Is there a necessary link between religion and violence? Robert Hamerton-Kelly uses the hermeneutic of Rene Girard to frame a creative description of Paul's understanding of the death of Jesus, of sin, of Judaism, of the Law of Moses, of eros and agape. The result is a startling new statement on Paul and on the dynamics of sacred violence. Included are a summary of Girard's hermeneutic and of some major critiques of it.