Open AccessRené Girard’s Scapegoating and Stereotypes of Persecution in the Divine Battle between Veles and Perun
Author(s) -
Mirjana Borenović
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
bogoslovni vestnik
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.471
H-Index - 9
eISSN - 1581-2987
pISSN - 0006-5722
DOI - 10.34291/bv2019/04/borenovic
Subject(s) - scapegoating , scapegoat , persecution , battle , interpretation (philosophy) , mythology , context (archaeology) , philosophy , theology , history , law , political science , politics , ancient history , linguistics , archaeology
This paper describes René Girard’s interpretation of myths and explains the scapegoating mechanism. This interpretation is then applied to the Slavic basic myth of the divine battle between Veles and Perun. The paper demon- strates that the myth of divine battle still holds enough information to identify and analyse the scapegoating mechanism, all the stereotypes of persecution, an innocent victim or the scapegoat and the violence committed against him. The analysis emphasises and decodes the process in which a human victim of persecution was transformed into a mighty god Veles. The paper also critically evaluates and points out the shortcomings of René Girard’s interpretation of myths in the context of Slavic religion and mythology.