Beiträge zur Mimetischen Theorie

Band 17

Palaver, Wolfgang and Steinmair-Pösel, Petra (Eds.)

Passions in Economy, Politics, and the Media: In Discussion with Christian Theology

Beiträge zur mimetischen Theorie vol. 17. Münster: LIT 2005.

Passions play an important role in economy, politics and the media. Recent discussions of the economy, for instance, do no longer hesitate to stress the importance of a passion like envy functioning as a driving force in this field. Also the world of advertising illustrates the impor-tance of passions in the economy. Modern forms of politics, on the contrary, claimed to be de-tached from passions and to rely solely on rationality. Recent developments since the end of the cold war, however, have clearly challenged this self-understanding of modern politics. Not even politics can escape the world of passions. In our days, both the economy and politics de-pend on the media, another example of a highly passionate realm.
Passions also have an important religious dimension. One of the central questions of any great religion is how to deal with passions. This book offers an interdisciplinary approach to the phenomenon of passions in the fields of economy, politics, and the media, drawing on René Girard’s mimetic theory as a common focusing lens. It promotes a deeper understanding of the religious dimensions of capitalism, the contemporary return of religion to politics and the religious implications of modern mass media.

Table of Contents / Inhaltsverzeichnis

Wolfgang Palaver and Petra Steinmair-Pösel: Introduction 7

René Girard: The Passionate Oxymoron in Romeo and Juliet 17

I. Passions in Economy

Simon Gþchter and Christian Thöni: Envy, Status, and Economy: An Empirical Approach 37

Petra Steinmair-Pösel: Economy and Mimetic Theory 67

Eric Gans: The Market and Resentment 85

Paul Dumouchel: A Mimetic Rereading of Helmut Schoeck's Theory of Envy 103

Wilhelm Guggenberger: Homo Oeconomicus and the Mimetic Man: Vanity and Pride in the Ethics of Adam Smith 123

Wolfgang Palaver: Envy or Emulation: A Christian Understanding of Economic Passions 139

Andrew Marr: Stewardship of Material Goods in the Rule of Benedict 163

Michel Beaudin and Jean-Marc Gauthier: The Uncontrolled Return of the Passions in the Economical and Political Sacrificial 'Soteriology' of Our Times: Theological Perspectives 175

II. Passions in Politics

Jean Bethke Elshtain: Passions and Politics: An Augustinian Perspective 199

Jean-Pierre Dupuy: Panic and the Paradoxes of the Social Order 215

Stefano Tomelleri: Are we Living in a Society of Resentment? 235

Bruce Ward: Transforming Passion into Compassion: Rousseau and the Problem of Envy in Modern Democracy 253

Stephen L. Gardner: Democracy and Desire in The Great Gatsby 273

Raymund Schwager: The Innsbruck Research Project and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict 295

Graham Ward: The Body of the Church and Its Erotic Politics 307

III. Passions in the Media

Rafael Capurro: Passions of the Internet 331

Diana Culbertson: Sacrificing Reality: Arthur Miller's Resurrection Blues 345

Dietmar Regensburger: 'Are you still in the mood for killing?': Mimetic Rivalry, Scapegoating and Sacrifice in Hitchcock's Marnie, Cacoyannis' Zorba the Greek and Pasolini's Medea 363

Michael Cholewinski and Matthew Taylor: Drowning in Desire: Media and Mediation in Contemporary Japan 387

Michael Jindra: The Passions of Electronic and Media Alternate Universes 423

Franz Helm: Vilém Flusser's Theory of Communication: The Voice of Jacob 447

Thomas Böhm: The Media as Myth? The Modern Media Communication Culture and Its Structures: An Inquiry from a Theological Perspective 463

Józef Niewiadomski: Extra Media Nulla Salus?: Attempt at a Theological Synthesis 489

Notes on Contributors 509

Index of Names 515

Beiträge zur mimetischen Theorie: Band 15