Last week in Episode 27, we said farewell to the first patriarch Abraham and began the story of the third patriarch, his grandson Jacob, and worked through Jacob’s acquisition of his firstborn brother Esau’s birthright, slowly reading their exchange and observing how the narrative teaches us defining characteristics of the twins and their parents, Isaac and Rebekah.
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This week in Episode 28, we take a brief pause on Jacob and Esau and revisit the work of René Girard, specifically what he calls the “scapegoat mechanism”, and tease out Girard’s observation of scapegoating as a founding principle of human culture, look at examples of scapegoats from history and literature, and learn how Christ unmasked the scapegoat mechanism and changed everything.
Episode 28 teaser:
Until next time!
If you are interested in digging deeper on your own, here are a few resources:
Ancient Christian reading practices:
Biblical Exegesis and the Formation of Christian Culture
Medieval exegesis:
Medieval Exegesis: The Four Senses of Scripture, Vol. 1
Medieval Exegesis : The Four Senses of Scripture, Vol. 2
Second Temple Judaism:
Two Gods in Heaven: Jewish Concepts of God in Antiquity
Torah with Rabbinic Commentary:
Bereishis Genesis, Part I and II, ArtScroll Tanach Series, Translation with Commentary
Mythological:
Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic: Essays in the History of the Religion of Israel
Literary approach:
René Girard