For Jim Grote, who introduced me in my late twenties to the work of Rene Girard, whom I am still reading, especially through three recent works by Cynthia L. Haven. Girard’s ideas inspire, humble, energize, and surprise me. For instance, after reading his review of Mel Gibson’s movie in Haven’s collection, All Desire Is a Desire for Being, I ordered the DVD of The Passion of the Christ through the St. Louis Public Library. I’ll be watching it this weekend. My crowd avoided it when it came out because of what we heard about its gratuitous violence and the film-maker’s conservative Catholicism. As my friend Chris Wallach would remind me, I can be one of Jim’s many continuations…
Gratitude/3
