The Providential Failure of Christianity: René Girard, Ivan Illich, and the Renewal of Apocalyptic Theology
The article argues that René Girard and Ivan Illich, each in their distinctive ways, draw upon the dimensions of the Christian apocalyptic tradition that are often ignored, and that their retrievals of this tradition, specifically of its theology of Antichrist, open up once again the theology of his...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Sage Publishing
[2019]
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In: |
Pro ecclesia
Year: 2019, Volume: 28, Issue: 4, Pages: 432-445 |
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Girard, René 1923-2015
/ Illich, Ivan 1926-2002
/ Christianity
/ Apocalypticism
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RelBib Classification: | AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism CA Christianity NBQ Eschatology TK Recent history |
Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
Summary: | The article argues that René Girard and Ivan Illich, each in their distinctive ways, draw upon the dimensions of the Christian apocalyptic tradition that are often ignored, and that their retrievals of this tradition, specifically of its theology of Antichrist, open up once again the theology of history, an area of inquiry in Christian theology that we often dismiss or ignore, thus yielding the field and allowing the figure of Antichrist and the apocalyptic tradition to be taken up and deployed as weapons of mimetic destruction in just the ways our popular culture has come to fear. It is incumbent upon Christian theology to take up once again difficult questions in the theology of history, particularly in an apocalyptic key, and Ivan Illich and René Girard, neither of whom claimed to be a theologian, may be our "two witnesses," our "Enoch and Elijah," who help us to do just that. |
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ISSN: | 2631-8334 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Pro ecclesia
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/1063851219873189 |