The Catholic Weekly 16 August 2020

catholicweekly.com.au 16 16, August, 2020 BOOK REVIEWS IN 2017 there were 112,954 marriages in Australia. In 2017 there were 40,032 divorces in Australia. The divorce rate that year increased by 5.2 per cent compared to the previous 12 month period. In 2017 the average mar- riage lasted for 12 years in Australia The most common age for getting a divorce in that year was 45.5 for males and 42.9 for females. In the US, the divorce rate was – and is – worse. There, approximately half of all marriages. The rate is higher for second and third marriages. Looking at these figures, it’s understandable why the Catholic Church has made it a priority to prepare couples for healthy, permanent marriag- es through thorough, well-de- veloped diocesan programs. However, even the most highly regarded pre-marriage instruments and intense one- on-one meetings with en- gagedcoupleswill not guaran- ¾ ¾ Brian Olszewski A plan to stay one Marriage around the world is in a serious state. Young couples need a plan to help themmake it last tee permanency in marriage. Among the variables are the behaviours, influences and environmental backgrounds each future spouse is bringing to that marriage. This is where Habits for a Healthy Marriage becomes an excellent resource for couples planning to be engaged or al- ready engaged, and for those responsible for preparing them for marriage. Individ- ual chapters with their focus on topics such as forgiveness, trust, responsibility, gratitude, respect and generosity can be integrated into preparation as discussion starters. The chapter on commu- nication is an example of the book’s consistency in the quality of material, the way it is presented and its applica- bility. As with every chapter, it be- gins with a clearly stated goal: “to assist couples with loving and respectful communica- tion, which is necessary for a happy and healthy marriage.” Fitzgibbons, the director of the Institute for Marital Heal- ing in Philadelphia, introduc- es Chloe and Chad, who, in the wife’s view, are not com- municating well: “When I try to talk to him, he doesn’t even seem to hear me.” He uses the dialogue they have with him in counselling to present possible causes for the problem, e.g., needing to control, lacking gratitude for one’s spouse, being emotion- ally distant. Throughout the book, Fitzgibbons will ask about how the couple’s parents handled the topic being ad- dressed, e.g., communication. The couple’s identifying and speaking about what they learned – or didn’t learn – from their parents is an im- portant element in resolving the problem. He references what oth- ers have written on the topic being addressed and, where The sword of the faithful fanatic THIS WORK is the latest in Bloomsbury’s series titled: Violence, Desire and the Sa- cred to which scholars of the thought of René Girard (1923- 2015) have contributed. It expounds a number of theses: (i) that violence is a manifestation of the unre- strained and escalating dy- namics of desire and rivalry in modernity, (ii) that violence is a response to the unveiling and discrediting of sacred vi- olence, and (iii) that for Jihad- ists violence is a form of wor- ship. The entire work is based on René Girard’s Mimetic Theory that is usually labelled an example of anthropologi- cal philosophy. The author very lucidly out- lines Girard’s theory in his first chapter. The major principles of the theory are the following three propositions: 1. Human desire is imitat- ed, that is, it is stimulated by others. 2. Human cultures use scapegoats or victims to re- solve mimetic rivalry and vi- olence in order to create and maintain cultural unity. 3. Biblical revelation reveals the innocence of the victim and the nature of the scape- goat mechanism and charts a positive way for structur- ing human desire in divine self-sacrificial love. The third of these principles unites anthropology with the- ology since Girard argues that in the various epic dramas that unfold in the Bible, God always comes out on the side of the innocent victim rather than affirming the violence and scapegoating behaviour of the mob. The God of the New Tes- tament is also revealed to be someone who affirms loving forgiveness and self-giving service. Hodge quotes Girard to the effect that: “Love is the only true revelatory power because it escapes from, and strictly limits, the spirit of revenge and recrimination that still charac- terises the revelation in our world…” The Jewish and Christian Abrahamic traditions are therefore presented in quite a positive light by Girard be- cause he views their overall effect on world history as a barrier to scapegoating be- haviour. Abraham did not