The book is an interview with two specialists. Apresents very interesting ideas, but some of them are incorrect, specially about the nature of the sacrifice of Christ.
However, the author, Girard, late understand his mistake and correct ir.
In this book, Girard understand that the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ have left humanity “deprived of sacrifice.” In fact, in making the claim that Christ has left us in a situation where “we are faced with an inescapable alternative: either we acknowledge the truth of Christianity, or we contribute to the escalation to extremes by rejecting Revelation”. Girard falls back into the understanding of “sacrifice” that he held when writing Things Hidden from the Foundation of the World—an understanding that he later admitted “was completely wrong.”
When he wrote Things Hidden, Girard understood sacrifice solely “in reference to the rituals of archaic religion.” For him, sacrifice necessarily involved the violent expulsion of a victim by a group of “others.” He explains that with this narrow definition of sacrifice, “it seemed to me that the traditional definition of the Passion in terms of sacrifice furnished additional arguments for those who wished to liken Christianity to an archaic religion. This is why, for a long time, I resisted it.”
Later Girard realized that sacrifice was more than the ritualistic violence imposed upon a victim whose expulsion was intended to recall a founding murder and bring about the conciliatory effects the murder produced. Sacrifice could also be understood as “consecration-on-behalf-of-others.” While this concept functions as an anthropological reality within Girard’s later works, it is rooted in divine revelation, and cannot be understood or derived apart from revelation. The consecration-on-behalf-of-others model allowed Girard to view the Passion as a sacrifice, not because Christ died a bloody death, but because the adoption of a non-violent, non-rivalrous stance by Christ constitutes a sacrifice. That is to say, the defining characteristic of Christ’s sacrifice is not the immolation of Christ as a victim, but rather Christ’s kenosis, his offering of himself for the sake of others.
In a interview (Interview with René Girard: Comments on Christianity, Scapegoating, and Sacrifice (Religion (1997) 27, 249–254), Girard says: " I now accept calling this sacrifice in a special sense. Because one person did it, God the Father pardons all, in e V ect. I had avoided the word scapegoat for Jesus, but now I agree with Raymund Schwager that he is scapegoat for all—except now in reverse fashion, for theologically considered the initiative comes from God rather than simply from the human beings with their scapegoat mechanism. I think the Gospels understand Jesus basically that way, and also Paul, when he speaks of God making Christ to be sin, but also our wisdom and righteousness. He is the scapegoat for all".
This is a very important statement for those who read this book.