anyone read their works? I am reading Violence Unveiled by Baille, which, among many things, claims that the VICTIM was revealed for the first time in history through Christ. before this, we could hide the victim and do violence in the name of the greater good.
the crucifixion shows the victim in the role of victim, thus revealing the evil that's taken place. satan is revealed. take the iraqi war. everyone knows that in order to accomplish our mission, innocent lives will be lost. so we justify this evil by showing that there is MORE evil done on the other side. we hide the caskets. we hide the victims. Jesus revealed the victim.
another theory is that our western view of world history - having the beginning and end it's leading towards - comes from the apocalypse.
These are just theories I'm reading about, but they are interesting. Gill Baille seems to have gotten his knowledge from Rene Girard, who I have yet to read.
I don't know of him but I will look him up. I am interested in Christian intellectuals - those who gather evidence from outside the bible, and not just run circular arguments.
my friend and mentor who is a priest, told me about Girard and says he is sending me that book in the mail as late Christmas gift. he's sending it because he gave me 'violence unveiled' 10 years ago and I never started reading it until now.