Introduction

This chapter is an attempt to re-read Mark 7:24–30 in the light of issues of gender, race and hybridity. These issues are crucial in Mark as a number of Markan passages besides 7:24–30 address these issues. In the first part of the chapter these issues will be defined. The place of women, racial scars and questions of hybridity in Mark will be evaluated. The question of how Mark treated issues of gender in his milieu will be discussed here. A discussion of the major insights which have emerged from both the traditional interpretations and Indian interpretations will be presented. Finally, Mark 7:24–30 will be interpreted from a postcolonial perspective. All these discussions will be framed by a postcolonial reading of 7:24–30 dealing with the issues of race, gender and hybridity/pluralism.

There may be many reasons why the marginalization of women and the subalterns took place in the textual presentation of the Markan story of Jesus. It is believed that an alternative reading from the perspective of the people of the margins will equip readers to understand the inner dynamics of the text. In the present postcolonial context, the search for these issues in the text or a re-reading of the text in the light of these issues will be a significant reading discourse.

Gender, Race and Hybridity Concerns in Mark

Defining Gender, Race and Hybridity

Racial concerns are connected with the notion of domination and imperialism. Thus it may be necessary to reconstruct history to search for definitions.