Theology Beyond Metaphysics: Transformative Semiotics of René Girard

A theory of human origins that is one-half Charles Darwin and one-half Cain and Abel is bound to entail a lot of rethinking of traditional themes. Rene Girards thesis of original human violence and the Bibles power to reveal it has been around for more than a generation but its consequences for Christian theology are still only slowly being unpacked. Anthony Bartletts book makes a signal contribution representing an astonishing leap forward in understanding what a biblical disclosure of founding violence means for Christian thought and life. If human language arose directly out of the primal experience of murder then semiotics becomes a core area for theological examination. Tracing the discipline of semiotics through postmodern thinkers then back through its birth in the Latin era Bartlett shows how Girards thought is itself a semiotic emergence beyond standard Christian metaphysics. Above all Girardian theory of human signs demands we see the generative impact of violence in our language and thought and then conversely that the Word of God crucified without retaliation and risen in the same identity brings a totally new sign and relation into history offering a thoroughgoing transformation of human life and meaning.