Ren Girard and Creative Mimesis [Paperback]

This is a highly original multi-author volume about the work of Ren? Girard in understanding openness, creativity and mutuality in relations with other people. Girards theory of desire posits ideal personhood as ones ability to self-actualize through non-rivalry imitations of others without the need to dominate others in the process. Girards work is best known for his analysis of inter-subjective violence, but the authors here show the power of his thought to model deeply reciprocal, positive human relations. A must read for all students of Girard  as well as other readers interested in a joyous paradigm for healthy families and societies.Harnessing the insights of some of the leading exponents of Girard's theories and examining all major parts of the creative process, this volume adroitly explores the relation of mimesis to creativity across the board in the humanities and social sciences  engaging fields as diverse as political science, psychology, linguistics, anthropology, sociology, philosophy, literary study, religious studies, and theology. As such, it promises an innovative, re-invigorating, and productive set of approaches to questions that have withstood our attention for some two thousand years in the West, confined as they were for most of that time within the works of a few great literary artists.This book explores the nature and implications of positive, creative, and loving mimesis and brings together the interdisciplinary fields of Girardian studies and creativity studies. Scientists, philosophers, psychologists, theologians and ancient thinkers are brought into dialog with conceptions of mimetic desire, scapegoating, and hominization.For half a century Ren? Girards theories of mimetic desire and scapegoating have captivated the imagination of thinkers and doers in many fields as an incisive look into the human condition, particularly the roots of violence. In a 1993 interview with Rebecca Adams, he highlighted the positive dimensions of mimetil“ñ