalize in order to maintain a hopeful lie.
This series explores what political scapegoating has looked like in the U.S. The blog posts illustrate what happens when you believe that the highest form of justice is retributive. Penal Substitutionary Atonement theology holds that divine justice is retributive, which is why white evangelical Americans have a unusual ability to scapegoat others. Compare this behavior to what Scripture actually calls Christians towards.
Donald Trump's Scapegoating and the Myth of Retributive Justice (Feb 12, 2016)
An introduction to Rene Girard's scapegoat theory.
Donald Trump's Scapegoating and the Scapegoating of the Black Community (Feb 15, 2016)
Observations about how Trump blames immigrants and China, not corporate executives, for jobs lost to other countries, and African Americans and other minorities for crime and other challenges.
What Lynching, Torture, and Scapegoating Have in Common: Penal Substitution (Feb 18, 2016)
On retributive impulses towards "the other."
Why Penal Substitution is a Gateway Drug to Right-Wing Extremism (Feb 22, 2016)
On God as sorting, not uniting, creation.
Why Evangelicals Scapegoat Gays, Muslims, Etc. (Feb 29, 2016)
On the sacrificial system in the Pentateuch.
Why Trump and Cruz Are the Direct, Logical Result of American Evangelical Theology (Mar 6, 2016)
On Paul’s letter to the Romans, and a proper interpretation of the Sinai covenant.
A Neuroscientific Reason for Why Retributive Justice is from the Fall, and Penal Substitution is Immature (Apr 28, 2016)
On the Fall and the exile from the Garden as part of God’s restorative justice. Yet the Fall into corruption is why we use retributive justice with others, even though restorative justice gets better results.
Atonement and the Scapegoat Theory
Rene Girard, Are the Gospels Mythical? First Things, Apr 1996.
Wayne Northey, Presentation on Spirituality of Penal Abolition. ICOPA IX, May 2000. a paper on Academia.edu, contains a concise summary of Christian history
Rene Girard, Interview with CBC, Part 1. Offensive Freedom, Jan 26, 2013. An excellent anthropology of scapegoating.
Rene Girard, Interview with CBC, Part 2. Offensive Freedom, Jan 26, 2013. Treats Leviticus 16 and the Jewish practice of the scapegoat and atonement; also says the Joseph story is the reversal of the Oedipus story, where Joseph is innocent (Oedipus as scapegoat is guilty) and brings reconciliation (not death and division). In addition, Joseph tests his brothers by making Benjamin a scapegoat, but Judah refuses it and offers himself. The Joseph and Judah story exposes the scapegoating myth. It is anti-myth.
Rene Girard, Interview with CBC, Part 3. Offensive Freedom, Jan 26, 2013. Explains why non-instinctual desires are imitative, or mimetic, and therefore competitive; explains the biblical story of the fall in Genesis and redemption in the Gospels; why imitating Jesus is non-violent and non-competitive
Richard Feloni, Peter Thiel Explains How an Esoteric Philosophy Book Shaped His Worldview. Business Insider, Nov 10, 2014. Thiel was influenced by Rene Girard
Dania Rodrigues, The Ancient Greeks Sacrificed Ugly People. Atlas Obscura, Oct 30, 2015. part of the cultural backdrop which Christians rejected.
Adam Ericksen, Rene Girard and the Mechanisms of Violence. Christian Transhumanist Podcast, Nov 30, 2015.
Sarah Kaplan, The Darker Link Between Ancient Human Sacrifice and Our Modern World. Washington Post, Apr 5, 2016.
Tyler Graham, Death to the Death Penalty? René Girard’s Challenge to Thomas Aquinas. The Imaginative Conservative, Nov 2018. An example of humility from conservatives.
Lynching, Prisons, and Divine Retributive Justice
Wayne Northey, Presentation on Spirituality of Penal Abolition. ICOPA IX, May 2000. A paper on Academia.edu, contains a concise summary of Christian history
Paula J. Giddings, Ida: A Sword Among Lions: Ida B. Wells and the Campaign Against Lynching. Amistad | Amazon page, Mar 3, 2009.
Dominique Gilliard, Sunday Lynchings: The Church's Role in Our Nation's Legacy of Racism. Converge Oakland, Feb 27, 2013.
Jamelle Bouie, Christian Soldiers: Lynching and Torture in the Jim Crow South Weren't Just Acts of Racism, but Religious Rituals. Slate, Feb 10, 2015.
Kaia Stern, Voices from American Prisons: Faith, Education, and Healing. Routledge | Amazon page, Jun 10, 2015. Ch.2 is about the impact of Augustine, Calvin, and penal substitution.
Julie Zauzmer, Christians Are More Than Twice as Likely to Blame a Person's Poverty on Lack of Effort. Washington Post, Aug 3, 2017. Because white evangelicals believe in penal substitution and therefore believe that God's highest justice is meritocratic-retributive; something Mako commented on in a blog post, Why Penal Substitution is a Gateway Drug to Right Wing Extremism
Julie Perkins, The Most Dangerous Sermon Ever Preached. Relevant Magazine, Feb 6, 2018. An interview with Brian Zahnd critiquing Jonathan Edwards, Puritan Christianity, and retributive justice.
Desire: Topics:
Here’s how to understand this section on Desire: We believe Jesus’ own human desires, journey, and teaching are normative for human becoming, so we pursue Christian Spiritual and Emotional Formation to help us better understand pastoral, relational, and communal questions that come up as we pursue Jesus’ vision for human flourishing. We stay aware of research and reflections on Human Moral and Emotional Development. Many insights into the mind-brain-body connection in Neuroscience and Epigenetics and Sleep and Rest are helpful. We follow research on Happiness, track resources about Greed and How Money Makes Us More Greedy, maintain the biblical critique of Interest Rate Lending and Debt as a way people fund overconsumption and entrap themselves, point out in Consumption how capitalist overconsumption and addiction challenge the notion that we are “sovereign individuals,” critique the Sex Industry for how the sex industry distorts human moral and emotional development. Human Destiny itself can be understood through the lens of desire.
