tag:theconversation.com,2011:/es/topics/exorcism-26668/articles
Exorcism – The Conversation
2024-03-01T13:33:52Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/218992
2024-03-01T13:33:52Z
2024-03-01T13:33:52Z
The tools in a medieval Japanese healer’s toolkit: from fortunetelling and exorcism to herbal medicines
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578362/original/file-20240227-20-ng0qz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C979%2C466&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An 'onmyoji,' an expert on yin and yang, performs divination with counting rods in an Edo-period illustration.
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tamamonomae_Onmyoji.jpg">Kyoto University Library/Wikimedia</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>“The Tale of Genji,” often called <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/530271/the-tale-of-genji-by-murasaki-shikibu/">Japan’s first novel</a>, was written 1,000 years ago. Yet it still occupies a powerful place in the Japanese imagination. A popular TV drama, “Dear Radiance” – “<a href="https://www.nhk.jp/p/hikarukimie/ts/1YM111N6KW/">Hikaru kimi e</a>” – is based on the life of its author, Murasaki Shikibu: the lady-in-waiting whose experiences at court inspired the refined world of “Genji.”</p>
<p>Romantic relationships, poetry and political intrigue provide most of the novel’s action. Yet illness plays an important role in several crucial moments, most famously when one of the main character’s lovers, Yūgao, <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/66057/pg66057-images.html#page_92">falls ill and passes away</a>, killed by what appears to be a powerful spirit – as later happens <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/66057/pg66057-images.html#page_250">to his wife, Aoi</a>, as well.</p>
<p>Someone reading “The Tale of Genji” at the time it was written would have found this realistic – as would some people in different cultures around the world today. Records from early medieval Japan document numerous descriptions <a href="https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/doi/10.7916/d8-46cs-wq63">of spirit possession</a>, usually blamed on spirits of the dead. As has been true in many times and places, physical and spiritual health were seen as intertwined.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://ealc.wustl.edu/people/alessandro-poletto">a historian of premodern Japan</a>, I’ve studied the processes its healing experts used to deal with possessions, and illness generally. Both literature and historical records demonstrate that the boundaries between what are often called “religion” and “medicine” were indistinct, if they existed at all.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578356/original/file-20240227-28-gqyl6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An intricate illustration of a ceremony attended by people in robes, with the background covered in a golden color." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578356/original/file-20240227-28-gqyl6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578356/original/file-20240227-28-gqyl6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578356/original/file-20240227-28-gqyl6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578356/original/file-20240227-28-gqyl6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578356/original/file-20240227-28-gqyl6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578356/original/file-20240227-28-gqyl6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578356/original/file-20240227-28-gqyl6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A 17th-century scroll, ‘Maboroshi no Genji monogatari emaki,’ showing the funeral of Genji’s wife, Aoi.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/leaves-of-wild-ginger-from-the-phantom-genji-scrolls-mid-news-photo/1206222207?adppopup=true">Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Vanquishing spirits</h2>
<p>The government department in charge of divination, the Bureau of Yin and Yang, established in the late seventh century, played a crucial role. Its technicians, known as <a href="https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/journal/6/issue/186">onmyōji</a> – yin and yang masters – were in charge of divination and fortunetelling. They were also responsible for observing the skies, interpreting omens, calendrical calculations, timekeeping and eventually a variety of rituals.</p>
<p>Today, onmyōji appear as wizardlike figures in <a href="https://books.bunshun.jp/sp/onmyoji">novels</a>, <a href="https://www.viz.com/twin-star-exorcists">manga</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEiZuDTEq6A">anime</a> and <a href="https://en.onmyojigame.com/">video games</a>. Though heavily fictionalized, there is a historical kernel of truth in these fantastical depictions.</p>
<p>Starting from around the 10th century, Onmyōji were charged with carrying out iatromancy: divining the cause of a disease. Generally, they distinguished between disease caused by external or internal factors, though boundaries between the categories were often blurred. External factors could include local deities known as “kami,” other kami-like entities the patient had upset, minor Buddhist deities or malicious spirits – often revengeful ghosts. </p>
<p>In the case of spirit-induced illness, Buddhist monks would work to winnow out the culprit. Monks who specialized in exorcistic practices were known as “genja” and were believed to know how to <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/300922/the-pillow-book-by-sei-shonagon">expel the spirit from a patient’s body</a> through powerful incantations. Genja would then transfer it onto another person and force the spirit to reveal its identity before vanquishing it.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578368/original/file-20240227-26-dx583p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A faded picture of a broom, branch with a few leaves, and a fan, as well as Japanese script on top of it." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578368/original/file-20240227-26-dx583p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578368/original/file-20240227-26-dx583p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=665&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578368/original/file-20240227-26-dx583p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=665&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578368/original/file-20240227-26-dx583p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=665&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578368/original/file-20240227-26-dx583p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=836&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578368/original/file-20240227-26-dx583p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=836&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578368/original/file-20240227-26-dx583p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=836&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A 19th century print by Kubo Shunman shows objects representing the New Year’s ceremony of exorcising demons.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/objects-representing-the-ceremony-of-exorcising-demons-one-news-photo/1338629689?adppopup=true">Heritage Images/Hulton Archive via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Court physicians</h2>
<p>While less common than spirit possessions, the idea that physical factors could also cause illness appears in sources from this period. </p>
<p>Since the late seventh century, the government of the Japanese archipelago had established a bureau in charge of the well-being of aristocratic families and high-ranking members of the state bureaucracy. This <a href="https://rekihaku.repo.nii.ac.jp/records/2657">Bureau of Medications</a>, the Ten’yakuryō, was based on similar systems in China’s Tang dynasty, <a href="https://search.worldcat.org/title/3414658">which Japanese officials</a> adapted for their own culture.</p>
<p>The bureau’s members, whom scholars today often call “court physicians” in English, created medicinal concoctions. But the bureau also included technicians tasked with using spells, perhaps to protect high-ranking people from maladies.</p>
<h2>Not either/or</h2>
<p>Some scholars, both Japanese and non-Japanese, compare the practices of members of the Bureau of Medications with what is now called “traditional Chinese medicine,” or just “medicine.” They typically consider the onmyōji and Buddhist monks, meanwhile, to fall under the label of “religion” – or perhaps, <a href="https://search.worldcat.org/title/7306973">in the case of onmyōji, “magic</a>.”</p>
<p>But I have found numerous signs that these categories do not help people today make sense of early medieval Japan.</p>
<p>Starting in the seventh century, as a centralized Japanese state began to take shape, Buddhist monks from the Korean Peninsula and present-day China brought healing practices to Japan. These techniques, such as herbalism – treatments made of plants – later became associated with court physicians. At the same time, though, monks also employed <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.980">healing practices rooted in Buddhist rituals</a>. Clearly, <a href="https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/doi/10.7916/d8-46cs-wq63">the distinction between ritual and physical healing</a> was not part of their mindset.</p>
<p>Similarly, with court physicians, it is true that sources from this period mostly show them <a href="https://rekihaku.repo.nii.ac.jp/records/2657">practicing herbalism</a>. Later on, they incorporated simple needle surgeries and moxibustion, which involves burning a substance derived from dried leaves from the mugwort plant near the patient’s skin.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578349/original/file-20240227-28-9evlnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A drawing showing the outline of the human body from behind and in front, with one arm outstretched, and Chinese characters written on it." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578349/original/file-20240227-28-9evlnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578349/original/file-20240227-28-9evlnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578349/original/file-20240227-28-9evlnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578349/original/file-20240227-28-9evlnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578349/original/file-20240227-28-9evlnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578349/original/file-20240227-28-9evlnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578349/original/file-20240227-28-9evlnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">An 18th-century engraving identifying parts of the body treated by moxibustion.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/engraving-of-the-meridian-points-on-the-human-body-which-news-photo/90731089?adppopup=true">Science & Society Picture Library via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>However, they also incorporated ritual elements from various Chinese traditions: spells, divination, fortunetelling and hemerology, the practice of identifying auspicious and inauspicious days for specific events. For example, moxibustion was supposed to be avoided on certain days because of the position of a deity, <a href="https://cir.nii.ac.jp/crid/1520853832664346880">known as “jinshin</a>,” believed to reside and move inside the human body. Practicing moxibustion on the body part where “jinshin” resided in a specific moment could kill it, therefore potentially harming the patient. </p>
<p>Court physicians were also expected to ritually “rent” a place for a pregnant woman to deliver, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12110907">producing talismans</a> written in red ink that were meant to function as “leases” for the birthing area. This was done in order to keep away deities who might otherwise enter that space, possibly because childbirth was believed to be a source of defilement. They also used hemerology to determine where the birthing bed should be placed.</p>
<p>In short, these healing experts straddled the boundaries between what are often called “religion” and “medicine.” We take for granted the categories that shape our understanding of the world around us, but they are the result of complex historical processes – and look different in every time and place.</p>
<p>Reading works like “The Tale of Genji” is not only a way to immerse ourselves in the world of a medieval court, one where spirits roam freely, but a chance to see other ways of sorting human experience at work.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218992/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alessandro Poletto does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
In medieval Japan, healing might mean taking medicine, undergoing an exorcism or sidestepping harm in the first place by avoiding inauspicious days.
