Friday, February 27, 2009

They speak much of original sin, but they fail to make the idea concrete.

René Girard I See Satan Fall Like Lightning

Western theology, in rejecting the idea of Satan tricked by the cross, has lost a pearl of great price in the sphere of anthropology.

Medieval and modern theories of redemption all look in the direction of God for the causes of the crucifixion: God’s honor, God’s justice, even God’s anger, must be satisfied. These theories don’t succeed because they don’t seriously look in the direction where the answer must lie: sinful humanity, human relations, mimetic contagion, which is the same thing as Satan. They speak much of original sin, but they fail to make the idea concrete. That is why they give an impression of being arbitrary and unjust to human beings, even if they are theologically sound. p 150 (my emphasis)

No comments: