Summary
William T. Cavanaugh describes Martin Luther King in terms of René Girard’s ideas about justice and order.
I often use Martin Luther King as an example when I teach René Girard and his idea that the way societies create a kind of order is by bringing rival factions together and scapegoating other people, and this is how we kind of keep the lid on things. And what Martin Luther King does is what Girard says Jesus does as well, is that God identifies with the victim of the scapegoating rather than the victimisers, and then it becomes obvious to everyone where the injustice lies, that what passes for order is not really order at all. And I think Martin Luther King did exactly that, he kind of brought bodies out into the streets, and when they got clubbed it became obvious to see on whose side justice really was. And that, I think, is a kind of enactment of the story of Christ.