Alessandro Poletto, Lecturer in East Asian Religions, Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/215124
2023-10-09T12:21:14Z
2023-10-09T12:21:14Z
The Exorcist Believer: a real priest on why the film is ‘potentially dangerous’
<p><em>Warning: this review contains some spoilers for The Exorcist: Believer.</em></p>
<p>Nobody who watches <a href="https://www.theexorcistbeliever.movie">The Exorcist: Believer</a> could claim that they didn’t get what they expected when they bought their ticket. </p>
<p>Two children experiment with the occult and inadvertently open the door to demonic forces that rapidly overwhelm them. They disappear for several days, and when they are eventually found, they display erratic behaviour that rapidly escalates into uncontrollable violence. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_ToyzNC1pis?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The Exorcist: Believer trailer.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Their parents seek to discover the cause and reluctantly conclude that the answer lies in something supernatural and evil. They all struggle to reconcile what they are experiencing with their various worldviews, before eventually calling in the service of spiritual experts to perform an exorcism. As the events play out, there is a liberal splattering of gore, with the obligatory twisting heads and spewing of foul liquids.</p>
<h2>The power of unity</h2>
<p>It is striking that these elements mirror what was presented to audiences in the 1970s with <a href="https://www.bbfc.co.uk/education/case-studies/exorcist">the first Exorcist film</a>. Even the central theme of “belief” is nothing new. A priest undergoing a crisis of faith is the central protagonist of <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/327714/the-exorcist-by-blatty-william-peter/9780552166775">William Blatty’s original Exorcist novel</a>. </p>
<p>There are some aspects of The Exorcist: Believer that do reflect its 21st-century context, however. The team of exorcists who battle the demon are drawn from a variety of religious backgrounds and act together in a common cause. The message is that these believers have much more that unites than divides them. </p>
<p>Haitian spiritual practices and African-American root doctor traditions are presented as aligned with light, rather than darkness. This is extremely welcome. Given the amount of media that treats black and indigenous religion as sinister and even demonic, this positive portrayal is a commendable choice. </p>
<p>Equally, the decision to have Christian characters of various denominations stand alongside one another, as well as the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/hoodoo-in-st-louis-an-african-american-religious-tradition.htm">traditional African American healer</a> character, makes a powerful statement about community and togetherness.</p>
<p>But this homogenising approach is also problematic. The film asserts that exorcism exists in every culture and suggests that all people engaged in it are effectively doing the same thing. In reality, this is an oversimplification – with some potentially dangerous implications.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-exorcist-at-50-a-terrifying-film-that-symbolises-the-decline-of-americas-faith-and-optimism-212039">The Exorcist at 50: a terrifying film that symbolises the decline of America's faith and optimism</a>
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</em>
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<h2>And the dangers</h2>
<p>The term “exorcism” can be appropriately used to describe rituals from many global traditions, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-law-in-context/article/exorcism-and-children-balancing-protection-and-autonomy-in-the-legal-framework/BE26F1BC2394D4F76BF02BF88A769D73">if it is defined as</a> a practice that aims to free a person, place or object from a negative spiritual influence.</p>
<p>However, this very general category contains hugely diverse ideas. There is immense breadth in both underpinning belief systems (which span almost all forms of spirituality, including Roman Catholicism, Pentecostalism, Islam, Wicca and Hinduism) and also the means used to expel the malevolent spirit. </p>
<p>These distinctions matter. Especially when it comes to weighing up the balance between autonomy and protecting the person in real-life exorcisms.</p>
<p>Any legal framework that respects democratic and human rights supports freedom of belief and cultural diversity. But it must also protect those not fully able to advocate for themselves. This means decisions have to be made about when to permit exorcism rituals involving children and adults suffering from mental illness or impaired capacity. </p>
<p>When making these decisions, both the nature of the exorcism rite and the beliefs surrounding it are critical.</p>
<p>Some cultures see possession as an unlucky accident that can happen to anyone. Whereas others regard it as the result of either some deliberate act of wrongdoing or inherent flaw in the character – or even soul – of the supposedly possessed person. </p>
<p>Some faith traditions consider afflicted people dangerous, leading them to be shunned or even <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/03/01/she-was-demonized-nicaraguan-woman-dies-after-being-thrown-into-fire-in-exorcism-ritual/">attacked</a>. In such circumstances, cooperating with a proposed exorcism ritual may be a person’s only option for reintegration within their community.</p>
<p>Also, some traditions believe that an evil entity is capable of hijacking a human body, suppressing the will of the host. In these circumstances, any resistance to the exorcism may be understood as coming from the spirit, rather than the person, and therefore ignored. </p>
<p>On the other hand, if the victim of possession is thought to retain some residual will, then any reluctance to participate in exorcism may be treated as evidence of a desire to choose evil.</p>
<p>It is also important to appreciate that modes of exorcism vary enormously – from quietly spoken prayers to violent assaults. Dangerous or abusive practices may also be employed. People may be encouraged – or forced – to ingest substances that are either harmful or risky because of the dose or manner of administration. </p>
<p>There have been exorcism-related deaths caused by salt poisoning, dry-drowning from <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna31337466">water</a> and even a near-fatal dose of <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-61651857">intravenous drugs</a>.</p>
<p>Taking all of this into account, conveying the message that exorcism is an essentially positive and universal practice shared by many cultures, is potentially dangerous. </p>
<p>Of course, cinema-goers are capable of distinguishing between fact and fiction and nobody would suggest that the Exorcist films should be treated as documentaries. But pop culture does influence people’s perceptions.</p>
<p>Public authorities do not always fully understand the beliefs and practices of minority groups, and this can cause problems. They may incorrectly perceive a situation to be risky and intervene when it’s unnecessary. Alternatively, a vulnerable person may be left without help because police or social workers misguidedly construe harmful practices as acceptable due to the cultural context.</p>
<p>These kinds of mistakes have contributed to preventable exorcism-related deaths, including <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7c5edeed915d696ccfc51b/5730.pdf">those of children</a>. The Excorcist: Believer’s treatment of exorcism as a simple and benign phenomenon spanning cultural and religious divides isn’t accurate, or even desirable – even in the context of a horror film.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen Hall is a priest in the Church of England</span></em></p>
There is a liberal splattering of gore, with the obligatory twisting heads and spewing of foul liquids.
Helen Hall, Senior Lecturer, Nottingham Law School, Nottingham Trent University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/213013
2023-09-08T11:39:37Z
2023-09-08T11:39:37Z
The Nun II successfully subverts the classic exorcism movie – a priest explains how
<p><em>Warning: contains minor spoilers for The Nun II.</em></p>
<p><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10160976/">The Nun II</a> is an arresting piece of storytelling which satisfies and subverts audience expectations in equal measure. On one level, it is an extremely watchable piece of action horror, comfortably divorced from reality. The demon <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwAM5UnGd2s">from the previous film</a> has resurfaced and is now stalking a group of thoroughly-likeable characters in a French boarding school. </p>
<p>Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga), the eponymous nun who previously defeated the demon, has been called in once again by the church authorities. She is assisted by Sister Debra (Storm Reid), a novice who doubts her own faith. This premise makes for a classic battle between good and evil. And there’s a steady stream of scares as the tension builds, before exploding into a jump-out-of-your seat moment.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The trailer for The Nun II.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Those familiar with the real Catholic church will recognise that exorcisms, the sacraments, saints, holy relics and the respective roles of nuns and priests are not depicted with realism in The Nun II. And there is a casual side-stepping of the all-too-real gender constraints of the mid-20th century. </p>
<p>However, the Nun II does bring a refreshingly feminist gloss to well-worn tropes within exorcism fiction, shattering assumptions about who should be the victim and who should be the rescuer.</p>
<h2>Subverting the demonic</h2>
<p>In popular culture, the stereotypical possessed person is female and, frequently, a child. The seismic impact of the character of <a href="https://ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/kino/article/download/6257/5019">Regan in The Exorcist</a> (1973) is undeniably one factor in this. But the idea has deep and ancient roots. </p>
<p><a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=XbdOjWEIF4wC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=levack+and+possession&ots=Rbd56nJnNp&sig=Pi-KfsVrgy1-mtFYkBGpoHJjiW">Research has demonstrated</a> that possession and demonic attacks <a href="https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1804&context=wlulr">tend to be associated with women and girls</a>, both in historical and contemporary Christian cultures. There are a variety of reasons for this.</p>
<p>In the middle ages and early modern era, women were seen as more carnal, less spiritual and weaker than men in both moral and intellectual terms. It was believed that this rendered them <a href="https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/iatl/reinvention/archive/volume6issue1/oleary/">easier pickings for the devil</a>. This thinking tied in with the biblical narrative that the serpent in the Garden of Eden deceived Eve rather than Adam. Of course, the point that Adam was feeble enough to take the fruit from his wife, despite God’s instruction, was either brushed under the carpet or used to further evidence the dangerous and malign female influence.</p>
<p>The vast majority of victims of harm linked to exorcism are female and in many cases the assailants are family members. Exorcism abuse is commonly a form a domestic abuse. In 2009, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna31337466">Janet Moses</a>, a young woman from New Zealand, was killed by her relatives in the course of rites to free her from evil spirits. This tragic story formed the basis of a 2015 film: <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4930242/">Belief: The Possession of Janet Moses</a>. In England in 2021, a doctor was jailed for having illegally administered dangerous drugs to his partner in connection with <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-61651857">exorcism rituals</a>.</p>
<h2>The Nun II’s innovation</h2>
<p>Women – and especially adolescent girls – are usually imagined as prey when it comes to demonic forces. This perception shapes both real-world behaviour and the entertainment industry. Consequently, The Nun II, in which all of the key demon-battling protagonists are female and coming to the rescue of a stricken adult man, is a dramatic inversion of the norm. </p>
<p>Furthermore, none of the women are infantilised or sexually objectified. They kick and batter monsters in long skirts, trousers, knitted jumpers and sensible shoes. Even the children are given more fighting to do than squealing (although some screaming is allowed and, frankly, understandable if you are being pursued by the literal devil incarnate).</p>
<p>All of this progressive change takes place without either ridiculing the men or turning them into pantomime villains. The female actors are allowed to be the rescuers due to the situation, rather than because of any inadequacy on the part of their male companions.</p>
<p>The film’s depiction of church dogma and ecclesiology belongs to Hollywood rather than Rome, and nobody should watch it imagining they will be enlightened about Catholic teaching on demons or other subjects (indeed, there are certain misrepresentations in this regard which some believers might find troubling). </p>
<p>Nonetheless, given the damage done to women and girls through exorcism-related abuse (most of which takes place outside Roman Catholic settings) and harmful gender stereotyping more generally, a film that breaks this mould has a lot to commend it.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213013/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen Hall is a priest in the Church of England </span></em></p>
The Nun II brings a refreshingly feminist gloss to well-worn tropes within exorcism fiction, shattering assumptions about who should be the victim and who should be the rescuer.
