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A Dalithos Reading of a Markan Exorcism: Mark 5:1—20

University of Kent at Canterbury

An attempt is made to read the story of the Gerasene Demoniac (Mark 5 :1—20) using Dalithos , or the ethos of the Dalit community, as a hermeneutical premise. Taking into consideration the subversive role of `possession' as an accepted form of protest among the Dalit communities in their highly constrained life situation, where other social mechanisms of coping with oppression are few, employing Dalithos as a hermeneutical category helps engage in a liberative appropriation of the passage for the Dalits. Certain salient features of Dalithos — pragmatism, the primacy of community and solidarity, and emancipatory re - mythologization — are used as parameters in appropriating the story for the Dalit context.

Key Words: Dalithos hermeneutics • caste system • praxis • possession • cultural- critical interpretation • Dalits

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