The Overarching Theme of the Bible

 What is the central or overarching theme of the Bible? 

The phrase “the scarlet thread of redemption”—was first coined by W. A. Criswell, a renowned Southern Baptist preacher, to express the overarching theme of redemption running through the Bible. He popularized this vivid metaphor in a sermon titled "The Scarlet Thread of Redemption," in which he traced this motif through key biblical narratives—from the skins used to clothe Adam and Eve after the Fall, through Abel’s offering, the ram caught in the thicket, Rahab’s scarlet cord, the Passover lamb, and numerous sacrifices, culminating in the once-for-all atoning work of Christ. 

René Girard adopted the phrase Sacred Violence to summarize his conception of the arc of Scripture. He viewed the Bible as a progressive revelation that exposes and critiques the mechanism of “sacred violence”—humanity’s tendency to create peace and unity by channeling collective aggression onto a scapegoat. Bloodshed is not divinely willed but the product of human rivalry, fear, and the sacrificial system. The Bible unmasks the lie behind sacrifice. While myths hide the victim’s innocence, the Bible increasingly reveals it (e.g., Abel, Joseph, Job, Jesus). For Girard, the sacrifice, including the crucifixion, is not God demanding blood but God revealing and ending the sacrificial system by showing the innocence of the victim and breaking the cycle of mimetic violence.

A substantial and diverse group of scholars, theologians, and political thinkers explicitly read the Bible as a sustained critique of state power and its claims to legitimacy. This view appears across biblical studies, political theology, anthropology, and ethics. It does not rule out the above views, but reflects a different vantage point. These scholars focus on the biblical narrators depiction of the ongoing struggle of the patriarchs to avoid being subjugated by state control, the struggle of the tribal leaders against Moses to retain control over the twelve tribes, the resistance to the constant pull towards nationalism as outlined in I Samuel 8, the support of the critique of the state as found in Jeremiah 35 and laid out in passages such as Isaiah 10, Micah 3 and the book of Amos, exposing the overreach of Ahab in I Kings 21 and their overall message of the prophets attempting to reign in the power of the Kings. 

I would summarize the view of the scholars above as "Domination". I propose the central theme of the Bible to be that of humanities  distorted view of Biblical domination as stated in Genesis1:26 - 28. These verses offer YAHWAH's stated view that the primary purpose for Him creating  humans being is that we might have dominion over His creation. This stewardship over His creation is in stark contrast to that of other worldwide creation myths that state humanities primary purpose is slavery to the Gods. The Bible exposes these "Gods" as in Genesis six as nothing more than humans that have exalted themselves above their fellow human beings. 

The Bible continues this critique through Genesis, culminating in a concrete example of how empires enslave their own in the story of Joseph's rise in Egypt. This story culminates with the slavery of Joseph's own people by the Egyptians', their escape and subsequent power struggle between Moses and the Tribal leaders in the rest of the Pentateuch, the conquest of Canaan in Joshua, the failure of Moses' form of government in Judges, and the people's turn to Kingship in Samuel - the captivity, the power struggles with the "People of the land" upon their return in Nehemiah and Ezra, and their own struggle against dominion through the rest of the Bible to the book of Revelation.  

One thing René Girard does well is illuminate how the Bible exposes the basic mechanism of desire to gain mastery and power over others. Genesis three not only serves as an expose of the transition from foraging  communities to agricultural ones, but also presents a template for how sacred violence works.  We are going to explore Girard's template in the next few posts. The first picture below offers the most basic form of the template using Biblical language. The second picture offers Girard's Template of Acquisitive Desire. The triad of Agape, Faith and Love in the first picture corresponds respectively to Girard's Model, Subject and Object in his basic template. Desire is defined by Girard as what one believes is require to obtain being, identity, uniqueness, individuality, autonomy, possessions, power, etc.. Desire consists of an urge to acquire something which one thinks others have, and upon obtaining it, will bring fulfillment.

Human desire is not autonomous. We do not desire objects directly; rather, we desire them because someone else desires them. This gives desire its triangular structure. Desire can be external or internal. 

External desire occurs when the model is clearly distant, superior, or unreachable—socially, metaphysically, or ontologically. That is, the model is not a direct rival. For this reason imitation does not lead to conflict, desire remains ordered and stable and the object is not contested in practice. External mediation tends to channel desire upward, stabilize hierarchies, reduce rivalry and violence and allow admiration without resentment. In traditional societies, gods, ancestors, saints, or kings often functioned as external mediators, keeping desire from collapsing into conflict. This form of desire is primarily healthy.

Internal desire (Picture three) occurs when the model is close enough to become a competitor—a peer, neighbor, sibling, colleague, or rival. With internal desire, the "model" becomes an obstacle (in other words, the subject wants to rise to the role of the model in order to replace it- see picture). Desire intensifies as rivalry grows. The object becomes secondary to outdoing the model, often to the point of the subjecting forgetting about the original desire altogether. Envy, resentment, and hatred emerge, focused on the model even to the point of wanting to eliminate it. Examples of internal desire are siblings competing for parental approval, colleagues vying for the same promotion, romantic rivalry over the same person, social media–driven comparison and imitation. 

Internal desire leads to: escalating rivalry, mimetic "contagion" (remember the discussion on plagues in the Book of Numbers) leading to violence or scapegoating, and breakdown of differences. Ironically, as rivals imitate one another more closely, they become increasingly alike, even as they believe themselves to be opposites.

The fourth picture illustrates Adam's and Eve's original state in the Garden. They were in a healthy relationship with God. God serves as an external model - He is the source of all life and, in their estimation, is worthy of Adam’s & Eve’s Infatuation and Awe. Their desire was serving God by tending the Garden. God’s Essence and Being is demonstrated in the bountiful provisions He set forth for Adam & Eve and His in his ability to separate and make distinctions, (discernment). All Adam and Eve have to do to participate in this relationship, which is the model for all healthy relationships, is to be fruitful and multiply. 

In the next post we will explore more how this template reveals more about our relationship with God and how to deepen and sustain it.