“What is Your Name?”: Names Comparatively Compelled in Christian and Buddhist Texts

Abstract

This paper addresses a significant lacuna in comparative theological studies by reading Christian and Buddhist texts which feature empowered names through the political hermeneutical lens of Louis Althusser’s interpellation theory. While this theory has typically been used to understand how hegemonic systems subjectify individuals, this paper illustrates how interpellation also provides a compelling way to account for the dynamics of manipulation in texts where names and naming are used to compel certain behavior. Specifically, the paper examines the exorcistic battle between Legion and Jesus in Mark 5 and a tenth-century collection of spells featuring the Buddhist deity Bhṛkuṭī. The paper analyzes each document in light of both Althusser’s theory and the other text in order to show why and how onomastic obtainment plays such a powerful role: how obtaining and wielding another’s name effectively interpellates the other, securing that figure (that is, Legion, Bhṛkuṭī) within an ideology of relative weakness vis-à-vis the speaker. Through this comparative analysis, this article identifies both the artifacts’ commonalities with respect to interpellation, as well as the unique aspects of their respective presentations. In so doing, this comparative discussion underscores complementary, yet divergent, ways ancient texts demonstrate Althusser’s modern theory.