RXW8 - Dr. Wolfgang Palaver Interview

Dr. Wolfgang Palaver is a distinguished scholar in the field of political theology, christian social thought and the philosophy of René Girard. From 2002 to 2023 Dr. Palaver was professor of Christian Social Thought in the Institute of Systematic Theology at the University of Innsbruck, Austria. His research focuses on the intersection of religion, politics, and violence, drawing extensively from Rene Girard's Mimetic Theory. He has authored a number of books and articles, exploring themes such as sacrifice, modernity, and mimetic desire. In specific, Dr. Palaver is the author of the comprehensive synthesis of Girardian Mimetic Theory entitled "Rene Girard’s Mimetic Theory". Dr. Palaver currently teaches part time at the University of Brixen-Bressanone, Italy.

Dr. Palaver's work provides critical insights into the underlying mechanisms of human conflict and the potential for transcendence through understanding mimetic desires.

In this conversation, Dr. Palaver & I discuss:

• Three pillars of mimetic theory

• Where does violence come from?

• Sartre's Being & Non-being

• The resolution to mimetic crisis, origin of the scapegoat

• Primitive cultures, mimesis, Levi Strauss

• Conversion, biblical revelations as a revelation of scapegoating

• The problem of desire

• and more!

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