Perhaps best known for his theory on violence, he believed religion is necessary to control it.[protected-iframe id=”dd733844e2f40e95d36493cc18543ce8-95521100-92965054″ info=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/9Uo3THEzEtc” width=”560″ height=”315″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen=””]
Stanford French professor, René Girard, died Wednesday after a long illness. He was 91. Despite his beginnings as a literary theorist, he brought many fields together in his work—anthropology, history, religion, philosophy, sociology, psychology and theology. It all fascinated him. Dubbed the “new Darwin of the human sciences” by a colleague, Girard believed scapegoating is the origin of sacrifice and the basis of culture and religion is necessary in human evolution to control it. In this video, Girard discusses the “Christ myth” theory and one significant thing that makes Christianity different from other myths about sacrifice and redemption.
