Michael, James has entitled the first part of the course “Starting human, staying human” where he accentuates the anthropology of the Christian message. We find God through our rapport with our fellow man, that is, the recognition of the “other” as also made in the image and likeness of God. In practical terms where there is no rivalry or scapegoating of others. James introduces us to his concept of “the social other” and “the Other other”, and in so doing, he subtly makes us aware of René Girard’s thinking on desire. We learn from childhood patterns of desire and we learn to desire what the other desires. When we desire what our neighbour, “the social other” desires, we expose ourselves to the rivalry, violence and scapegoating of the world. But “the Other other”, that is God, is beyond all rivalry and comes toward us in an act of communication to which we become a part.
