--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The protective system of scapegoats is…" description: "\"The protective system of scapegoats is finally destroyed by the Crucifixion narratives as they reveal Jesus' innocence and, little by little, that of a..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/882/rene-girard-8541_innocence_the-protective-system-of-scapegoats-is-f_2022230.jpg" --- # The protective system of scapegoats is finally destroyed… ![“The protective system of scapegoats is finally destroyed by the Crucifixion narratives as they reveal Jesus' innocence and, little by little, that of all analogous victims.” quote by Rene Girard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/882/rene-girard-8541_innocence_the-protective-system-of-scapegoats-is-f_2022230.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/882/rene-girard-8541_innocence_the-protective-system-of-scapegoats-is-f_2022230.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/882/rene-girard-8541_innocence_the-protective-system-of-scapegoats-is-f_2022230.jpg) > “The protective system of scapegoats is finally destroyed by the Crucifixion narratives as they reveal Jesus' innocence and, little by little, that of all analogous victims.” [Rene Girard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rene-girard/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Scapegoating systems collapse when narratives expose the innocence of victims, challenging collective blame. **In simple terms:** Exposing innocence undermines scapegoating. Key Takeaway Seek truth to dismantle unjust blame. Themes justice violence scapegoating religion myth collective guilt Mood critical thoughtful analytical Type philosophical critical When to use this quote - legal trials - media coverage of crimes - community conflicts - historical analysis Key Concepts anthropology theology social psychology Questions to Reflect On - What mechanisms protect scapegoat systems? - How can truth be effectively communicated? A Different Perspective Narratives may be contested or ignored. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Crucifixion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crucifixion/) [Innocence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/innocence/) [Jesus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/jesus/) [System](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/system/) ## Related quotes > [In preventing a riot and dispersing a crowd, the Crucifixion is an example of cathartic victimization.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rene-girard/in-preventing-a-riot-and-dispersing-a-crowd-the-crucifixion-is-an/) [Rene Girard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rene-girard/) > [ At this time there was a wise man who was called Jesus. And his conduct was good, and \[he\] was known to be virtuous.… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josephus/at-this-time-there-was-a-wise-man-who-was-called-jesus-and-his/) [Josephus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josephus/) > [Let us look upon a crucified Christ, the remedy of all our miseries. His cross hath procured a crown, his passion hath expiated our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-charnock/let-us-look-upon-a-crucified-christ-the-remedy-of-all-our-miseries/) [Stephen Charnock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-charnock/) > [A dead Christ I must do everything for; a living Christ does everything for me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-murray/a-dead-christ-i-must-do-everything-for-a-living-christ-does/) [Andrew Murray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-murray/) > [So shall we join the disciples of our Lord, keeping faith in Him in spite of the crucifixion, and making ready, by our loyalty…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phillips-brooks/so-shall-we-join-the-disciples-of-our-lord-keeping-faith-in-him-in/) [Phillips Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phillips-brooks/) > [Only with great care. For thousands, carols will be their only link with a church. At the same time, sentimentality is perhaps the single…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeremy-begbie/only-with-great-care-for-thousands-carols-will-be-their-only-link/) [Jeremy Begbie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeremy-begbie/) > [How myopic it is to view His ministry as all crucifixion and no resurrection!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neal-a-maxwell/how-myopic-it-is-to-view-his-ministry-as-all-crucifixion-and-no/) [Neal A. Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neal-a-maxwell/) > [A Gustave Courbet portrait of a trout has more death in it than Rubens could get in a whole Crucifixion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hughes/a-gustave-courbet-portrait-of-a-trout-has-more-death-in-it-than/) [Robert Hughes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hughes/) > [Pretty much all films I've seen that depict the life of Christ end with the Crucifixion, almost like the filmmakers don't know what to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-fiennes/pretty-much-all-films-i-ve-seen-that-depict-the-life-of-christ-end/) [Joseph Fiennes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-fiennes/) > [It costs God nothing, so far as we know, to create nice things: but to convert rebellious wills cost Him crucifixion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/it-costs-god-nothing-so-far-as-we-know-to-create-nice-things-but-to/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [Every time that I think of the crucifixion of Christ, I commit the sin of envy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-weil/every-time-that-i-think-of-the-crucifixion-of-christ-i-commit-the-sin/) [Simone Weil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-weil/) > [A high place of honor, although doubtless one to be obtained only after enduring the pangs of a prolonged crucifixion, awaits that philosophical biologist,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-trumbull-ladd/a-high-place-of-honor-although-doubtless-one-to-be-obtained-only/) [George Trumbull Ladd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-trumbull-ladd/) > [“Mungu hutumia watu 'wajinga' na 'wapumbavu' kufanya mambo makubwa katika maisha yao na ya watu wengine. Katika Biblia, Musa aliitwa mjinga alipokiuka amri ya…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/enock-maregesi/mungu-hutumia-watu-wajinga-na-wapumbavu-kufanya-mambo-makubwa-katika/) [Enock Maregesi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/enock-maregesi/) > [“The very mention of crucifixion was taboo in polite Roman circles, since it was the lowest form of capital punishment, reserved for slaves and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/n-t-wright/the-very-mention-of-crucifixion-was-taboo-in-polite-roman-circles/) [N.T. Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/n-t-wright/) > [“Intellectualism is a poor master over passion”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/twe-stephens/intellectualism-is-a-poor-master-over-passion/) Twe Stephens ## More by Rene Girard > [If you scapegoat someone, it's a third party that will be aware of it. It won't be you. Because you will believe you are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rene-girard/if-you-scapegoat-someone-it-s-a-third-party-that-will-be-aware-of-it/) [Rene Girard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rene-girard/) > [“There is no culture without a tomb and no tomb without a culture; in the end the tomb is the first and only cultural…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rene-girard/there-is-no-culture-without-a-tomb-and-no-tomb-without-a-culture-in/) [René Girard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rene-girard/) > [The true Resurrection is based not on the mythical lie of the guilty victim who deserves to die, but on the rectification of that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rene-girard/the-true-resurrection-is-based-not-on-the-mythical-lie-of-the-guilty/) [Rene Girard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rene-girard/) > [“The good son imitates the father with such passion that father and son become each other's chief stumbling block - a situation the indifferent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rene-girard/the-good-son-imitates-the-father-with-such-passion-that-father-and/) [René Girard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rene-girard/) > [Individualism is a formidable lie.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rene-girard/individualism-is-a-formidable-lie/) [Rene Girard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rene-girard/) > [Instead of blaming victimization on the victims, the Gospels blame it on the victimizers. What the myths systematically hide, the Bible reveals.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rene-girard/instead-of-blaming-victimization-on-the-victims-the-gospels-blame-it/) [Rene Girard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rene-girard/) > [Every time I could escape from Sunday church, I did, from the age of twelve until about thirty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rene-girard/every-time-i-could-escape-from-sunday-church-i-did-from-the-age-of/) [Rene Girard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rene-girard/) > [I do not read many periodicals, and I have little or no contact with progressive Christians, so I don't really know what goes on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rene-girard/i-do-not-read-many-periodicals-and-i-have-little-or-no-contact-with/) [Rene Girard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rene-girard/) > [“The revolutionaries thought they would be destroying vanity when they destroyed the privileges of the noble. But vanity is like a virulent cancer that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rene-girard/the-revolutionaries-thought-they-would-be-destroying-vanity-when-they/) [René Girard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rene-girard/) > [I think that historical processes have meaning and that we have to accept this - or else face utter despair.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rene-girard/i-think-that-historical-processes-have-meaning-and-that-we-have-to/) [Rene Girard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rene-girard/) > [“So long as globalization was slow in coming, everyone hoped and prayed that it would come soon. The unity of the world's nations was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rene-girard/so-long-as-globalization-was-slow-in-coming-everyone-hoped-and-prayed/) [René Girard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rene-girard/) > [“Nietzsche is a marvelous antidote to all fundamentally anti-Biblical efforts to turn mythology into a kind of Bible, and that is the project of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rene-girard/nietzsche-is-a-marvelous-antidote-to-all-fundamentally-anti-biblical/) [René Girard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rene-girard/) > [“Even in the most closed cultures men believe that they are free and open to the universal; their differential character makes the narrowest cultural…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rene-girard/even-in-the-most-closed-cultures-men-believe-that-they-are-free-and/) [René Girard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rene-girard/) > [Each person must ask what his relationship is to the scapegoat. I am not aware of my own, and I am persuaded that the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rene-girard/each-person-must-ask-what-his-relationship-is-to-the-scapegoat-i-am/) [Rene Girard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rene-girard/) > [“We must renounce the gambit of "good" and "bad" - even in its inverted form. We must acknowledge that misapprehensions abound, that violence is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rene-girard/we-must-renounce-the-gambit-of-good-and-bad-even-in-its-inverted-form/) [René Girard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rene-girard/) [Explore all 71 Rene Girard quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rene-girard/) ## More Crucifixion quotes > [“Intellectualism is a poor master over passion”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/twe-stephens/intellectualism-is-a-poor-master-over-passion/) Twe Stephens > [“The very mention of crucifixion was taboo in polite Roman circles, since it was the lowest form of capital punishment, reserved for slaves and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/n-t-wright/the-very-mention-of-crucifixion-was-taboo-in-polite-roman-circles/) [N.T. Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/n-t-wright/) > [“Mungu hutumia watu 'wajinga' na 'wapumbavu' kufanya mambo makubwa katika maisha yao na ya watu wengine. Katika Biblia, Musa aliitwa mjinga alipokiuka amri ya…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/enock-maregesi/mungu-hutumia-watu-wajinga-na-wapumbavu-kufanya-mambo-makubwa-katika/) [Enock Maregesi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/enock-maregesi/) > [A high place of honor, although doubtless one to be obtained only after enduring the pangs of a prolonged crucifixion, awaits that philosophical biologist,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-trumbull-ladd/a-high-place-of-honor-although-doubtless-one-to-be-obtained-only/) [George Trumbull Ladd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-trumbull-ladd/) > [Every time that I think of the crucifixion of Christ, I commit the sin of envy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-weil/every-time-that-i-think-of-the-crucifixion-of-christ-i-commit-the-sin/) [Simone Weil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-weil/) > [It costs God nothing, so far as we know, to create nice things: but to convert rebellious wills cost Him crucifixion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis/it-costs-god-nothing-so-far-as-we-know-to-create-nice-things-but-to/) [C. S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis/) > [Pretty much all films I've seen that depict the life of Christ end with the Crucifixion, almost like the filmmakers don't know what to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-fiennes/pretty-much-all-films-i-ve-seen-that-depict-the-life-of-christ-end/) [Joseph Fiennes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-fiennes/) > [A Gustave Courbet portrait of a trout has more death in it than Rubens could get in a whole Crucifixion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-hughes/a-gustave-courbet-portrait-of-a-trout-has-more-death-in-it-than/) [Robert Hughes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-hughes/) > [How myopic it is to view His ministry as all crucifixion and no resurrection!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neal-a-maxwell/how-myopic-it-is-to-view-his-ministry-as-all-crucifixion-and-no/) [Neal A. Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neal-a-maxwell/) > [Only with great care. For thousands, carols will be their only link with a church. At the same time, sentimentality is perhaps the single…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeremy-begbie/only-with-great-care-for-thousands-carols-will-be-their-only-link/) [Jeremy Begbie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeremy-begbie/) > [So shall we join the disciples of our Lord, keeping faith in Him in spite of the crucifixion, and making ready, by our loyalty…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phillips-brooks/so-shall-we-join-the-disciples-of-our-lord-keeping-faith-in-him-in/) [Phillips Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phillips-brooks/) > [A dead Christ I must do everything for; a living Christ does everything for me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-murray/a-dead-christ-i-must-do-everything-for-a-living-christ-does/) [Andrew Murray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-murray/) > [Let us look upon a crucified Christ, the remedy of all our miseries. His cross hath procured a crown, his passion hath expiated our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-charnock/let-us-look-upon-a-crucified-christ-the-remedy-of-all-our-miseries/) [Stephen Charnock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-charnock/) > [ At this time there was a wise man who was called Jesus. And his conduct was good, and \[he\] was known to be virtuous.… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/josephus/at-this-time-there-was-a-wise-man-who-was-called-jesus-and-his/) [Josephus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/josephus/) > [“In the foreign country, we call the past, crucifixion was a common punishment. It was invented by the Persians, carried back to Europe by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/in-the-foreign-country-we-call-the-past-crucifixion-was-a-common/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) [Browse all 203 Crucifixion quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/crucifixion/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The protective system of scapegoats is finally destroyed by the Crucifixion narratives as they reveal Jesus' innocence and, little by little, that of all analogous victims.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Rene Girard" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rene-girard/the-protective-system-of-scapegoats-is-finally-destroyed-by-the/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Crucifixion" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rene-girard/the-protective-system-of-scapegoats-is-finally-destroyed-by-the/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/882/rene-girard-8541_innocence_the-protective-system-of-scapegoats-is-f_2022230.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/882/rene-girard-8541_innocence_the-protective-system-of-scapegoats-is-f_2022230.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/882/rene-girard-8541_innocence_the-protective-system-of-scapegoats-is-f_2022230.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The protective system of scapegoats is finally destroyed by the Crucifixion narratives as they reveal Jesus'…” — Rene Girard", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Rene Girard", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rene-girard/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The protective system of scapegoats is...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rene-girard/the-protective-system-of-scapegoats-is-finally-destroyed-by-the/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rene-girard/the-protective-system-of-scapegoats-is-finally-destroyed-by-the/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```