In ancient societies, people would collectively vent their anger and frustration within a fixed time on the calendar, and they would unleash their violence as a collective on a single victim in the form of sacrifice. These times are what we know today as carnivals; the subject is addressed at length by David Gornoski and […]
I am blown away in discovering Jesus’s seemingly hyperbolic symbolic aside at the entrance of Jerusalem is actually a prophecy: Luke 19:37-40: “As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works […]
Barouk Almaw Gari, an Ethiopian entrepreneur and Rene Girard fan, joins David Gornoski to discuss his introduction to the works of Rene Girard, his perspective on Ethiopian politics and history, and how Christianity has shaped Ethiopia’s culture. How does the gospel effect each culture in their tribal and sacrificial customs? Barouk takes us through the […]
Our fixation on identity politics, David Gornoski says, is driving our society towards blame games. “We need to continue to encourage people in thinking for themselves rather than groupthink.” David takes us through the idea of original sin–the concept that sin exists universally–and how filtering that idea through group identities is a recipe for conflict. […]
Shannon: “Parents often say: ‘don’t discuss politics and religion at the dinner table.’” David: “But that’s what I always talk about at dinner; all politics and religion originate at the original dinner which is ritual cannibalism.” Shannon Braswell, a Girardian from Washington, sits down with David Gornoski to examine the historical and mythological narratives through […]
Host David Gornoski reflects on the founding of America. What can we learn from our nation’s history when we examine it through the lens of Jesus’ anthropology? David explains how civilizations are usually founded upon violence and how we often rely on violence to sustain our societies. The injection of Jesus’ non-violent, self-sacrificial spirit into […]
We’ve lost so much of our freedoms and yet we’ve become more libertine than ever before. “Because we cling to power and refuse to obey our conscience we have stagnation,” David Gornoski says. The key to having a non-violent and self-sacrificial society is freedom, David argues. “Non-violence and freedom are almost synonymous.” Reject the naysayers […]
“If we’re going to imitate the Master of history then we’re going to have a conversation.” Using the Bible as a political prop isn’t right, David Gornoski says, but we also shouldn’t be bombing innocents abroad and perpetuate starvation by sanctioning. “If we’re going to imitate Jesus let us apply the imitation to all aspects.” […]
“The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.” ~Fyodor Dostoevsky Before the Gospel revelation, justice consisted of directing the guilt of the entire society against a single victim. It was widely experienced, just as it is today, that shifting the blame onto another is an effective way of postponing […]
Host David Gornoski dives deep into the George Floyd murder and the following carnage and unravels the demonic mechanism that lies beneath. “Violence cannot stamp out violence,” says David as he explains the futility of rioting in the face of injustice. Also, Peter Hasson, author of ‘The Manipulators,’ calls in to discuss the role of […]