Literature Review #5

 Citation:

BRIAN P. LEVACK. The Devil Within: Possession and Exorcism in the Christian West. Yale 

University Press, 2013.

Summary:

This book talks about the history of possession and exorcism in the western world, with a focus on Christianity. The book talks about the major influence of religious texts such as the New Testament and talks about how cases of possession spoken about in these texts influenced and led to the beliefs in demonic possession. It also talks about the symptoms possessed individuals showed.

Author:

Brian Levack is an American historian and is currently working in the History Department of the University of Texas and is the John E. Green Regents Professor in History.

Key Terms:

Christianity, possession, exorcism

Three Quotes:

"possessed by a mute and deaf spirit which threw him to the ground, sent him into convulsions, made his body rigid, and caused him to foam at the mouth and grind his teeth."(Brian, 37)

"had such an emotional impact on the young Augustinian monk Martin Luther that he reportedly became possessed himself, falling into a fit, dropping to the ground and exclaiming in an animal-like voice, ‘It isn't me; It isn’t me.'"(Brian, 32)

"temporary loss of hearing, sight, and speech, [vomiting] huge quantities of pins, nails, and other materials, [speaking] in deep animal-sounding voices, [suffering from] various eating disorders, and [engaging] in self-mutation."(Brian, 1)

Value:

This book is very helpful for my research as it provides the history of possession and how these beliefs came to be. It talks in detail about cases of possession and exorcisms in the Bible had such a great influence on one individual that it even caused him to believe he himself was possessed. The historical contents of the book help provide the groundwork of my research and provide an explanation of how possessions originated and how they were dealt with during history. The book also provides great explanations of symptoms of possessed individuals, which help me connect these symptoms to possible mental illness. It also talks about the cases of possessed individuals in the Bible and how Jesus performed exorcisms on them and miraculously healed them. His exorcisms on them had greatly fueled the demonization of people who were mentally ill and these people were then believed to be possessed by demons. This is very helpful in providing an explanation behind possession and how they could truly only have been the result of mental illness.