I Am Not a Greek

Situated opposite Galilee, the “earth” of the Gerasenes marks the site of God’s first tactical strike against Greco-Roman assimilation in Luke.

The Greco-Roman rulers who possess and enslave the land impose violence and havoc, sowing death where God’s many flocks were meant to roam freely, without interference.

Like the abusers in Jerusalem, the occupying forces in Decapolis do not want to live and let live. They seek to assimilate, to convert, to impose, to kill—to force others to become like them, “twice as much the sons of Hell as themselves.”

Sure, they may be interested in learning something from those they conquer, but ultimately, everything must be “melted down” and absorbed into something of their own making. It’s called a “god complex:”

“…the logic of American liberalism is a barely warmed-over Hellenism. The world-embracing, universe-striding Hellenic ideology under Alexander was an assimilationist one. In the Alexandrian ideology, it doesn’t matter what tribe your parents are from, what your lineage is, or in what area of the world you were born. If you speak Greek, eat like a Greek, dress like a Greek, walk like a Greek, shit like a Greek, think like a Greek—then you’re a Greek. It’s exceptionally difficult for an American to consider this ideology and not think of the ‘melting pot’”
(Matthew Franklin Cooper, And the Lamb Will Conquer)

They do not submit to God, who made the heavens and the earth. They do not accept what was made, as it has been made, by his making. His name alone be praised!

Unlike every other revolution in human history, the socio-political rebellion of the biblical tradition—be ye not deceived, O man, it is indeed a political rebellion, though it is not about starting something new, it is a reversion—to accept the Bible is to revert to God as your King, your religion, your tribe, your city, and your homeland.

To return to his land is to return not to what we build, create, perceive, synthesize, or formulate through our ideolocial or theological assimilations, but to what God himself provided in the beginning: an open field where all living creatures coexist in his care.

This week, I discuss Luke 8:27.

Show Notes

δαιμόνιον (daimonion) / ש–י–ד (shin–yod–dalet) / ث–د–ي (thā–dāl–yāʼ)

Demon, other deity, or god. From the root שדד (shadad), which means “to deal violently, despoil, or devastate.” Klein notes that the Arabic ثَدْي (thady), “breast,” reinforces his observation that שֹׁד (shōd) and שַׁד (shad) are two forms of the same biblical root meaning “breast.” In consideration of this link, and the fact that the original text is unpointed, it is difficult to ignore the consonantal link between chaos, havoc, militarism, and the function “demon,” vis-à-vis the field, and violence against the land, since the land is inherently matriarchal:

• שָׂדָאוּת (sadā’ut) is a feminine noun meaning “military fieldcraft,” derived from שָׂדֶה (sadeh), meaning “field.”

• Note that שֵׁדָה (shedah), female demon, and שָׂדֶה (sadeh), field or open land, are indistinguishable in the unpointed text.

This intersection is intentional. Consider a related sub-function associated with δαιμόνιον in Luke:

• שׁדד (shin-dalet-dalet) and שׂדד (sin-dalet-dalet)
  • שׁדד (shadad) to devastate, despoil, or destroy, referring to violence or judgment.
  • שׂדד (sadad) to plow or harrow, referring to agricultural activity.

In Semitic languages, the function “demon” likely