Helen Hall, Senior Lecturer, Nottingham Law School, Nottingham Trent University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/206580
2023-08-24T20:20:46Z
2023-08-24T20:20:46Z
Friday essay: ‘black bile’, malaria therapy and insulin comas – a brief history of mental illness
<p>Possibly the earliest account of a disturbed mind is recorded in a 3,500-year-old <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedas">Hindu text</a> that describes a man who is “gluttonous, filthy, walks naked, has lost his memory and moves about in an uneasy manner”.</p>
<p>In the Bible’s Old Testament, in the first <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Books-of-Samuel">Book of Samuel</a>, we read that King David simulated madness to gain safety: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>And he changed his behaviour … and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon his beard.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Book-of-Daniel-Old-Testament">Book of Daniel</a>, we find a vivid description of King Nebuchadnezzar’s mental state: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>And he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like birds’ claws.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The ancient Greeks made early attempts to explain madness. In the 5th century BC, <a href="https://fherehab.com/learning/humors-ancient-mental-health">Hippocrates</a> viewed it as seated in the brain and influenced by four bodily fluids: blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile. </p>
<p>The Greek physician Galen, who practised in Rome 600 years later, argued that depression was caused by an excess of black bile (hence the term “melancholia”, from <em>melan</em>, black, and <em>khole</em>, bile). </p>
<p>His contemporary, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Aretaeus-of-Cappadocia">Aretaeus of Cappadocia</a>, colourfully described how, if black bile moves upwards in the body, “it forms melancholy; for it produces flatulence and eructations [or, belches] of a fetid and fishy nature, and it sends rumbling wind downwards, and disturbs the understanding”. </p>
<h2>A troubled mind, possessed</h2>
<p>During the Middle Ages, monasteries preserved the view of madness as an illness, and of those afflicted as sick rather than sinful. At the same time, the more sinister belief that the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25208453/">principal cause</a> of the troubled mind was possession by spirits or the devil prevailed.</p>
<p>Sufferers were taken to sanctioned healers for <a href="https://theconversation.com/exorcisms-have-been-part-of-christianity-for-centuries-107932">exorcisms</a>, a practice still carried out today in some cultures. People who failed to respond to such treatment might then seek out a celebrated expert. </p>
<p>Consider Hwaetred, a young man living in what is now England in the 7th century, who became tormented by an “evil spirit”. So terrible was his madness that he attacked others with his teeth and killed three men with an axe when they tried to restrain him. Taken to several sacred shrines, he obtained no relief. His despairing parents then heard of Guthlac, a monk who lived a hermit life north of Cambridge. After three days of prayer and fasting, Hwaetred was purportedly cured.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543694/original/file-20230821-29-c0gqfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543694/original/file-20230821-29-c0gqfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543694/original/file-20230821-29-c0gqfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543694/original/file-20230821-29-c0gqfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543694/original/file-20230821-29-c0gqfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543694/original/file-20230821-29-c0gqfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543694/original/file-20230821-29-c0gqfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543694/original/file-20230821-29-c0gqfs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">St Francis Borgia Helping a Dying Impenitent – Goya (1788)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Over time, the role of religious authorities in mental illness dwindled, and the medical profession claimed the exclusive practice of the healing arts. Insanity once more came to be seen more as a physical malady than a spiritual taint. Even so, life for the mentally ill could be appalling. </p>
<p>During the 17th century, religiously inspired persecution of the mentally ill was justified by the clerical hierarchy, and treatment was often some combination of neglect and bestial restraint. </p>
<p>Psychiatrists Martin Roth and Jerome Kroll <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/The_Reality_of_Mental_Illness.html?id=pCQ4AAAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y">describe</a> the insane in this period as “miserable individuals, wandering around in village and in forest, taken from shrine to shrine, sometimes tied up when they became too violent”.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-invention-of-satanic-witchcraft-by-medieval-authorities-was-initially-met-with-skepticism-140809">The invention of satanic witchcraft by medieval authorities was initially met with skepticism</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A watershed: asylums</h2>
<p>The late 18th century was a watershed in the history of psychiatry. The insanity of England’s <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-22122407">King George III</a> revealed society’s ambivalence to the mentally ill (vividly captured in the 1994 film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110428/">The Madness of King George</a>). </p>
<p>In France, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Philippe-Pinel">Philippe Pinel</a> released the chains that had fettered the “lunatic” for centuries, ushering in an unprecedented phase of benevolent institutional care. </p>
<p><a href="https://dictionary.apa.org/moral-therapy">Moral therapy</a>, a form of individualised care in small hospital settings, was promoted by English Quakers at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Retreat">York Retreat</a> and gradually supplanted inhumane physical treatments such as purging, bleeding and dunking in cold water.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BHNSAK8d3qc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">English society’s ambivalence to the mentally ill in the 18th century is depicted in the 1994 film, The Madness of King George.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As populations grew and urbanised, the sheer numbers of mentally ill people in burgeoning city slums demanded action. An institutional solution emerged. </p>
<p>Asylums (from the Greek word meaning “refuge”) were built in rural settings with the best of intentions, planned to be havens in which patients would receive humane care. In the serenity of the countryside, and through carrying out undemanding tasks, they could be distracted from their internal torment and find dignity far from the bustling crowd. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Daniel-Defoe">Daniel Defoe</a>, the English writer, remained unconvinced: “This is the height of barbarity and injustice in a Christian country; it is a clandestine Inquisition, nay worse.”</p>
<p>Although conceived in a spirit of optimism, asylums tended to deteriorate into centres of hopelessness and demoralisation. They soon became overcrowded dumps. Institutions built for a few hundred people were soon holding thousands. Very few residents were discharged; many stayed for decades. Brutal oppression replaced anything that might have resembled treatment; malnutrition and infectious disease became rife.</p>
<p>In the grim environment, people were shut away and forgotten. With them out of sight and out of mind, a loss of public interest and political neglect became the norm.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543690/original/file-20230821-15-v420lw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543690/original/file-20230821-15-v420lw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543690/original/file-20230821-15-v420lw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543690/original/file-20230821-15-v420lw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543690/original/file-20230821-15-v420lw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543690/original/file-20230821-15-v420lw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543690/original/file-20230821-15-v420lw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543690/original/file-20230821-15-v420lw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Asylums were conceived optimistically, but more often housed oppression than treatment. Picture: The Hospital of Bethlehem.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wellcome Collection</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The brooding building on the hill came to symbolise the stigma and fear attached to mental illness. By the mid-19th century, critics were voicing concerns that asylums had become human warehouses that entrenched mental illness rather than curing it. </p>
<p>The combination of powerless patients, hospitals run more for the convenience of staff than for the benefit of the sick, inadequate inspection by state bodies, and lack of resources led at times to quite disgraceful conditions. Unwittingly, the spread of asylums also triggered the movement of psychiatry away from the mainstream of medicine.</p>
<p>The conditions of the asylums are evocatively described in Henry Handel Richardson’s Australian novel <a href="https://www.textpublishing.com.au/books/the-fortunes-of-richard-mahony">The Fortunes of Richard Mahony</a>. We read of Richard’s decline, probably from syphilis affecting the brain, which at that time afflicted a large proportion of mental patients.</p>
<p>Towards the end of the novel, his wife comes to visit him in the asylum:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>She hung her head … while the warder told the tale of Richard’s misdeeds. 97B was, he declared, not only disobedient and disorderly, he was extremely abusive, dirty in his habits … he refused to wash himself, or to eat his food … she had to keep a grip on her mind to hinder it from following the picture up: Richard, forced by this burly brute to grope on the floor for his spilt food, to scrape it together, and either eat it or have it thrust down his throat … There was not only feeding by force, the straitjacket, the padded cell. There were drugs and injections, given to keep a patient quiet and ensure his warders their freedom.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-case-for-the-fortunes-of-richard-mahony-by-henry-handel-richardson-24474">The case for The Fortunes of Richard Mahony by Henry Handel Richardson</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Great and desperate cures</h2>
<p>In the asylum, psychiatry turned into a modern medical discipline. The
accumulation of thousands of patients provided the first opportunity
to study mental illness systematically and to develop theories about its
causes. </p>
<p>The idea that these conditions were due to brain alterations, and especially degenerative processes, became dominant, encouraged by the discovery of the cerebral pathology associated with <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/neurosyphilis">neurosyphilis</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-causes-alzheimers-disease-what-we-know-dont-know-and-suspect-75847">Alzheimer’s disease</a>. A similar degenerative process was proposed by the great German psychiatrist <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Emil-Kraepelin">Emil Kraepelin</a> to cause <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/computer-science/dementia-praecox">dementia praecox</a> – later renamed “schizophrenia” – leading to pessimism about the possibility of recovery.</p>
<p>But the priority for asylums was to relieve the suffering of overwhelming numbers of disturbed patients. Psychiatrists grasped for “great and desperate cures”. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_R._Rollin">Henry Rollin</a>, an English psychiatrist and medical historian, captures the intense zeal:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The physical treatment of the frankly psychotic during these centuries makes spine-chilling reading. Evacuation by vomiting, purgatives, sweating, blisters, and bleeding were considered essential […] There was indeed no insult to the human body, no trauma, no indignity which was not at one time or other piously prescribed for the unfortunate victim.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Treatments were sometimes based on rational grounds. Malaria therapy, for instance, was launched as a treatment for neurosyphilis by the Viennese psychiatrist <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Julius-Wagner-Jauregg">Julius Wagner-Jauregg</a> in 1917, earning him a Nobel Prize ten years later. </p>
