Theme: The mimetic scapegoat theory offers groundbreaking insights toward understanding human violence and its origin in rivalrous desire. It presents a view of the human condition that implies a concept of human nature, but heretofore its proponents have not investigated how this understanding of human nature fits into a total economy of the natural world. Nor have they generally offered a thorough study of religions for which nature is the manifestation of the sacred.

The primary object of this conference is to address these two deficiencies, both from the standpoint of the mimetic scapegoat theory and in relation to the theory. Within the theme of the conference, here are some of the specific questions that might be addressed. This list is not intended as exhaustive.

• How should humans view their place within the totality of nature or, in biblical terms, within creation? What difference does it make to understand “nature” as “creation”?
• What are our human responsibilities now, especially given the fact that in many respects we humans, for so long subject to the natural world, are now beginning to overwhelm the natural environment?
• Are animals and natural phenomena a new outlet for human scapegoat mechanisms?
• Do Native American religions offer insights to the mimetic theory?
• Do Christian and Jewish theology, philosophy, and preconceptions need to be corrected by other traditions of thought?
• Are there aspects of evolutionary theory that are compatible with Christian theology?