Theological Inversions: Raymund Schwager, Robert G. Hamerton-Kelly, and James G. Williams

Abstract

The most important theological resonance chamber of Girard’s distinctively French thinking was not his French homeland. The fact that Girard spent almost all his academic life in the USA explains, to a certain extent, why the English-speaking world became very significant in thinking and rethinking mimetic theory. Nevertheless, without a handful of scholars who committed themselves to fostering the cause of mimetic theory, this would not have been possible. Among them, theologians Robert G. Hamerton-Kelly and James G. Williams played an unusually important role that deserves to be recognized. On the other hand, the fact that the earliest theological reception of Girard happened in the German-speaking world, with which Girard originally had no deep connections, is due to one man: Swiss Jesuit theologian Raymund Schwager.