Demonic Possession: A Political Exegesis

Selection(s) from The Gospel According to Mark

!replace King James Version w/ Oxford English

!Quote full passage

!Quote the full text of The Pigs who Ran Straightaway into the Water and their Glorious Triumph

!Exegesis on such passages. In particular, discuss the unease of the demons,

!Discuss the harm caused by the demons on the man & the strength of the man. Compare to relevant passage in Madness and Civilization

!Discuss the relationship between the demons, the man, the community, and the prophet

!

“And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. 

“And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.

“But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him, And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not. For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.

“And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many. And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country.”

The Gospel According to Mark 5:2-10

King James Version