A couple of Girard’s first major works made quite the splash when they hit the ivory tower crowd back in the 1970s. They all expected a bunch of French secular post-modern literary criticism and that’s exactly what it seemed to be, until about the second chapter from the end where BAM! – he suddenly ties the whole thing into the four gospels with a completely straight face. Waaaa???
Gil Baile, a student of his at the time, recounts this fun anecdote:
“Professor Girard, what you’ve been saying is quite extraordinary. It almost appears, however, that you are suggesting that the revelatory power of biblical literature is categorically superior to that of all other literature. You are, after all, a Stanford professor; you’re not saying THAT, are you? Rene’s one-word response was all the more striking for the momentary pause that preceded it: “Categorically,” he replied. The impression one had was that Girard was the only person in this room full of Biblical scholars who was willing to say such a thing.
And then at the end of the day, another memorable moment came, when someone asked a practical question. Clearly, the panorama Girard had spread out before those assembled was astonishing, and against this backdrop, Rene’s sobering assessment of the contemporary historical and cultural predicament stood out in bold relief. Given all that you have said, someone asked Girard, what is to be done? In response, Rene was gracious and patient and humble. His answer, as I recall, was something like this: “Well, it is of course an enormous problem, and it does not lend itself to being easily ‘fixed.’ We are each called to different tasks, so perhaps we should begin by striving for personal sanctity.” I could hardly believe my ears. Biblical scholars, whose discipline had been for decades currying favor with the secular academy by renouncing a priori any distinctively religious preconceptions, were being advised on the practical value of personal sanctity.
-For Rene Girard, p.182-183
I love that. Conclusion – it turns out the Bible is actually true. Holy cow Batman – what are we supposed to do about that? Um, how about cleaning up your life a bit, like it suggests.