I See Satan Fall Like Lightning

Rene Girard

Very interesting.

Girard presents the view that the Gospel (the story of Jesuses Death and Resurection) is a paradigm shift for mythic stories. It exposes an evil mechanism that allowed allowed early human civilizations to live together peacefully.

The claim is that many myths are stories about someone being sacrificed for the benefit of the larger society. These scapegoats are viewed as evil and their killing eases tensions that have built up within the community. The claim is that the gospel shows that these scapegoats are actually innocent and that their martyrdom is unjust.