<p>The high fever caused by the malarial parasite disabled the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/spirochete">spirochete</a> that caused neurosyphilis, but the hope that it would be equally effective for other forms of psychosis was soon dashed. The wished-for panacea was not to be.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543703/original/file-20230821-10846-x44evz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543703/original/file-20230821-10846-x44evz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543703/original/file-20230821-10846-x44evz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543703/original/file-20230821-10846-x44evz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543703/original/file-20230821-10846-x44evz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543703/original/file-20230821-10846-x44evz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543703/original/file-20230821-10846-x44evz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543703/original/file-20230821-10846-x44evz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Malaria therapy, a treatment for neurosyphilis, earned its inventor a Nobel Prize.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jimmy Chan/Pexels</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/insulin-shock-therapy">Insulin-coma therapy</a> was introduced by Manfred Sakel in the 1930s in Vienna and was soon being used in many countries to treat schizophrenia. An insulin injection was administered six days a week for several weeks, producing a state of light coma lasting about an hour, because of reduced glucose reaching the brain. </p>
<p>Many years later, an investigation carried out in the Institute of Psychiatry in London, a leading research centre at the time, showed conclusively that the coma itself was of no therapeutic value. Any positive change was probably due to the staff’s painstaking care.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/girl-interrupted-interrogates-how-women-are-mad-when-they-refuse-to-conform-30-years-on-this-memoir-is-still-important-199211">Girl, Interrupted interrogates how women are 'mad' when they refuse to conform – 30 years on, this memoir is still important</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>ECT and lithium</h2>
<p>The first widely available and effective biological treatments for mental illness were developed in the asylum. The discovery in 1938 of <a href="https://theconversation.com/electroconvulsive-therapy-a-history-of-controversy-but-also-of-help-70938">electroconvulsive therapy</a> (ECT) by <a href="https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/ugo-cerletti">Ugo Cerletti</a> and Lucio Bini, two Italian psychiatrists, led to a dramatically effective treatment for people with severe depression. </p>
<p>ECT was eagerly adopted in practice, but its history illustrates a typical pattern of treatment in psychiatry: unbridled early enthusiasm is later tempered by a protracted process of scientific evaluation. </p>
<p>The same can be said of the use of brain surgery to modify psychiatric symptoms. This was pioneered in 1936 by Portuguese neurologist <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Antonio-Egas-Moniz">António Egas Moniz</a> (another Nobel Prize winner in the field of psychiatry) and surgeon Almeida Lima, and remains controversial in psychiatry to this day.</p>
<p>A momentous breakthrough was the discovery in 1949 by <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02480-0">John Cade</a>, an Australian psychiatrist, of lithium as a treatment for manic excitement. The lithium story reveals how the incorporation of a new medication into psychiatric practice is not always smooth. </p>
<p>Several US and Danish psychiatrists had experimented with lithium in the 1870s and 1890s, only to have their work ignored until Cade’s rediscovery. It was another 18 years before lithium was shown to prevent the recurrence of severe changes of mood, its primary clinical use now.</p>
<p>Major tranquillisers were added to the growing range of psychiatric medications after being discovered fortuitously in 1953. An antihistamine used to calm patients undergoing surgery was shown to reduce the torment of psychotic patients, but without making them sleepy. </p>
<p>Shortly after this, the US psychiatrist <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1983/02/14/obituaries/nathan-kline-developer-of-antidepressants-dies.html">Nathan Kline</a> discovered that a drug being tested for its effect in patients with tuberculosis had antidepressant properties — the forerunner of medications for depression. All these drugs radically transformed the practice of psychiatry. </p>
<h2>Freud, ‘talking cures’ and shell shock</h2>
<p>A very different aspect of mental health care arose in the 1890s, outside
the asylum. Concerned with neurotic conditions, the new treatment grew chiefly out of neurology but was also influenced by a scientific interest in hypnosis and the unconscious. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543695/original/file-20230821-25-qtirft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543695/original/file-20230821-25-qtirft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543695/original/file-20230821-25-qtirft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=816&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543695/original/file-20230821-25-qtirft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=816&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543695/original/file-20230821-25-qtirft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=816&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543695/original/file-20230821-25-qtirft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1025&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543695/original/file-20230821-25-qtirft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1025&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543695/original/file-20230821-25-qtirft.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1025&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sigmund Freud.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Max Halberstadt/Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Sigmund Freud conceived a dynamic model of the mind in which, through the mechanism of repression, painful or threatening emotions, memories and impulses are prevented from escaping into conscious awareness. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/a-dangerous-method-in-defence-of-freuds-psychoanalysis-5989">Psychoanalysis</a> grew to become an integrated set of concepts about normal and abnormal mental functioning and personality development, and spawned a new method of psychologically based treatment. Psychoanalysis emerged as a major theoretical underpinning of contemporary “talking cures” (psychotherapies), and its influence spread far beyond treating mental ill-health.</p>
<p>Both world wars profoundly influenced the field. The high incidence of “<a href="https://theconversation.com/shell-shock-treatments-reveal-the-conflict-in-psychiatrys-heart-29822">shell shock</a>” in World War I drove home the lesson that mental illness could affect not only those genetically predisposed, but even the supposedly robust. It soon emerged that anyone exposed to traumatic experiences was vulnerable. </p>
<p>A positive outcome from World War II was the development of techniques for screening large numbers of recruits, which revealed the substantial prevalence of emotional problems among young adults. </p>
<p>The need to treat numerous psychiatric casualties led to the development of group therapies. These paved the way for the so-called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Therapeutic_community">therapeutic community</a>, based on the idea that an entire ward of patients could be an integral part of treatment.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ehPcYibzUKc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Group therapy, as depicted in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The idea of deinstitutionalisation began to gather pace in the 1960s, driven by a burgeoning civil-rights movement. <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/asylums-9780241548004">Asylums</a>, an influential book at the time by sociologist Erving Goffman, containing his minute observations of the sense of oppression experienced by patients in these “total institutions”, was one catalyst for their closure. </p>
<p>Hundreds of thousands of long-stay patients began to be transferred to alternative accommodation and specialist care in the community, a process that is still in progress.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-body-keeps-the-score-how-a-bestselling-book-helps-us-understand-trauma-but-inflates-the-definition-of-it-184735">The Body Keeps the Score: how a bestselling book helps us understand trauma – but inflates the definition of it</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What is mental illness?</h2>
<p>It is challenging to define what makes a pattern of behaviour and experience a mental disorder. Generally, such a pattern – or “syndrome” – is considered to be a disorder if it is associated with psychological distress, such as intense and prolonged anxiety or sadness, or significant dysfunction, such as a serious impairment in functioning in one or more key areas of daily life. </p>
<p>If the pattern is short-lived, relatively mild, or entirely understandable in light of the trials and tribulations of the person’s life, it should be seen as a problem in living rather than a mental disorder. Such problems may still benefit from consultation with a mental health professional despite not being diagnosable disorders.</p>
<p>This definition of what counts as a mental disorder also clarifies what is not a mental disorder. Merely being unusual or violating social norms does not mean a person has a disorder. </p>
<p>It is difficult sometimes to decide whether a new kind of behaviour is a mental disorder. For instance, should <a href="https://theconversation.com/no-youre-probably-not-addicted-to-your-smartphone-but-you-might-use-it-too-much-89853">excessive smartphone use</a> or <a href="https://theconversation.com/gambling-on-pokies-is-like-tobacco-no-amount-of-it-is-safe-51037">compulsive gambling</a> be counted as diagnosable addictions?</p>
<h2>Troubling cases</h2>
<p>These decisions about what to include under the umbrella of mental illness are fraught, and there have been some troubling historical cases when disturbing decisions were made or proposed. </p>
<p>In the 1850s, for example, Samuel Cartwright, a physician from Alabama, proposed a new diagnosis called “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2000/01/15/arts/bigotry-as-mental-illness-or-just-another-norm.html">drapetomania</a>” to explain why African-American slaves would wish to escape their servitude. </p>
<p>He recommended slaves should be treated kindly and humanely to prevent the disorder, but whipped if this treatment failed. A more patent abuse of the concept of mental illness would be hard to imagine, and it should be noted that other physicians ridiculed Cartwright’s proposal at the time.</p>
<p>Two other controversial cases date to the last century. In the early 1970s, one of us (Sidney) stumbled across disturbing media reports that many political and religious dissenters and human-rights activists in the Soviet Union were being labelled as mentally ill and detained in mental hospitals indefinitely or until they renounced their “disturbed ideas”. </p>
<p>For instance, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petro_Grigorenko">General Pyotr Grigorenko</a> criticised the privileges of the Soviet elite and publicly espoused the rights of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimean_Tatars">Crimean Tatar</a> ethnic minority group. He was diagnosed with paranoid tendencies, one symptom being his “reformist ideas”, and forcibly committed to a psychiatric facility. </p>
<p>In effect, Soviet psychiatry’s definition of mental illness, and psychosis in particular, was so broad that political beliefs about the desirability of social change were recast as delusions.</p>
<p>The second case comes from the US. <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/how-lgbtq-activists-got-homosexuality-out-of-the-dsm/">Until 1973</a>, homosexuality was defined as a sexual deviation and included in the set of recognised mental disorders. Under pressure from civil, women’s and gay rights activists, it was removed from the diagnostic manual.</p>
<p>Noting such cases, whenever the boundary of a mental illness is expanded to include new diagnoses or loosen old ones, some critics will worry we are treating normal behaviour as a pathology and that we will harm people by labelling them. And whenever the boundary contracts, others will worry that people with psychological troubles are being excluded from clinical care. </p>
<p>Deciding what is and isn’t a mental illness is difficult, but has marked consequences.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This is an edited extract from <a href="https://scribepublications.com.au/books-authors/books/troubled-mindSees-9781922585875">Troubled Minds: Understanding and treating mental illness</a> by Sidney Bloch and Nick Haslam (Scribe Publications), published 29 August 2023.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206580/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nick Haslam receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sidney Bloch does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Humans have attempted to understand and treat mental illness for centuries – from ancient Greek medicine, Middle Ages exorcisms and the rise of asylums, to modern medical breakthroughs.
