Item Detail
-
20447
-
1
-
2
-
English
-
Violence in the Scriptures : Mormonism and the Cultural Theory of Rene? Girard
-
Dialogue, a Journal of Mormon Thought
-
Spring 2010
-
43
-
1
-
59-105
-
Many who revere the scriptures as the inspired word of God are nonetheless disturbed by them. The scriptures contain inconsistencies and outright contradictions. Particularly disturbing for many are scriptural portrayals of God as wrathful, vengeful, and violent. This article will introduce these problems with several examples from the Old Testament, then present a succinct overview of Rene Girard's thory of culture because of its unique value in helping us to interpret these difficult texts. The final portion of the paper will present selected texts from the LDS canon in light of Girard's theory.