This paper explores the intersection of the theological ‘wing’ of mimetic studies and religious education, advocating for integrating the insights of mimetic theory into curriculum in pursuit of student formation and transformation. I claim that highlighting the conversion of desire in the lives of the saints or other moral exemplars opens students’ eyes to new models of desire, and I offer a framework for doing so. This framework does not include explicit instruction in mimetic theory, though it may result in students discovering some of the theory’s basic insights about desire on their own, thus supporting further instruction in the theory. Though it is written from the perspective of a North American Catholic religious educator it suggests a framework that can be used in other contexts.
This interdisciplinary proposal includes both theology and pedagogy. First, the theological: Drawing on Deceit, Desire and the Novel, it connects the ascetic renunciation of worldly desires to the mystical opening of one’s heart to desire God, and includes related scholarship to suggest how those conversions transform a person’s commitments. Petra Steinmar-Pösel’s description of positive mimesis as the imitation of God’s gratuitous generosity supports the idea that vertical transcendence results in the imitation of God. That a conversion of desire will lead to a change of lifestyle is key to Walter E. Conn’s model of affective conversion: “a reorientation of the whole person, but especially of those pre-reflective desires which must support our reflective conscious decisions, choices and loving commitments” (1987). This relationship between the renunciation of worldly desire, the turn of desire toward God and goodness, and the commitment to goodness that comes from that conversion of desire, is demonstrated in the narratives of certain saints.
Second, the pedagogical: The framework for analyzing these narratives uses three stages: attraction, transition, and commitment. The first presents the worldly desires of a pre-conversion saint and the new desires that made them question their earlier attractions. The second reviews the transition from deviated to vertical transcendence, noting the interplay between one’s personal choices and God’s initiative. Finally, the third stage examines the outcomes of conversion including new, holy desires and specific commitments and actions based on the saint’s context and mission. Foregoing extensive biographical information, the method focuses on the exemplar’s change of heart, while reflective questions and imaginative prompts encourage students to connect their own inner life with that of the saint. This paper uses St. Ignatius of Loyola as a case study in illustrating this transformation of desire, while noting the qualities that make his life suited for this framework so that other exemplars can be chosen for pedagogical use.
The harnessing of mimetic desire for the purposes of encouraging consumption and addiction has damaged the well-being of today’s young people. Educators need tools to help students analyze these desires; this paper offers one that uses the wisdom of mimetic theory while also providing alternative mediators of desire, to lead students to spiritual freedom and the pursuit of goodness
This paper integrates the theory of mimetic desire with theology and pedagogy to offer an approach to the presentation of the lives of the saints in Catholic religious education, one which foregrounds the saints’ conversion of desire, encourages reflection on desire, and offers alternative models of desire. First, this paper briefly situates the saints in religious education and reviews literature on models in adolescent development. Second, it identifies three movements in the conversion of desire: renouncing acquisitive desire and reorienting one’s desire toward God, as described by René Girard in Deceit, Desire and the Novel, and a subsequent commitment to the imitation of God, supported by the theories of positive mimesis and affective conversion. It concludes with a framework for presenting the lives of the saints, using St. Ignatius of Loyola as a case study for inviting adolescents to reflect on their desires using a historical model.