This new book from James Alison has all the brilliance, wit and panache that have made him one of the most influential contemporary Catholic writers. Celebrated for his firm but gentle insistence on facing down current ecclesiastical teaching on homosexuality with the question, 'Yes, but is it true?', and his wry observations as the church flails around on gay issues, Alison is also admired and enjoyed for the freshness and verve of his interpretations of scripture, for his dazzling word play and teasing connections, surprises and reversals. Alison develops the implications for theology and religion of the insights of the French literary critic and philosopher Rene Girard, which expose the violence hidden at the heart of our culture. He shows how Girard's concepts of mimetic desire and the scapegoat mechanism both confirm and transform our understanding of Christianity.