Apocalyptic and Rhetoric of Hate: A Girardian Reading of Christian Resistance to Violence
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Marín-Cano, J. (2025). Apocalyptic and Rhetoric of Hate: A Girardian Reading of Christian Resistance to Violence. Theologica Xaveriana, 75. https://doi.org/10.11144/javeriana.tx75.arolg
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Abstract

This text explores some ideas of René Girard concerning the apocalyptic thought present in Judeo-Christian narratives. By analyzing mimetic violence in its relation to the rhetoric of hatred, the text explores how Christian communities through their profession of faith are an expression of resistance to violence. The text postulates that recourse to apocalyptic can be understood as resistance to the rhetoric of hatred. Following Girardian thought, Christian apocalyptic can be considered as an antidote, effective in the face of violent and fratricidal collectivism. This medicinal aspect of Christianity provides hope against any attempt to normalize violent orders. Thus, the confession of the victims in the resurrection of Jesus subverts the dominant narratives, challenges the omnipotent logic of the state and the armed actors, and questions their prevalence and sacral power. It is, then, a praxis that precedes the vindication/resurrection of the victims and the subversion/reversion of a system that ends up being sinful and satanic. Lived as a waiting from the victims, the Christian praxis founded on the paschal confession emerges as an alternative that anticipates the definitive irruption of God in history.

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