Making Meaning by Making Enemies: 

Tribes, Mimetic Rivals, & Gospel Peace

With John Houmes and Brad Edwards

Why do we need enemies to feel like we belong? 

In this conversation, John and Brad unpack Trevin Wax's article "When the Tribe Eats the Church" through the lens of René Girard's scapegoat mechanism—revealing why communities (left and right) use the same tribal pattern to maintain unity.

From mimetic desire to mythological justification, from McCarthyism to cancel culture, we're watching the same mechanism play out in real-time: communities make meaning by making enemies.

But the Resurrection changes everything.

🎯 What You'll Hear

• How expressive individualism evolved into tribalism

• Girard's mimetic desire: we learn what to want by imitating others

• The scapegoat mechanism: communities uniting through accusation and expulsion

• McCarthyism vs. cancel culture—same pattern, different tribes

• Why mythology hides the violence of persecution

• How Christ's resurrection vindicated the innocent victim

• Why double imputation means Christians don't need another scapegoat

• What the church must offer: belonging rooted in worship, not enemies

• How gathered worship reorders our tribal identity

💡 KEY QUOTES

BRAD EDWARDS:

"We don't know how to exist, how to make sense of the world and make meaning without an enemy. That is an incredible enslavement that we have willingly walked into."

JOHN HOUMES:

"We're living in a story that's way too small. Jesus is victorious over our  deepest enemy—sin, death, and the devil. He rises from the dead in victory."

📚 RESOURCES

Trevin Wax, "When the Tribe Eats the Church" (Gospel Coalition, April 9, 2026)

René Girard, I See Satan Fall Like Lightning

Luke Burgis, Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life

Eugene Peterson, The Pastor

Michelle Margolis, From Politics to the Pews

#Tribalism #Polarization #ScapegoatMechanism #RenéGirard #TrevinWax #Gospel #Church #Belonging #Identity #Discipleship #PostEverything

Chapters

00:00 🎯INTRO

01:17 🏘️Trevin Wax: When Tribe Eats Church

01:44 👤What Are Tribes? Examples Everywhere

03:32 🎭Tribalism's New Function: Making Meaning

05:47 📱Eugene Peterson: Digital Ecstasy

07:30 🚫Escape Isn't Transcendence

08:51 👎Making Meaning by Making Enemies

09:15 🤖Algorithms Designed to Deliver Enemies

10:17 🏛️Digital Disembodies Everything

11:41 🐴Horseshoe Theory: Same Battlefield

14:16 💔Church Planting on Enemy Opposition

16:36 🔄Echo Chambers Refuse New Ideas

19:45 ❌Tribal Concerns Become Gospel Tests

24:24 🗳️Politics Replaced Religion as Primary

27:34 🔍Introducing René Girard

29:41 🧠Mimetic Desire: We Learn Wanting

30:52 🏆Mimetic Rivalry: Victory Over Object

34:13 🎪Scapegoat Mechanism Brings Peace

37:11 📖Mythology Justifies the Perpetrators

38:20 ☮️McCarthyism and Cancel Culture Parallel

42:30 ✝️Gospel Uniquely Sides With Victim

43:10 🙏Resurrection Breaks the Mechanism

43:55 💫Double Imputation Means No Scapegoats

45:52 📜Stories Too Small, Jeremiah Example

57:25 🤝Church: Thick Belonging, Gospel Posture