A systematic introduction into the mimetic theory of the French-American literary theorist and philosophical anthropologist René Girard, this essential text explains its three main pillars (mimetic desire, the scapegoat mechanism, and the Biblical "difference") with the help of examples from literature and philosophy. Mimetic theory is placed within the context of current cultural and political debates like the relationship between religion and modernity, terrorism, the death penalty, and gender issues.

Wolfgang Palaver is a Professor of Catholic Social Thought at the School of Catholic Theology at the University of Innsbruck, where he was also the Dean from 2013 to 2017.