kill his son Isaac. Abraham drew a kind of ‘metaphysical’ line in the sands of history. The Islamic tradition, however, is more ambivalent. It can be construed as an offshoot of the religion of Abraham but the jury is ‘out’ over how contemporary vi- olence in the name of the Is- lamic religion fits within the tradition of Abraham and within the mimetic theory of Girard. Hodge’s book is there- fore an attempt to engage with these issues. Having outlined Girard’s general theory in the first chapter, Hodge then moves onto an account of Girard’s theory about violence in mo- dernity. This can be summarised by the thesis that the predomi- nant cause of contemporary forms of violence is “desa- cralisation” and the rise of the secular state conducting total warfare. Here the watershed mo- ments were the French Rev- olution and the rise of Na- poleon. Chapter three then narrows the optic to a focus on “Islamic modernity” in countries with a Muslim-ma- jority and the rise of violent movements in response to this secular movement within Islam. Particular attention is giv- en to Sunni jihadism such as that which gravitates around Egyptian groups. This third chapter is a very “readable” history of Islam- ic social history from the fall of the Ottoman Caliphate in 1924 to the present. Chapters four and five offer an account of how jihadists have construed violence as a sacred act and the various efforts that governments have taken to contain this. The rise of the notion of the Islamic martyr is also addressed. Chapters six to nine inclu- sive also focus on the theo- logical tropes in what Hodge calls sacred Jihadist totalitar- ianism. Hodge observes that vio- lence has a tendency to back- fire on jihadist groups. The data shows that populations will side with non-violent al- ternative leadership if it is of- fered to them. The final chapter argues that the only really effective solution to this problem is for the other Abrahamic religions to get their acts together and offer alternative non-violent accounts of the sacred. He specifically mentions the ‘historic witness of the Abrahamic faiths to self-giv- ing forms of charity (eg. hos- pitals, schools for the poor, welfare networks) that gave a clear example of how to pur- sue the common good’. An appendix follows the final chapter that offers a glossary of terms associated with Girard’s theory. These include: desire, doubling, mediation, metaphysical de- sire, surrogate victimage and scapegoating. One does not have to be a true believer in the thought of René Girard to find the mate- rial in this book interesting. As someone who has found keeping up with all the differ- ent groups that get mentioned in the newspapers, knowing which ones are Saudi and which ones are Egyptian, which ones Sunni and which ones non-Sunni, something of a current affairs challenge, I found Hodge’s explanations about the origins of the dif- ferent groups and their ideas extremely valuable. He has also managed to present the material in a way that makes for easy reading. One is mercifully spared the academic jargon one some- times encounters in the field of sociology. Hodge presumes his read- ers are educated but does not assume anything like an advanced degree in Islamic studies. Violence in the Name of God: The Militant Jihadist Response to Modernity by Joel Hodge, Bloomsbury Academic, 2020. Professor Tracey Rowland teaches at the University of Notre Dame Australia and is a member of the Interna- tional Theological Commis- sion. Tracey Rowland relevant, will include frequent quotations from the work of St John Paul II as well as refer- ences from Scripture. While Habits for a Healthy Marriage is fitting for mar- riage preparation, those who are married also will benefit from Fitzgibbons’ work. The topics he addresses can arise in healthy marriages and the recommendations he offers can be helpful no matter how long one has been married. For example, in the chapter titled ‘Generosity conquers selfishness’, he suggests ex- pressing love and affection through words and deeds, setting aside time to talk and praying together. Anyone concerned about healthy marriages – their own or others’ – will benefit from Habits for a Healthy Marriage no matter how much or how little one reads. However, a word of advice to both the engaged and mar- ried: Keep a bookmark and highlighter nearby. There is bound to be some- thing you will want your in- tended or spouse to read, too. - CNS Habits for a Healthy Marriage: A Handbook for Catholic Cou- ples by Richard Fitzgibbons, M.D. Ignatius Press. 280 pp. BOOK COVER: CNS A demonstrator burns a cross during a protest in the Badami Bagh area of Lahore, Pakistan, in 2013. PHOTO: CNS,ADREES HASSAIN, REUTERS