Redeeming metaphysics in light of René Girard’s Christology

Abstract The present essay considers what, if any, metaphysical perspective can be discerned in the thought of René Girard. Aware of the fact that Girard has little to say about metaphysics and that what he does say harbours the same reservations and misgivings as his postmodern confreres, I argue that the rudiments of a metaphysics can nevertheless be identified. This metaphysics is not one of violence that Girard, following Martin Heidegger, associates with the violence of Heraclitean logos . Rather, it is one predicated upon the dynamic interplay between identity and difference realised concretely within the incarnate Christ. My claim is that ‘metaphysics’, much like what occurred to the notion of ‘sacrifice’ in Girard’s thinking, requires further development and even redemption. This essay takes an initial step in that direction.