Sidney Bloch, Emeritus Professor in Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne
Nick Haslam, Professor of Psychology, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/204512
2023-05-04T12:13:42Z
2023-05-04T12:13:42Z
The real priest behind ‘The Pope’s Exorcist’ was a fan of Hollywood horror films
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524197/original/file-20230503-20-ti0zsu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=43%2C1%2C1155%2C671&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A still from the film 'The Pope's Exorcist' showing Russell Crowe as the real-life Vatican exorcist.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://cdn.theplaylist.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/22101741/the-popes-exorcist.jpg">Sony Pictures</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On April 14, 2023, Sony Pictures released “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13375076/">The Pope’s Exorcist</a>,” a horror film inspired by the life of the Rev. Gabriele Amorth. Amorth served as the exorcist for the Diocese of Rome from 1986 until his death in 2016 at the age of 91.</p>
<p>Catholic exorcism was once extremely rare in the United States and much of Europe, and Amorth played a major role in normalizing the practice. In 1990, he founded the International Association of Exorcists, or the IAE, a Catholic group that advocates for the practice of exorcism and trains new exorcists. </p>
<p>This group has been critical of the way Amorth and his ministry are portrayed in the film. In March, <a href="https://www.aieinternational.it/comunicato-stampa-circa-il-trailer-del-film-lesorcista-del-papa/">the IAE released a statement</a> condemning the film as “splatter horror.” More importantly, the IAE warned that the film sensationalized exorcism and failed to convey the suffering of those in need of this ritual. However, the Rev. <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2023/04/14/popes-exorcist-movie-priest-russell-crowe-245095">Edward Siebert</a>, one of the film’s executive producers, defended it by pointing out that it depicted a priest in a positive light.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YJXqvnT_rsk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The official trailer for ‘The Pope’s Exorcist.’</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Amorth was a polarizing figure who had a complicated relationship with horror movies. Having researched the <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/625322/the-penguin-book-of-exorcisms-by-edited-by-joseph-p-laycock/">history of exorcism</a>, I find it appropriate that a horror film about his life is drawing controversy.</p>
<h2>Amorth’s career as an exorcist</h2>
<p>Amorth sometimes boasted of <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/gabriele-amorth-catholic-priest-exorcisms_n_3368017">having performed as many as 160,000</a> exorcisms. He also <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/content/all-things/fr-amorths-yoga-and-devil">attracted controversy</a> for saying yoga and Harry Potter books can cause demonic possession. In his autobiography, “<a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/41135836">An Exorcist Tells His Story</a>,” Amorth wrote, “It is thanks to movies that we find a renewed interest in exorcisms.” In other words, exorcism made a comeback because horror movies helped spark public demand for the ritual.</p>
<p>On this point, Amorth is in agreement with religion scholar <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/American_Exorcism.html?id=Lq5tAAAACAAJ">Michael Cuneo</a>, who argued that “The Exorcist” is largely responsible for revitalizing exorcism. When that film came out in 1973, requests for exorcisms surged. The church, which had regarded exorcism as a source of embarrassment, lacked the experience and training to accommodate this demand. But church authorities have increasingly warmed to exorcism, viewing it as an asset rather than a liability.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man dressed as a priest, holding a Bible, in a misty gothic graveyard background" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523918/original/file-20230502-4095-rwoswu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C136%2C1926%2C1862&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523918/original/file-20230502-4095-rwoswu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=889&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523918/original/file-20230502-4095-rwoswu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=889&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523918/original/file-20230502-4095-rwoswu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=889&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523918/original/file-20230502-4095-rwoswu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1117&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523918/original/file-20230502-4095-rwoswu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1117&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523918/original/file-20230502-4095-rwoswu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1117&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The poster for the film ‘The Pope’s Exorcist’ showing Russell Crowe in the role of the the real-life Vatican priest.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/malique/52779057724/in/photostream/">Budiey/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Unsurprisingly, Amorth named “The Exorcist” as his favorite film, <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20041106024653/http:/www.catholic-exorcism.org/pages/suntelegraph/suntelegraph.html">commenting</a>, “Of course, the special effects are exaggerated. But it is a good film, and substantially exact, based on a respectable novel which mirrored a true story." Amorth became an exorcist a decade after the film, and his career evolved alongside horror films. <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/26549659">He introduced the 2011 horror film "The Rite</a>” when it premiered at a film festival in Umbria. Like “The Pope’s Exorcist,” “The Rite” is a Catholic horror film inspired by the life of a real priest, Gary Thomas, who traveled to Rome to study exorcism.</p>
<p>“The Exorcist” was directed by Oscar winner William Friedkin. A year after Amorth’s death, Friedkin unveiled his 2017 documentary, “The Devil and Father Amorth,” showing Amorth performing an actual exorcism. </p>
<p><a href="https://variety.com/2017/film/reviews/the-devil-and-father-amorth-review-the-exorcist-william-friedkin-1202564009/?sub_action=logged_in">Variety noted</a> that Catholic exorcism and horror films now seemed intertwined “like a loop.” </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jpjRQokeQNo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The official trailer for ‘The Devil and Father Amorth.’</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>There’s no such thing as bad press</h2>
<p>“The Pope’s Exorcist” takes great liberties with Amorth’s story, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-popes-exorcist-how-the-film-compares-to-the-real-churchs-approach-to-exorcism-204420">earning comparisons</a> to the “Indiana Jones” franchise and “The DaVinci Code.” But “The Exorcist” was also polarizing in its day, with some Catholics praising it as a “<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/206337.stm">deeply spiritual film</a>” and others comparing it to <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2019/04/05/william-peter-blatty-why-there-good-exorcist">pornography</a>. </p>
<p>The Rev. <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/exorcist-reveals-signs-demonic-possession-responds-new-demon-movie-levitation-pupils-turn-green">Vincent Lampert</a>, an IAE member, criticized “The Pope’s Exorcist” for focusing more on Satan than Amorth and his ministry. But condemnation from the IAE has ironically boosted <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/apr/10/exorcists-denounce-the-popes-exorcist-with-russell-crowe">media coverage</a> of “The Pope’s Exorcist” and has likely compelled more people to see the film. Opening weekend sales were so good that Sony Pictures has announced <a href="https://bloody-disgusting.com/exclusives/3759492/popes-exorcist-sequel-in-early-development-exclusive/">a sequel</a> is already in development. </p>
<p>For now, the complicated synergy between horror films and actual exorcists shows no sign of abating.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204512/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joseph P. Laycock does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
How did blockbuster horror films such as ‘The Exorcist’ help the church warm to the controversial ritual?
Joseph P. Laycock, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Texas State University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/204420
2023-04-25T10:52:00Z
2023-04-25T10:52:00Z
The Pope’s Exorcist: how the film compares to the real church’s approach to exorcism
<p>When official trailers were released, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/apr/10/exorcists-denounce-the-popes-exorcist-with-russell-crowe">the International Association of Exorcists</a> branded The Pope’s Exorcist: “unreliable … splatter cinema”. </p>
<p>The film’s protagonist, <a href="https://theconversation.com/gabriele-amorth-conducted-over-60-000-exorcisms-and-believed-hitler-was-possessed-meet-the-man-who-inspired-the-popes-exorcist-201383">Father Gabriele Amorth</a> (Russell Crowe), is based on a real Catholic exorcist who was a founding member of the very organisation condemning the movie as inaccurate. So cinema-goers had fair warning that it would be far from uncontentious.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZlVfBbSYAv8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The trailer for The Pope’s Exorcist.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJXqvnT_rsk">Promotional material</a> for the film did not promise a reflection on exorcism in the modern era, but presented an Indiana Jones-style figure in a cassock, brandishing a crucifix instead of a whip.</p>
<p>The film itself lived up to both these fears and expectations. A classic fusion of action and horror, it fits squarely into the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/09526951211004465">exorcist genre</a> with levitation, twisting heads and gravelly-voiced demons speaking through the wracked bodies of helpless children.</p>
<p>The plot moves through some of Father Amorth’s most memorable reported cases, in particular a struggle with a demon the church had supposedly battled in previous centuries. </p>
<p>At times there are shades of the Da Vinci Code, with Vatican cover-ups, conspiracies and ecclesiastical power play. Add into the mix secret chambers hiding cobweb-strewn skeletons and dark secrets and it’s squarely in Temple of Doom territory.</p>
<p>Despite these obvious flights of fancy, there is a tension in not knowing exactly where the line between history and make believe is drawn, especially as the real Father Amorth died several years ago.</p>
<p>This aspect of the film struck a chord with my research on exorcism and the parameters the legal system draws around freedom of religion in this context. Pop-culture exorcisms attract a lot of media interest, but it can be harder to get traction for serious debate.</p>
<p>These Hollywood depictions can lead to real world dangers – as tragedies like the <a href="https://victoriaclimbie.hud.ac.uk/background.html">murder of Victoria Climbié</a> in 2000 prove all too graphically. The eight-year-old was abused and killed by her great aunt and her great-aunt’s boyfriend, who used “demonic possession” to explain their niece’s injuries to their pastor. </p>
<h2>How true to life is The Pope’s Exorcist?</h2>
<p>Disentangling the real-world inspiration and fictional elements of The Pope’s Exorcist is complicated by differing perceptions of exorcism within the church.</p>
<p>The work of Father Amorth was <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/father-gabriele-amorth-bestknown-but-controversial-exorcist-20160921-grkxip.html">controversial</a> during his lifetime. The International Association of Exorcists took some time to gain papal endorsement from John Paul II. Even now it is recognised as a “<a href="https://www.aieinternational.org/">private association of the Christian faithful</a>” rather than a group coordinated by ecclesiastical authorities. </p>
<p>The current Pope Francis is faced with balancing <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-catholic-churchs-views-on-exorcism-have-changed-a-religious-studies-scholar-explains-why-182212">contrasting understandings of exorcism</a> within the church.</p>
<p>Some of the conflict arises from theological differences about the nature of evil and demons, while some is rooted in the cultural differences of the international church. The Pope’s Exorcist overtly deals with this. An African bishop (Cornell John) is portrayed as supportive of Father Amorth and a counterbalance to a sceptical American cardinal. </p>
<p>This taps into stereotypes from colonial era literature. There, communities regarded as “primitive” were depicted as more <a href="https://www.bars.ac.uk/blog/?p=4495">aligned to supernatural forces</a> and therefore threatening.</p>
<p>In the works of authors such as <a href="https://engl105fa2020sec079.web.unc.edu/2020/11/mummies-and-masculinity-an-analysis-of-lot-no-249-by-arthur-conan-doyle">Arthur Conan Doyle</a>, Rudyard Kipling or <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2893/2893-h/2893-h.htm">Rider Haggard</a>, there is the concession that other cultures might have access to lost knowledge and awareness, but this is generally viewed as a sinister rather than a positive trait.</p>
<h2>Demons and the modern church</h2>
<p>In the contemporary world, the Roman Catholic Church has to pay regard to the benefits of modern science and the empirical method. The church has even sometimes helped to foster this over the years, for example through <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gregor-Mendel">Gregor Mendel</a>, the monk who laid the foundation for modern genetics. </p>
<p>Yet the church has also made space for those who argue that this is not the only lens through which to view the world. The <a href="https://catholicidentity.bne.catholic.edu.au/scripture/SitePages/The-Nicene-Creed.aspx?csf=1&e=bUuqDO">Nicene Creed</a> is a foundational statement of doctrine and profession of faith, which proclaims God as creator of all things “visible and invisible”. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BvcVgc4L3Dk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A clip from The Pope’s Exorcist.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Christians including Roman Catholics differ as to whether the “invisible” might mean atoms, demons, or both.</p>
<p>This means that churches must agree on – or at least impose – common ground rules for what those involved in exorcisms should expect. There is room for a variety of perspectives, but responsible and organised faith groups put in place provision to protect the vulnerable from harm or abuse.</p>
<p>The Roman Catholic Church and other groups, like Anglicans, do this, as the film partly reflects. It is stressed that Father Amorth consults doctors and psychiatrists and that, in most cases, conventional medicine is at the heart of helping the distressed person. This mirrors reality.</p>
<p>Roman Catholic exorcists recognise the danger of encouraging a person suffering from auditory hallucinations, for example, to believe that these are demonic <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2017/08/04/health/exorcism-doctor/index.html">when the cause is mental illness</a> requiring appropriate treatment.</p>
<p>The greatest distortion of the film – and potential danger – is in the depiction of people receiving exorcisms, whether they seek them for themselves or are presented for treatment by family members.</p>
<p>In The Pope’s Exorcist, these individuals are literally monstrous and a threat to those surrounding them. A significant number of people – a disproportionate number of whom are <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-39123952">women</a> and <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36370647/">children</a> – are murdered each year during exorcism rituals because of perceptions like these.</p>
<p>Most of these disastrous rites are carried out by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/nov/12/barbaramcmahon">misguided family members</a> or neighbours, rather than religious ministers. There are no reported cases of any Roman Catholic priests ever being involved in such an incident.</p>
<p>Perhaps this danger is at the heart of the International Association of Exorcists’s rejection of the film. Given that fatal exorcisms are an all too real phenomenon, claiming that the horrific scenes of demonic possession on screen have a basis in actual events poses a real danger.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204420/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen Hall is affiliated with the Church of England</span></em></p>
In reality, most Roman Catholic exorcists recognise the danger of encouraging a person suffering from auditory hallucinations to believe that these are demonic.
