Turning Toward the Victim

""While reading Tom Gates's Turning Toward the Victim, I felt the same way I often feel when reading an excellent book; I wished it had been available years before. Still, it was well worth the wait. Turning Toward the Victim is a compelling blend of history, scholarship, and prophetic witness. Though Tom writes as a Quaker, this book speaks across faiths and cultures. I am confident it will enrich your life, as it has mine."" --Philip Gulley, author of If the Church Were Christian ""Thomas Gates has managed to create a most engaging Quaker be-friending of Girard's insight. On the way he also offers a wonderfully clear and concise introduction to how that insight is being received within wider Christianity. Highly recommended."" --James Alison, author of Jesus the Forgiving Victim: Listening for the Unheard Voice ""In Turning to the Victim, Thomas Gates presents a compelling critique of violence, combining Rene Girard's scapegoat theory, fresh approaches to Scripture, and new perspectives on the early Quaker message and movement. His findings will challenge Friends and others today toward a deeper, more integrative understanding of violence--and its alternatives. To turn to the victim is to turn away from so much of the violence that surrounds and often still mystifies us today."" --Douglas Gwyn, author of A Sustainable Life: Quaker Faith and Practice in the Renewal of Creation ""Through René Girard's work, we gain an invaluable framework for Scripture; through Thomas Jay Gates, we gain an invaluable framework for both Girard and his mimetic theory. I'm a better Girardian and theologian for reading Turning Toward the Victim, and I can't recommend this book enough."" --Jonathan J. Foster, author of Theology of Consent: Mimetic Theory in an Open and Relational Universe