Resisting Violence and Victimisation

Joel Hodge is Lecturer in Systematic Theology in the Faculty of Theology and Philosophy at the Australian Catholic University. He received his PhD from the University of Queensland and has held academic appointments in the USA and Australia. He has researched on East Timor for a number of years, making numerous fieldtrips and learning the local language. He also has involvement with East Timor through various church, community and development groups in Australia and East Timor. His accumulated experiences have been invaluable in developing an approach that seeks to holistically and critically understand the experiences of the East Timorese, particularly in regards to their religion and culture. He is also founding Secretary and Treasurer of the Australian Girard Seminar and co-editor of Violence, Desire and the Sacred: Girard’s Mimetic Theory Across the Disciplines and Vatican II: Reception and Implementation in the Australian Church.

Introduction; Part I Setting the Context; Chapter 1 In Dialogue: Faith and the Victim; Chapter 2 René Girard's Mimetic Theory: Desire, Victimage and Christ; Chapter 3 East Timor: History, Religion and Culture; Part II Violence and Faith; Chapter 4 Ground to Stand: The Relation between Faith and Mimesis; Chapter 5 Crisis and Choice: The Relation of Faith to the Victim; Part III Sacred Violence and Christian Resistance; Chapter 6 The State and the Violent Sacred; Chapter 7 Christian Resistance in Suffering and Victimhood; Part IV Solidarity with the Victim; Chapter 8 The Martyrs of East Timor: Solidarity with the Victim; Chapter 9 The Healing Pasch: Grief, Reconciliation and Eucharistic Solidarity; Chapter 10 Conclusion;