How should followers of Christ treat members of other religions? That question is the subject of Brian McLaren's new book, Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road?: Christian Identity in a Multi-Faith World. Because mimetic theory claims for Christianity a unique demystifying power, McLaren's question haunts our work. If "the only true religion is the one that demystifies archaic religions," as René Girard succinctly summarizes his Christian apologetics in Battling to the End (xv), and Christianity is the sufficient and necessary source of demystification, how indeed are we to treat other religions, both in our academic work and in our personal lives? McLaren is not writing for academic audiences here. His tone is pastoral, his purpose to shift the thinking of people in the pews and the pastors and educators who have their ear. And yet his primary tool for engaging them is an explicit use of mimetic theory to answer the very questions that it has raised for Christians who engage with it.
Before referring to mimetic theory by name, McLaren frames the question of interfaith relations as a question of identity. Christians seem to be quite good, he says, at having strong identities that are hostile towards other religions, or weak identities that are kind and benevolent. Though left implicit, he is clearly referring to the ubiquitous use of scapegoating to create false differences (strong and hostile) or its inversion into political correctness (weak and kind). His book is an argument for a third alternative: Christian identity that is both strong and hospitable toward other beliefs. In other words, this third option calls for the development of a non-scapegoating Christian identity, one that does not rely on turning other religions into adversaries to know ourselves, and our faith, as good. He writes: "My pursuit, not just in this book but in my life, is a Christian identity that moves me toward people of other faiths in wholehearted love, not in spite of their non-Christian identity and not in spite of my own Christian identity, but because of my identity as a follower of God in the way of Jesus." (p. 11)
The timing of the release of his book, September 11, coincided with the flare-up of violence in Arab countries apparently triggered by the translation of an offensive video mocking the Prophet Mohammed into Arabic. The tension between East and West and their two great religions, Christianity and Islam, was thrust to the forefront, intruding even into the carefully scripted US Presidential campaigns. McLaren comes out of an Evangelical background and during his years as a pastor he experienced a crisis of faith which led him to reject, among other things, what he has called Evangelical Islamophobia. Coincidently, mimetic theory's emphasis on judging the validity of a religion solely on its distance from the archaic, has led to, at best, an ambivalence toward Islam among some mimetic theory scholars. Girard himself can be selectively quoted as being admiring toward or suspicious of Islam. McLaren's position lacks ambivalence. To answer the question of his book title, he invites his readers to imagine how Jesus would behave if he met Moses, the Buddha and Mohammed on the road:
Would Jesus push Moses aside and demand to cross first, claiming that his ancestor's failed religion had been forever superseded by his own? Would he trade insults with Mohammed, claiming his crusaders could whip Mohammed's jihadists any day of the week, demanding that Mohammed cross behind, not beside him? Would Jesus demand the Buddha kneels at his feet and demonstrate submission before letting him cross? Or would he walk with them and, once on the other side, welcome each to a table of fellowship, not demanding any special status or privileges, maybe even taking the role of a servant--hanging up their coats, getting them something to eat and drink, making sure each felt welcome, safe, and at home? (3)
McLaren argues that to imitate Jesus in this imaginary encounter as we live out our real encounters with members of other religions would make us more Christ-like, not less. In the early chapters his tone is almost pleading with his readers to consider his call for a more benevolent, welcoming Christian attitude because his sense of the present moment is no less apocalyptic than Girard's. McLaren says: "We are increasingly faced with a choice, I believe, not between kindness and hostility, but between kindness and nonexistence." (12)
Mimetic theory has made McLaren keenly aware that it is not differences that divide us, but our similarities. If we destroy ourselves, it will be in an orgy of loss of difference with no sufficiently fascinating scapegoat available to save us. "The tensions between our conflicted religions arise not from our differences," he says in italics, "but from one thing we all hold in common: an oppositional religious identity that derives strength from hostility." (57) Our hatred reduces us to identity with our adversary, a hatred we can justify all too easily with claims of Christian uniqueness.
McLaren goes on to call for a renewal of Christian identity in three broad areas: doctrine, liturgy and mission. In the section devoted to re-imaging Christian doctrine in light of a strong and kind identity, mimetic theory is most explicit in the chapters on original sin and Christology. He begins Chapter 13, "How the Doctrine of Original Sin Can Help Christians Be Less Sinful" with a quote from James Alison: "The doctrine of original sin is a parting glance at the unnecessary nature of what we are ceasing to be." McLaren proceeds to explain that James Alison draws "from the seminal theories of René Girard" and then provides his own summary of "this fresh approach in five key concepts." They are imitation, rivalry anxiety (caused by the threat of internal conflict), scapegoating and ritualization. He then asks, "How might a fresh understanding of original sin be articulated in these terms?" Following Alison and including a reference to Paul Nuechterlein's "monumental contribution" to a Girardian reading of scriptures found on girardianlectionary.net, he speaks of original sin as Adam and Eve's succumbing to rivalrous imitation of God by "imitating the serpent's desire for the forbidden fruit." Chapter 16, "How a Deeper Christology Can Save Christians from Hostility" begins with a quotation from Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World and develops Girard's reading of Christ as taking on the role of sacrificial victim in order to reveal and subvert the sacrificial mechanism. McLaren argues that rather than the popular Christological formula "God=Jesus: Jesus=God", a proper Christology would "challenge preconceived understandings of God and revise them in light of Christ." In other words, our image of God as one who demands sacrifice is transformed by Jesus who reveals God's true nature to us by acceding to our demands for a sacrifice by occupying the role of victim for us.
McLaren reimagines Christian liturgy and Christian mission in the next sections, which make for inspiring reading for anyone trying to apply mimetic theory to the practical work of parish ministry. I will offer a few examples of his creative reimagining of day to day worship and Christian living. He offers his vision of a communion table that focuses on "God's sacred self-giving to us then invites us to imitation, to respond in kind through our own self-giving to God, to others, to the whole world." On the practice of reading and interpreting Scripture, McLaren encourages us to read the "passages that advocate hostility, vengeance, exclusion, elitism, and superiority to remind us of where we would be and who we would be if not for Christ." Scriptures that "advocate reconciliation, empathy, inclusion, solidarity, and equality" show us "who we are called to be in Christ."
McLaren's missional challenge is as simple as it is revolutionary for both hostile and weak Christian relationships with other religions: "My identity as a follower of Christ requires me first to move toward the other in friendship, and then to move with the other in service to those in need." This is a vision of a strong, secure Christian identity that does not threaten nor feel threatened by the power, truth and inspiration of other religions. In other words, it is a Christian identity that does not succumb to rivalry or resentment, particular traps of identity that mimetic theory illuminates with alarming clarity. But mimetic theory can view the ability for human beings to resist mimetic rivalries with skepticism. Brian McLaren, on the other hand, lives, works, writes and teaches in hope. "Over time, as others `taste and see' how good this new identity is in practice, it will spread and become increasingly normative. The ultimate result won't simply be a change in Christian identity: it will be a new direction in human history." (72) So why did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road? For the same reason we should - to serve the other.
For more on mimetic theory see ravenfoundation(dot)org
