One of the strangest phenomena documented in history and anthropology is that of ritual sacrifice. Why do people gather around and kill stuff (animals and even people)? What in the world is going on here? One of the most useful perspectives on this strange behavior is provided by mimetic theory, especially in René Girard’s book “Violence and the Sacred”—so this is the perspective that we’ll be looking at in this podcast, the fourth in our series on mimetic theory. The link between ritual sacrifice and scapegoating is also introduced.
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free