These are some of the books that have earned René Girard a reputation as one of the twentieth century's most original thinkers: Violence and the Sacred The Scapegoat Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World Their grave-sounding titles reflect the profound issues he probes in his astonishing explorations of the origins of violence deep within our human make-up. In this latest book, published to coincide with a five-part CBC Radio's IDEAS series devoted to his thought, Girard is at the peak of his career. In it he sets his sights on understanding the decisive difference between the uses of violence in myths around the world and the transformation of violence that appears only in the Bible. Girard is that most unusual of modern Christians, an honoured and highly influential academic- a literary critic and anthropologist. He holds up the gospels as mirrors that reveal our broken humanity, and shows that they uniquely point to what can make us whole.

• violencechristianitytheologyreligionRené GirardAnthropologyPhilosophyPsychology