Exorcism

In the biblical material the motif of exorcism—expelling an unwanted spiritual entity from a person or place—is dominated by stories related to Jesus. Of all the activities associated with Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels exorcism appears to be the single activity that took the greatest amount of his time. Indeed, we know of no historical or literary figure in antiquity who is said to have conducted so many exorcisms. (It is not immediately clear why the Gospel of John does not mention exorcism.) Uniquely, Jesus appears to have taken his exorcisms not as signs, proof, or evidence of the expected Kingdom of God but, along with other healings, as its realization. In a range of approaches in the period there were exorcisms thought to depend entirely on the charismatic force of the exorcist. On the other hand, there were exorcisms in which the words uttered, or activities carried out, were considered determinative of success. Although these so-called magical or incantational exorcisms did not always need an exorcist, but could be performed by anyone, there were highly regarded professional, often peripatetic, practitioners whose identity can only be inferred from the texts. The sheer volume and the chronological and geographical range of data suggests magical or incantational exorcism was the most common approach to exorcism around the time of Jesus. Within this range there were approaches in which both the identity of the exorcist as well as what was said and done were important. For example, in one of the Dead Sea Scrolls Pharaoh is said to ask Abram, the key character in the story, to “pray for [him] and [his] house that this evil spirit may be exorcised from [them].” Abram heals Pharaoh by “prayer but also by the laying of his hands” on Pharaoh’s head (1Q20.20). As an exorcist Jesus appeared to depend on his own personal force. When questioned, however, he said that he depended not on Satan as accused, but on the Spirit. Also, all his exorcistic commands have parallels in the literature in which the words are considered operative or performative. His followers used the same method, though their power-authority—Jesus, not the Spirit—was obvious. This article concentrates on exorcism in the New Testament, though it also takes into consideration traditions before and after, along with the concomitant fields of demonology and possession that are important in interpreting exorcism in these texts. From the great amount of literature available, priority is given to representative and more recent publications, as well as to a few classic studies.