The ritual of sacrifice and its religious function
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The ritual of sacrifice and its religious function of appeasing the gods have been documented and discussed by countless scholars. However, no scholar had highlighted the relationship between sacrifice and its social function of appeasing human violence until Rene Girard in his book, Violence and the Sacred (Miller 32). Based on his analysis of many myths, societies and religions, Girard argued that religion in ancient societies served as a mechanism to mask the inherent violence of the ritual of sacrifice and its role in preventing human beings from unleash their anger towards their adversaries. Rather, by imposing their fury onto one person who is the scapegoat, human beings can vent their frustration and violence, thus restoring the harmony of the society. Therefore, Girard's book on violence and sacrifice is predicated on three fundamental concepts: a) the interrelationships between the religious and social functions of violence; b) the theory of mimetic desire; and c) the use of a scapegoat to defuse human violence. In this paper, Girard's book will be used primarily to discuss the topic of violence and sacrifice. His comprehensive theory that links violence and sacrifice to religion and human culture, as discussed in this book, will be described and examined. Moreover, Girard's perspective on violence and sacrifice will be contrasted with other texts that challenge the validity of Girard's theory. Girard's theory is premised on his belief that human beings a
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d an opposing perspective of human beings and community. Based on Rousseau's theory of the social contract, individuals are rational beings who are able to make the conscious decision of restraining themselves in deference to the general will of the society motivated by their individual self-interests. Therefore, in Rousseau's model, the stability and order of the human society is not derived from the purging of human desire for violence from sacrificial rites. It is evident that Rousseau's theory is in direct opposition to Girard's theory of human beings and the interrelationship between violence and sacrifice. In Rousseau's world of rational beings who will submit their individual will to the social well-being, the potential disintegration of society due to human violence does not seem to be realistic threat.
From Lefebure's perspective, Girard's use of the theory of mimetic desire and the surrogate victim mechanism to explain the origins of human culture and religion is problematic because it provides a limited and one-sided view of human development. In Girard's extreme extrapolation of his theory, religion exists solely to restrain society from self-destruction through the acts of violence. In addition, the existence o
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Approximate Word count = 3051
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page)
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