I See Satan Fall Like Lightning

I See Satan Fall Like Lightning by Rene Girard, translated by James G Williams, 193 pages

I See Satan Fall Like Lightning is Rene Girard's distillation of his signature theory, a theory simultaneously sociological, psychological, and theological.  In Girard's view, the tragic history of fallen man, both as individuals and as societies, is rooted in the part of our essential nature which desires.  To find objects for desire, human beings look to those around them, and learn to desire what they desire.  This inevitably leads to frustration and rivalry, which introduces conflict into both our internal psyches and external relationships.  Under the influence of Satan (whom Girard understands as the personification of an impersonal social mechanism rather than as a personal devil), these conflicts are then resolved by their transference onto a symbolic scapegoat, usually a marginalized figure or group.  The Christian revelation, by contrast, exposes the  mimetic cycle as the root of human fallenness.  The success of the Gospel is evident from the persistence of concern for the victim as a moral absolute even in an allegedly post-Christian society.

Girard's argument is profound in its development and far-reaching in its implications.  It does, however, seem to suffer from overreaching - in Girard's exposition the mimetic mechanism becomes the central fact of all human violence, politics, culture, and religion.  As a result, it is not clear how Girard's genuine insights can be integrated into a broader philosophy.