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dc.contributor.authorIkpe, Ibanga B.
dc.date.accessioned2018-02-20T07:48:44Z
dc.date.available2018-02-20T07:48:44Z
dc.date.issued2009
dc.identifier.citationIkpe, Ibanga B. (2009) As it is in Heaven! Mimetic theory, religious transformation and social crisis in Africa. Journal of Human Values, Vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 15-27en_US
dc.identifier.issn0971-6858
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10311/1803
dc.description.abstractThis article is an overview of Rene Girard’s mimetic theory and its application to and implications for conflict in Africa. It accepts Girard’s basic idea that imitation is a feature of all individuals but disagrees with his view that the Christian gospel can adequately eliminate mimetic rivalry and thereby lead to a non-sacrificial culture. Drawing from the concept of culture and the African experience of Christianity, it argues that the Christian influence in Africa has only produced a hybrid culture, which draws heavily from the traditional culture. Thus, instead of demythologizing the culture, the gospel has actually introduced new myths into the African setting, which generate a new type of mimetic crisis that traditional forms of intervention are incapable of ameliorating. It argues that the Christian gospel as the precursor of the new myths cannot, in its current form, diffuse the crisis. The article suggests a re-engineering of the gospel to cater for this new reality and thus diffuse the crisis.en_US
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherSage Journals; http://journals.sagepub.com/en_US
dc.subjectMimetic theoryen_US
dc.subjectRene Girarden_US
dc.subjectChristianity in Africaen_US
dc.subjectUnilateralismen_US
dc.titleAs it is in Heaven! Mimetic theory, religious transformation and social crisis in Africaen_US
dc.typePublished Articleen_US
dc.linkhttp://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/097168580901500102en_US


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