Epistemology of Love: Postmodern Theology with Girard reading

The human desires have a mimetic mechanism, according to Rene Girard. To gain a desired object, a subject looks at a model and imitates it. With the development of the subject’s skills the mimetic relationship changes to a rivalry and lead to violence. The mimetic desire is not exclusive to interpersonal relationships and causes violent in societies too. The violence of mimetic desire is depleted by murdering a victim; then society retrieves the peace. For Girard, this process is the basis of the constitution of society and culture. Mimetic desire is observable in myths, primitive religious rituals and the contemporary texts of persecution. He claims that the Testaments are the source of discovering this problem and contains its solution. The Testaments deconstruct the sacred violence by documenting it. In order to being released of the ruinous cycle of mimetic desire and violence, God should be the mediator of human desires in the triangle of mimesis. Postmodernism needs an epistemology of love which is non-authoritative, critical and integrative. Theory of Girard can be criticized for its macro-theoretical claims, apologetic commitment to Christianity, not being falsifiable, etc. however, it has some solution for postmodern problems.