Violence and the Sacred

Violence and the Sacred
Cover of the first edition
AuthorRené Girard
Original titleLa Violence et le sacré
TranslatorPatrick Gregory
LanguageFrench
SubjectThe sacred, sacrifice
PublisherEditions Bernard Grasset, Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date
1972
Publication placeFrance
Published in English
1977
Media typePrint (Hardcover and Paperback)
Pages455 (first edition)
ISBN978-1472520814

Violence and the Sacred (French: La violence et le sacré) is a 1972 book about the sacred by the French critic René Girard, in which the author explores the ritual role of sacrifice. The book received both positive reviews, which praised Girard's theory of the sacred, and more mixed assessments. Some commentators have seen the book as a work that expresses or points toward a Christian religious perspective. However, the book has also been seen as "atheistic"[1] or "hostile to religion".[2] Violence and the Sacred became highly influential, in anthropology, literary criticism, and even Christology. It has been compared to the classicist Walter Burkert's Homo Necans (1972). Girard further developed its ideas in a subsequent book, Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World (1978).

  1. ^ Fleming 2004, p. 111.
  2. ^ Fleming 2004, pp. 6, 8, 64–65, 110.

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