Helen Hall, Senior Lecturer, Nottingham Law School, Nottingham Trent University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/201383
2023-04-05T20:03:34Z
2023-04-05T20:03:34Z
Gabriele Amorth conducted over 60,000 exorcisms and believed Hitler was possessed. Meet the man who inspired The Pope’s Exorcist
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518113/original/file-20230329-24-nr9cga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C4%2C2973%2C1989&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sony Pictures</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Father Gabriele Amorth (1925-2016) was undoubtedly the most famous Catholic exorcist of the modern era. By his account, Amorth performed at least <a href="https://sophiainstitute.com/product/the-devil-is-afraid-of-me/">60,000 exorcisms</a> during the course of his ministry, sparking a renewed interest for exorcism within Catholicism.</p>
<p>Amorth was also known for his controversial statements. </p>
<p>He claimed Hitler and Stalin were <a href="https://www.ncregister.com/news/vatican-exorcist-hitler-knew-the-devil">possessed by the Devil</a>. In 2012 he made headlines for asserting <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/emanuela-orlandi-vatican-sex-parties_n_1536531">paedophilic cults</a> operated within the Vatican. </p>
<p>Modern popular culture was also an affront to Amorth. He railed against ouija boards, yoga and Harry Potter, believing them to be a gateway to the demonic.</p>
<p>Now, Russell Crowe’s new supernatural horror film The Pope’s Exorcist fictionalises Amorth’s exorcism ministry, adding in a centuries-old Vatican cover up for good measure. </p>
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<h2>Exorcism and the church</h2>
<p>Exorcism has been a prominent rite of the Christian faith since its inception. </p>
<p>During the first few centuries exorcism could be performed by all believers and it played an <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/_/nkgWDAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0">important role</a> in attracting outsiders to the burgeoning faith. </p>
<p>As Christianity took hold across the Roman Empire, exorcism shifted from a form of charismatic lay-healing into a miracle carried out by figures of exceptional spiritual authority. From the 4th century, the liturgy of exorcism was refined as the early church assumed full authority over the ritual.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517607/original/file-20230327-16-49f0b0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517607/original/file-20230327-16-49f0b0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517607/original/file-20230327-16-49f0b0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=845&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517607/original/file-20230327-16-49f0b0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=845&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517607/original/file-20230327-16-49f0b0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=845&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517607/original/file-20230327-16-49f0b0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1063&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517607/original/file-20230327-16-49f0b0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1063&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517607/original/file-20230327-16-49f0b0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1063&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Francisco de Goya, St. Francis Borgia Helping a Dying Impenitent, c. 1788.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Valencia Cathedral</span></span>
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<p>The use of exorcism has waxed and waned over the centuries. During the mid-20th century, many clergy thought exorcism had <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/why-exorcism-went-out-of-fashion-and-why-its-back/">no place</a> in modern Catholic theology.</p>
<p>Vatican II, an international conference of Catholic bishops held between 1962 and 1965, signalled a move away from exorcism as <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2022-10/vatican-ii-council-60th-anniversary-video-history-background.html">the church attempted to modernise</a>. </p>
<p>The 1960s and early 1970s represented a historical low point in the practice of this ritual.</p>
<p>The period following witnessed a backlash of conservative <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-charismatic-catholicism-146741">charismatic Catholicism</a> with exorcism at the forefront. The work of Catholic exorcists such as Amorth played a significant role in legitimising the modern practice of this ritual. </p>
<p>This growing popularity provoked the Vatican to publish a new set of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/jan/27/religion.uk">exorcistic guidelines in 1998</a> and increase the number of priests trained to address demonic possession.</p>
<p>While many clergy remain sceptical, support for exorcism is present at all levels of the Catholic Church. And in the last decade, the practice has experienced a worldwide <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/12/catholic-exorcisms-on-the-rise/573943/">surge in demand</a>.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-catholic-churchs-views-on-exorcism-have-changed-a-religious-studies-scholar-explains-why-182212">The Catholic Church's views on exorcism have changed – a religious studies scholar explains why</a>
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</em>
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<h2>What’s in an exorcism?</h2>
<p>The Catholic Church divides exorcism into “minor” and “major”. </p>
<p>A minor exorcism consists of sacraments and blessings used to treat demonic influence. The priest will usually deliver a prayer, invocation or litany upon the afflicted. Lay people may also pray on the afflicted’s behalf. </p>
<p>Typically, a minor exorcism is applied to all individuals being baptised into the Catholic Church. </p>
<p>A Major Rite of Exorcism is only carried out when there is a perceived case of demonic occupation. </p>
<p>These rituals <a href="https://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/sacraments-and-sacramentals/sacramentals-blessings/exorcism">encompass</a> readings of the Psalms and Gospel, reciting of specific “exorcistic prayers”, holy water, a crucifix and the performing of the sign of the cross.</p>
<p>The exorcist might also use “the imposition of hands, as well as the breathing on the person’s face (exsufflation)”. </p>
<p>In this instance Hollywood’s sensationalist depiction of exorcism does at least get the basics right.</p>
<p>The church requires a thorough medical and psychiatric examination before a major exorcism can be implemented. <a href="https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib4-cann1166-1190_en.html#TITLE_II.">Canon Law</a>, the code of laws governing the church, dictates exorcisms can only be performed with “express permission” from the local <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordinary_(church_officer)">ordinary</a>, a church officer who can execute these laws.</p>
<p>Amorth, however, believed the need for exorcising demons was so great he advocated all Catholic clergy should be permitted to perform major exorcisms without acquiring permission. </p>
<p>Amorth seems to have had carte blanche in fulfilling his exorcism ministry.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/exorcism-how-does-it-work-and-why-is-it-on-the-rise-93459">Exorcism – how does it work and why is it on the rise?</a>
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<h2>Amorth’s exorcisms</h2>
<p>Amorth led a colourful life. As a teenager, he was part of the Italian resistance against the Nazis and their fascist collaborators. After the war, he studied law and was briefly deputy to the future Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti. </p>
<p>In 1946 he entered the Society of St Paul and worked as a journalist for Catholic media.</p>
<p>Amorth’s exorcism ministry didn’t formally begin until he was 61 and was unexpectedly appointed exorcist of the Diocese of Rome in 1986. He enthusiastically took to this new vocation, serving as an assistant to notable exorcist <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Padre_Candido_Amantini_CP/SHJXswEACAAJ?hl=en">Father Candido Amantini</a>.</p>
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<p>In the early 1990s, Amorth established the <a href="https://www.aieinternational.org/">International Association of Exorcists</a>, becoming its longtime president. The association received <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/vatican-formally-recognizes-international-association-exorcists">Vatican approval in 2014</a> and now holds a biannual exorcism conference.</p>
<p>Amorth’s claim of performing over 60,000 exorcisms requires further investigation. In his biography <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/179779.An_Exorcist_Tells_His_Story">An Exorcist Tells His Story</a> Amorth clarified an exorcism was an individual prayer or ritual ranging anywhere from “a few minutes” to “many hours” in length. He could thereby perform dozens of exorcisms per day, usually on troubled souls appearing on his doorstep. </p>
<p>By Amorth’s own admission, only 100 of the exorcisms he performed
were for outright demonic occupation.</p>
<p>Amorth demonstrated a rather cavalier attitude towards exorcism. In his biography he wrote “an unnecessary exorcism never harmed anyone”. </p>
<p>He also outlined the ritual itself was diagnostic. “Only through the exorcism itself can we determine with certainty whether there is a satanic influence,” he said. </p>
<p>This rationale explains Amorth’s impressive exorcism record.</p>
<h2>An enduring archetype</h2>
<p>Amorth is the ideal figure for dramatisation. He neatly embodies the archetype of the Catholic exorcist: the courageous man of faith who rescues afflicted souls from the Devil’s clutches.</p>
<p>This archetype continues to be enduring. It represents a traditional form of spiritual authority seldom seen in our modern society. If an individual has the power to exorcise demons this can be seen as a validation of their faith, the Devil and God.</p>
<p>As long as films like The Pope’s Exorcist continue to perpetuate the Catholic Church’s effectiveness against demonic incursion, exorcism will remain as a viable spiritual practice for the foreseeable future</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dealing-with-devil-has-long-been-a-part-of-medicine-107310">Dealing with devil has long been a part of medicine</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201383/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brendan C. Walsh does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Supernatural horror film The Pope’s Exorcist fictionalises Amorth’s exorcism ministry, adding in a centuries-old Vatican cover up for good measure.
