Symposium on “René Girard and World Religions”

Venue : The Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley

(Flora Lamson Hewlitt Library and Easton Hall)
Date : April 14-16, 2011
Organization : Wolfgang Palaver (Innsbruck) and Richard Schenk (Berkeley)
Status : October 20, 2010

I. SITUATING GIRARD’S UNDERSTANDING OF RELIGIONS (Afternoon, Day 1. Moderator:

Wolfgang Palaver)
1. Mimetic Theory as a Theory of Religion (James Alison/São Paulo; Jean-Pierre
Dupuy/Paris and Stanford)
2. Girard and World Religions: The Present State of the Question (Robert Daly/Boston)
3. Girard and the Historical Schematic of the Patristic-Medieval Tradition of Christianity:
Distinguishing Epochs and Conditions ante legem, sub lege, sub gratia (Richard Schenk,
Berkeley)
4. Girard and Hegel’s Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion (Anselm Tilman Ramelow,
Berkeley)
5. Girard and Voegelin (John Ranieri, Seton Hall)

II. BEYOND ARCHAIC RELIGION (Morning, Day 2. Moderator: Andrew

McKenna/Chicago)
6. Girard’s Concept of Archaic Religion with special emphasis on Hölderlin’s Vision of
Religions (Benoît Chantre, Paris)
7. From Vedic Traditions to Buddhism (Brian Collins/Chicago)
8. Girard and Buddhism (Bernard Faure, New York)
9. Girard and Hinduism (Noel Sheth, Poona, India)
10. Sacrifice, the World's Religions, and Christianity (Ted Peters, Berkeley)

III. GIRARD AND MONOTHEISTIC TRADITIONS (Afternoon, Day 2. Moderator: William A.

Johnsen/East Lansing, Michigan)
11. The Abrahamic Revolution (Wolfgang Palaver, Innsbruck)
12. Judaism and the Exodus from Archaic Religion (Sandor Goodhart, Purdue)
13. The Ambiguity of Martyrdom (Joachim Negel, Marburg)
14. Tawhid: The Oneness of God and the Desire for the Good (Adam Ericksen, Raven
Foundation, Illinois)
15. Islam: Law and Violence (Thomas Scheffler, Beirut)

IV. RELIGION IN AND AFTER AN AGE OF CRITICISM (Morning, Day 3.

Moderator: Richard Schenk)
16. Girard and Religion in the Age of Secularism (Otto Kallscheuer, Berlin)
17. Girard, Rousseau and Religion (Jeremiah Alberg, Tokyo)
18. Girard, S. Weil und Religion (Ann Astell, Notre Dame/Princeton)
19. Girard and the Feminist Critique of Religion (Martha J. Reineke, Cedar Falls, Iowa)
20. Girard and Religion in an Age of Terrorism (Mark Juergensmeyer, Santa Barbara)
V. CONCLUDING REMARKS
21. Robert Hamerton-Kelly (Portland, Oregon)