Saturday, November 30, 2013

221. Discipleship and Mission: the logic of imitation

I have recently been diving into the work of Rene Girard. Needless to say, it is like tumbling down a rabbit hole. It engages so many other fields and informs so much of the things that I invest my time in. Things like leadership, discipleship, movements, worship, mission, and community all stand in line to be re-envisioned through Girard's mimetic theory.

As I was researching mimetic desire and church planting, I came across this article about how imitation under girds  the logic of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians.  Thought I would share.


In regard to this article, it is amazing to me how the logic of imitation in I Corinthians serves to undermine the notion that some "scholars" have proposed in regards to whether or not Paul encouraged his communities to overtly evangelize. I really do think this principle of imitation is a hermeneutical key for multiple topics we tend to wrestle with. For example, I think an exploration into how the dynamics of imitation can illuminate our understanding of inspiration and the formation of the canon would be quite revealing. 

3 comments:

Tim said...

Hi Tim, I am very intrigued with your blog and your thoughts on apostleship. The Lord has entrusted me with a teaching that I think you'd be interested in. I'd like to e-mail you something about it. My e-mail is tarview@gmail.com

Mike Wagner said...

I first came across Girard in this interview from the Hoover Institute. Perhaps you have already seen it. I'll attach a link.

FYI, I serve Christ as a layperson in the marketplace with a leadership consulting firm. Let me know if I can ever help or encourage you in your ministry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNkSBy5wWDk

Tim said...

Hey Mike, thanks for posting. I love Girard. I don't fully buy into all of his theory, but it has been illuminating for me. What kind of leadership firm do you lead?