Brendan C. Walsh, Sessional Academic, The University of Queensland
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/182212
2022-05-24T12:28:29Z
2022-05-24T12:28:29Z
The Catholic Church’s views on exorcism have changed – a religious studies scholar explains why
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464513/original/file-20220520-25-sywqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=40%2C81%2C5384%2C4269&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A 19th-century engraving shows a cleric doing an exorcism against an evil spirit.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/exorcism-cleric-doing-a-spell-against-the-evil-spirit-news-photo/534247982">Ipsumpix/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In September 2021, a 3-year-old <a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/05/09/church-exorcism-kidnapping-san-jose/">was killed during an exorcism</a> in a small Pentecostal church in San Jose, California. The child’s throat was allegedly squeezed and her head held down during the ceremony, which likely asphyxiated her. In May 2022, three members of the victim’s family were charged with felony child abuse.</p>
<p>Several famous deaths have occurred during exorcism rituals in the past. In 1976, <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Exorcism_of_Anneliese_Michel/MoBLAwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Goodman+Anneliese+Michel&printsec=frontcover">Anneliese Michel</a> of Germany died of dehydration and malnutrition after nearly 10 months of Catholic exorcisms. In 2005, <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Spirit_Possession_around_the_World_Posse/WQWrCQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Tanacu+exorcism&pg=PA332&printsec=frontcover">Maricica Irina Cornici</a>, a Romanian Orthodox nun, died in an ambulance following an exorcism in which she was chained to a cross.</p>
<p>While exorcism is practiced in <a href="http://www.paulbourguignon.com/writing/Publications/1964%20-%20Spirit%20Possession,%20Trance%20and%20Cross-Cultural%20Research.pdf">the majority of the world’s cultures</a>, in the Western imagination it is most associated with Catholicism. That association has been either an asset or a liability to the church at various periods throughout history.</p>
<p>For most of the 20th century, exorcism was incredibly rare in Western nations and often regarded with <a href="https://www.beliefnet.com/faiths/catholic/the-misunderstood-ministry-of-exorcism.aspx">embarrassment</a> by Catholic authorities. After William Friedkin’s film “The Exorcist” came out in 1973, Juan Cortez, a Jesuit priest and psychology professor at Georgetown University, told <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Front-cover-of-Newsweek-11-February-1974_fig1_351460484">Newsweek</a> that he did not believe demons exist. </p>
<p>Today, the Catholic Church has reversed its attitude about discussing exorcism almost completely. In 1991, church authorities allowed an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1991/04/05/news/the-rite-of-exorcism-on-20-20.html">exorcism to be televised</a> for the ABC show “20/20.” Father Richard P. McBrien, who appeared on “Nightline” to question the wisdom of this decision, told <a href="https://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/np00020006/1991-05-02/ed-1/seq-16/">The Catholic Courier</a> that exorcism was being presented this way to advance a political agenda, not to save souls. He stated:</p>
<p>“The real objective of that project, I submit, was to help bring back that old-time religion, when everyone, women especially, knew their place, when Catholics obeyed without question every directive from on high, and when there was never any question that the Catholic Church was the one true church with all the answers to all the important questions we have about life, both here and hereafter.”</p>
<p>As a religious studies scholar who <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/625322/the-penguin-book-of-exorcisms-by-edited-by-joseph-p-laycock/">writes about exorcism</a> from a historical perspective, I believe the church’s changing stance on exorcism has little to do with our culture’s understanding of mental illness or other scientific advances and more to do with competing visions of the church as described by McBrien.</p>
<h2>Superstition and stigma</h2>
<p>Historically, America’s Protestant majority stigmatized Catholics as “<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Madonna_of_115th_Street/B7IJYNC5LAIC?hl=en&gbpv=1">superstitious immigrants</a>.” After Vatican II, a worldwide meeting of Catholic bishops held between 1962 and 1965, there was an effort to downplay the more supernatural elements of the Catholic tradition. Especially controversial were traditions dealing with what historian <a href="https://history.northwestern.edu/people/faculty/affiliated-faculty/robert-orsi.html">Robert Orsi</a> calls “<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/History_and_Presence/j6PWDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=History+and+Presence&printsec=frontcover">presence</a>,” or the belief that supernatural forces operate among us rather than in some transcendent realm.</p>
<p>Many church authorities believed if they did not “modernize” they would lose the younger generation. As Catholic novelist Flannery O’Connor described the prevailing attitude in 1962, “<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Mystery_and_Manners/FL8O0mTosVUC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Mystery+and+Manners:+Occasional+Prose&printsec=frontcover">the supernatural is an embarrassment</a>.”</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464331/original/file-20220519-13-vf7m15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black and white illustration showing three figures -- a devil with horns, a magician and a man holding a sword." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464331/original/file-20220519-13-vf7m15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464331/original/file-20220519-13-vf7m15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464331/original/file-20220519-13-vf7m15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464331/original/file-20220519-13-vf7m15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464331/original/file-20220519-13-vf7m15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464331/original/file-20220519-13-vf7m15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/464331/original/file-20220519-13-vf7m15.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">An illustration showing the devil attempting to seize a magician from the 13th-century Chroniques de Saint Denis.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/the-devil-and-magician-royalty-free-illustration/466571807?adppopup=true">duncan1890/ DigitalVision Vectors via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Ironically, as the church tried to modernize, the counterculture had a growing interest in <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Occultism_Witchcraft_and_Cultural_Fashio/LWmJGMBP_hQC?hl=en">the occult</a>, popularizing books and films that paved the way for “The Exorcist.” The film became a social phenomenon, and suddenly priests were being inundated with people demanding exorcisms. William O'Malley, a Jesuit priest who had a role in the film, described this surge to sociologist <a href="http://michaelwcuneo.com/">Michael Cuneo</a> <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=8v7tnck6J-oC&printsec=frontcover&dq=American+Exorcism&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiq5v-48un3AhW6knIEHXvtCWoQ6AF6BAgJEAI">in the following way</a>:</p>
<p>“I was teaching at a Jesuit high school in Rochester at the time, and for a while the phone wouldn’t stop ringing. … They called looking for an instant fix – pleading with me to expel their own demons, their kids’ demons, even their cats’ demons. It’s not that I rule out the possibility of demonic possession. As the saying goes, ‘There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.’ But this movie seems to have set off some really strange vibrations.” </p>
<p>Many conservative Catholics loved “The Exorcist.” Traditionalists – conservative Catholics who object to the reforms of Vatican II – <a href="https://stmarks.edu.au/review-article/the-smoke-of-satan-on-the-silver-screen-the-catholic-horror-film-vatican-ii-and-the-revival-of-demonology/">capitalized</a> on this new demand for exorcism, claiming that modernization had left Catholics vulnerable to demonic attack. </p>
<p>The Catholic Church also had competition: People who could not get an exorcism from the Catholics now had a variety of other options. Pentecostals had been casting out demons <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Bitten_by_Devils.html?id=BWqwOwAACAAJ">for decades</a>. There was also a milieu of <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/4354zp/these-occult-exorcists-say-the-catholic-church-makes-demons-worse">New Age healers</a> offering exorcisms.</p>
<h2>The return of the exorcists</h2>
<p>The 1917 Code of Canon Law was the first official comprehensive codification of church law, and it mandated each bishop appoint an official exorcist. But most dioceses <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/American_Exorcism/8v7tnck6J-oC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=American+Exorcism&printsec=frontcover">did not actually do this</a>, and this requirement was removed when the code was updated in 1983.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ansa.it/english/news/2014/07/02/vatican-recognizes-international-association-of-exorcists_c8289c9c-b68f-4d79-8365-d5096e2ca5fe.html">The International Association of Exorcists</a> was formed in 1990 to lobby the Vatican to take exorcism more seriously. In 2004, the Vatican’s <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=QqcRVJ_lFHcC&printsec=frontcover&dq=American+Exorcism&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi-wJTU3-73AhU9oHIEHR2xAY0Q6AF6BAgEEAI">Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith</a> asked dioceses around the world to once again appoint an exorcist.</p>
<p>These new exorcists had to be trained, so in 2005 a special course was offered at the Vatican seminary, the Regina Apostolorum. One priest who undertook that training was Father Gary Thomas, whose experiences were described by journalist Matt Baglio and became the basis for the 2011 film “<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=NIieSt_0E2sC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Baglio+The+Rite&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiv04jgyOf3AhW6nnIEHUD3B-kQ6AF6BAgEEAI">The Rite</a>.” In the film, a priest with little faith is sent to Rome to learn exorcism, culminating in a dramatic battle against the demon Baal. In 2014, the International Association of Exorcists finally received a degree of <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/vatican-formally-recognizes-international-association-exorcists">formal recognition</a> from the Vatican.</p>
<p>Francis, who assumed the papacy in 2013, has been viewed as friendly toward exorcism. In 2017, he encouraged priests to <a href="https://www.christianpost.com/news/pope-francis-tells-priests-call-exorcist-if-they-suspect-demon-possession-confessions-177949/">refer parishioners to an exorcist</a> if their process of discernment determined it was truly needed. Paradoxically, Francis’ openness toward exorcism may be related to his progressive agenda.</p>
<p>Francis is the first <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-are-the-jesuits-177667">Jesuit</a> pope. The Jesuit order – the same order Father Karras belongs to in “The Exorcist” – emphasizes education, and Jesuits have long had a reputation for being free thinkers. <a href="https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198228684.001.0001/acprof-9780198228684">Right-wing conspiracy theories</a> have accused the Jesuits of supporting communism or trying to corrupt the church from within. As pope, Francis has made <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2022/01/26/pope-francis-parents-should-never-condemn-gay-children/9227983002/">relatively tolerant</a> statements about homosexuality and <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/10/04/920053203/pope-francis-laments-failures-of-market-capitalism-in-blueprint-for-post-covid-w">criticized capitalism</a> – moves that could alienate the church’s conservative wing. But traditionalists can at least take solace in Francis being open to exorcism and the reality of the demonic.</p>
<p>Historically, exorcism has also been a way to attract new converts. Some of the people who thought they were possessed after watching “The Exorcist” became interested in Catholicism and <a href="https://thecatholicnewsarchive.org/?a=d&d=ca19740124-01.2.6">started attending mass</a>. The year the film came out, the media described a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1974/01/25/archives/an-exorcism-by-catholic-stirsa-furor.html">Catholic exorcist in San Francisco</a> who helped a family that believed they were under demonic attack. As a result, one family member converted from Orthodox Judaism to Catholicism. Any chance for new converts must hold appeal to a church with declining numbers and still under the cloud of clerical abuse scandals.</p>
<h2>Exorcism and politics</h2>
<p>Exorcism has become more mainstream in Catholic culture as well as evangelical and Pentecostal culture. A 2013 YouGov poll found that <a href="https://today.yougov.com/topics/lifestyle/articles-reports/2013/09/17/half-americans-believe-possession-devil">51% of Americans</a> believe in demonic possession. But at the same time, Catholic <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/catholic-church-attendance-decline-while-exorcisms-exorcism-training-rise-1469334">church attendance</a> continues to fall. This trend reflects a larger pattern of <a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2022/05/08/exp-gps-0508-fareed-take-on-polarized-america.cnn">cultural polarization</a> in America between growing secularism and an increasingly conservative religious culture.</p>
<p>In fact, exorcism has played an increasingly prominent role in the culture war. In 2018, a Chicago priest was <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/priest-who-burned-rainbow-flag-exorcism-ceremony-removed-church-n912501">removed from his position</a> by his bishop for saying a prayer of exorcism while setting fire to a rainbow flag. </p>
<p>And in 2020, an archbishop in San Francisco held an exorcism at a site where protesters had toppled a church’s statue of Junipero Serra, a Spanish missionary. Serra was canonized as a saint in 2015, but Native Americans have <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200620052048/http:/nativenewsonline.net/currents/american-indian-movement-chapter-allies-to-rally-serra-canonization-on-easter-sunday/">accused him</a> of aiding and abetting the Spanish genocide of Indigenous people. </p>
<p>As these trends continue, time will tell how long figures like Pope Francis can hold the center. Meanwhile, it is likely that exorcism will find an increasing appeal among Catholics as well as other denominations.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182212/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joseph P. Laycock does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
In the 1960s, the Catholic Church sought to downplay demonic possession, but its views since then have changed.
