René Girard (1923–2015) was a French philosopher and the creator of an original, comprehensive theory on the origins of religion and culture. He gained fame with his book "Violence and the Sacred" (1972), but it was in "The Scapegoat" (1982) that Girard's theory was fully realized.

Using texts about medieval persecutions of Jews as an example, Girard introduces the concept of "persecution texts"—texts written by the persecutors themselves that, against their will, reveal the truth about the innocence of the victim. Girard demonstrates that all the mythologies of the world are such texts.

Girard's main thesis, which initially caused a wave of outrage in the intellectual world and later gained many supporters, is that people learned to decipher these texts only through the Gospel Revelation. According to Girard, the liberating and simultaneously destructive effect of this revelation continues to this day, and this book serves as one of its instruments.

The translation by Grigory Dashevsky was awarded the Maurice Waxmacher Prize (2010).