Girard, René, 1923-2015

René Noël Théophile Girard (; French: [ʁəne nɔɛl teɔfil ʒiʁaʁ]; 25 December 1923 – 4 November 2015) was a French academic best known for developing mimetic theory, which posits that human desire is fundamentally imitative, leading to rivalry, violence and the scapegoat mechanism as foundations of religion and culture. Holding academic appointments primarily in literature departments in the United States, his interdisciplinary work influenced fields ranging from theology to economics to psychology and cultural studies. Girard first outlined the foundations of mimetic theory in his debut book Deceit, Desire, and the Novel (1961), a work of literary criticism, and extended it to anthropology in Violence and the Sacred (1972). Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World (1978), considered his magnum opus, synthesized these ideas while applying them to a reinterpretation of Christian scriptures. Later accessible works, such as The Scapegoat (1982) and I See Satan Fall Like Lightning (1999) further elaborated his biblical insights. In 2005, he was elected to the Académie Française, one of its 40 "immortals".