Mimesis and Freedom

Editor’s note: Raymund Schwager (1935–2004) published the original German version of this text in 1985 (“Mimesis und Freiheit,” Zeitschrift fur katholische Theologie [1985], 365–76). He had already presented an English translation one year earlier at a symposium on Girard’s thinking in Provo, Utah. Fortunately, this translation has been preserved in the Innsbruck “Raymund Schwager-Archive” (RSA, I.17.a) and can, therefore, now be published for the first time. However, the translator is not known, so due credit cannot be given here. In preparation, this translation had to be revised, orthographic and other mistakes had to be corrected, and footnotes, which Schwager had put in theGerman but not in the English version, had to be added. Furthermore, departures from the German original text had to be noted. All such editorial footnotes are clearly distinguishable from Schwager’s own footnotes by the element “Ed.” at the beginning. This text’s references are to English editions of Girard’s works, while Schwager, in 1984–1985, only referred to French editions. James G. Williams, who encouraged this publication after several very fruitful discussions in the context of an Innsbruck research project on the GirardSchwager-correspondence, kindly proofread the edited text.