Joseph P. Laycock, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Texas State University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/168531
2021-09-27T13:17:38Z
2021-09-27T13:17:38Z
Hossam Metwally case: how exorcism can become a cover for domestic abuse
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423328/original/file-20210927-25-8999dl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C206%2C5734%2C3621&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/mans-hand-holding-woman-rape-sexual-1240921960">Tinnakorn jorruang/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-58596705">sentencing of Hossam Metwally</a> for poisoning his partner, Kelly Wilson, in a series of “exorcisms” was always likely to attract attention. The former NHS anaesthetist from Grimsby in the east of England has been jailed for 14 and a half years for what a judge described as “entirely bogus” rituals.</p>
<p>Metwally told the court that Wilson was possessed by a jinn or evil spirit, blaming the entity for her apparently “aggressive” behaviour. He repeatedly attempted to “expel” the spirit by physically restraining her and administering near-lethal doses of drugs for no justifiable clinical reason. </p>
<p>It is probable that she only survived the final incident, which led to Metwally’s arrest and ultimate conviction, because another family member intervened and called an ambulance.</p>
<p>Stories featuring the paranormal and disgraced doctors inevitably grab headlines, but the colourful aspects of the Metwally case risk diverting attention away from the core issues. Domestic abuse linked to exorcism is a well-documented phenomenon, although more research has been done <a href="http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/6416/1/RR750.pdf">in relation to children</a> in this field than adults. Whilst Metwally’s job gave him access to methods out of reach for most perpetrators, the underlying behaviour was not as rare as might be assumed.</p>
<h2>What is exorcism?</h2>
<p>The popular image of exorcism comes largely from horror films and paranormal documentaries. It tends to involve spiritual experts parachuting into a situation to rescue the afflicted, whether these are black-clad, crucifix-wielding priests, or mediums offering to cleanse a house with smudging. Either way, this trope of outsider specialists arriving to intervene creates a misleading impression; exorcisms are often carried out by family members in private.</p>
<p>Exorcism, <a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/158977557.pdf">defined as</a> “any rite or practice intended to free a person, place or object from a negative, external spiritual influence”, is common to many religious, spiritual and cultural traditions. Most reporting of the Metwally case has, commendably, stressed that his attempts at exorcism were unorthodox, though the significance of this has not been fully drawn out.</p>
<p>It is indisputable that Metwally’s use of drugs as part of his cleansing ritual has <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-58559506">no basis in “ruqya”</a> or Islamic exorcism as it is ordinarily performed. The sensationalist nature of this case risks spreading damaging misinformation about <a href="https://repository.uwtsd.ac.uk/1059/7/1059%2C%20Philips%201993.pdf">mainstream Muslim practice</a>.</p>
<h2>A cover for abuse</h2>
<p>When exorcism is carried out by family members in private homes, the power dynamics of these situations, and the lack of third parties to observe or intervene, means it can easily become a vehicle for abuse. In the vast majority of reported cases where exorcism has resulted in tragedy leading to criminal sanction, it is in family situations. </p>
<p>These scenarios deviate wildly from anything which the majority of members of their faith or cultural group would recognise or endorse. The sting in the tail is that the abusive treatment is often presented as a caring, helping act – as Metwally’s defence argued that it was in his case. </p>
<p>The very nature of these situations makes it difficult even for experts in the field to obtain accurate data about the scale of the problem, and commentators have called <a href="https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/exorcism-faith-versus-fraud(85b3325c-174f-4f25-a81c-a4aae6e76270).html">for further research</a>. Children’s charity Barnado’s has said that abuse linked to faith and belief is likely to have <a href="https://www.barnardos.org.uk/news/increase-witchcraft-and-spirit-possession-suspected-during-coronavirus-lockdown">increased during lockdown</a>.</p>
<p>When exorcism is performed within the confines of domestic relationships, it often involves a parent and child, or a dependent or vulnerable partner. The disempowered person’s alleged failure to conform to expectations is interpreted as the fault of an external force or spirit. The perpetrator of abuse may then assert that their frustration, aggression and control are, in fact, benevolent acts. If the victim fails to cooperate, this is seen as “evidence” of an evil spirit continuing to resist.</p>
<p>Janet Moses was killed in New Zealand <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news-old/wellington/2497165/Jury-returns-with-makutu-trial-verdicts">by relatives</a> attempting to cure her possession by forcing her to ingest water. It was not coincidental that this happened in the absence of the minister whom they had consulted, and that other members of their Maori community did not endorse their approach to the <em>mākutu</em>, or curse-lifting. </p>
<p>The gross imbalance of power was a factor in the murders of children <a href="http://victoriaclimbie.hud.ac.uk/background.html">Victoria Climbié</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-17255470">Kristy Bamu</a>, both in London, as well as adults <a href="http://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/33902/1/11415_Hall.pdf">Farida Patel</a> in Essex and <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/exorcism-preachers-manslaughter-conviction-overturned/MEKGZGYZAL3CM5GHXBCTHLR3FI/">Joanna Lee</a> in New Zealand.</p>
<p>This pattern makes it harder to devise law and policies to tackle the problem, as the challenge is not to get organised religious groups to change policy, nor to regulate those offering these kinds of services for payment, but to respond to private behaviours within a family setting. </p>
<p>Presenting stories like the Metwally case first and foremost as incidents of domestic abuse can shift focus back to reality. To prevent exorcism being used as cover for coercive or violent behaviour, there needs to be a wider social debate about the balance between respecting freedom of religion and freedom of choice on the one hand, and protecting the vulnerable from abuse on the other. </p>
<p>Greater awareness of the range of common spiritual practices and beliefs, combined with raising awareness of red flags of actions outside of legally acceptable limits (such as the use of violence or the administration of toxic substances to perform exorcism) would assist both victims and third parties to recognise abuse for what it is. </p>
<p>Ultimately, the key takeaway from the Metwally case should be that his behaviour was unlawful and abusive – his supposedly religious motivation is secondary.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168531/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen Hall is affiliated with Church of England </span></em></p>
The underlying behaviour in the former doctor’s near-poisoning of his partner is more common than might be assumed.
Helen Hall, Senior Lecturer, Nottingham Law School, Nottingham Trent University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/148646
2020-10-23T15:24:18Z
2020-10-23T15:24:18Z
Netflix horror: the real demons haunting Bly Manor
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/365197/original/file-20201023-21-1eqjrvf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=371%2C134%2C3071%2C2101&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Haunting scene: Jim Piddick as Father Stack in Netflix's The Haunting of Bly Manor.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EIKE SCHROTER/NETFLIX © 2020</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em><strong>Spoiler alert: this article explores some general plot trends from the series.</strong></em></p>
<p>The clear standout among this Halloween season’s TV offerings is <a href="https://www.netflix.com/title/81237854">The Haunting of Bly Manor</a>, a ghost story adapted from the Henry James <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Turn_of_the_Screw">novella</a> The Turn of the Screw. In a strange twist for a TV series, the second episode features a <a href="https://www.popsugar.com/entertainment/haunting-bly-manor-biblical-connection-explained-47865788">conversation</a> between Miles (a haunted orphan and one of the lead characters) and a priest about a biblical exorcism. </p>
<p>Young Miles worries about whether or not the Gerasene demoniac – a man on whom Jesus performed an exorcism, mentioned in the gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke – allowed the legion of demons to possess him. The conversation gives us some insight into Miles’s world and foreshadows the plot twists to come.</p>
<p>But the story of the Gerasene demoniac speaks to a reality that is more terrifying than The Haunting of Bly Manor. He is, as I and others have <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9780230338296">argued</a> before, one of a number of Biblical characters ostracised from society for what we might now call disabilities. Others include women with gynaecological problems and people suffering from leprosy. </p>
<p>According to the Bible, the possessed man had been repeatedly shackled and placed in isolation, away from his family, friends and the rest of his community. He lived in a cemetery, was chained up, naked and homeless.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes.<br>
And when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit,<br>
who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains,<br>
because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him.<br>
And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It is easy to assume that he was “bound with shackles and chains” because he was possessed – but the gospels do not supply us with a complete medical history. His ability to break free of restraints might as easily serve as a sign of his desperation as his supernatural power. We do not know whether or not the experience of being exiled to a cemetery had exacerbated whatever physical or psychological traits had led to his forcible exclusion from his community in the first place.</p>
<p>An important recent <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.15699/jbl.1383.2019.650443?seq=1">article</a> by Boston University Bible scholar <a href="https://www.bu.edu/sth/profile/luis-menendez-antuna/">Luis Menéndez-Antuña</a> explores how solitary confinement affects the wellbeing of those who are imprisoned and uses these experiences to reread the Bible story. Those placed in conditions similar to those of the demoniac, he writes, often experience extreme psychological side effects that “distort, undo, unhinge, and unglue subjectivity”.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tykS7QfTWMQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Victims of this kind of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_death">social death</a> feel detachment from their own bodies and identities, and even an inability to recall their own names. Convicted murderer Jack Abbott, who died in prison in 2002 but <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/128/in-the-belly-of-the-beast-by-jack-henry-abbott/">wrote letters</a> describing the prison system and his experience of being confined to a blackout cell (a small room with no light), recalled: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I heard someone screaming far way and it was me. I fell against the wall, and as if it were a catapult, was hurled across the cell to the opposite wall. Back and forth I reeled, from the door to the walls, screaming. Insane.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://www.aclu.org/other/stop-solitary-stories-solitary">Other</a> former prisoners <a href="https://solitarywatch.org/2013/03/11/voices-from-solitary-a-sentence-worse-than-death/">describe</a> the experience of radical separation from human contact as “choking” them and trying to “squeeze sanity” from their mind. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.afsc.org/resource/solitary-confinement-facts">Documented</a> <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/what-does-solitary-confinement-do-to-your-mind/">effects</a> of solitary confinement include auditory and visual <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Stuart_Grassian/publication/19222106_Effects_of_sensory_deprivation_in_psychiatric_seclusion_and_solitary_confinement/links/59e4d240a6fdcc1b1d8d1b09/Effects-of-sensory-deprivation-in-psychiatric-seclusion-and-solitary-confinement.pdf">hallucinations</a>, paranoia, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11524-017-0138-1">PTSD</a>, uncontrollable rage, <a href="https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/full/10.2105/ajph.2013.301742">self-harm</a> and mutilation, diminished impulse control, and distortions of time and perception. </p>
<h2>We are legion</h2>
<p>This is precisely what we see with the Gerasene demoniac. He no longer identifies as himself and instead identifies himself as a legion of beings. The exorcism story, in which the demons are expelled from the man into a herd of pigs, is as much about reintegrating the man into society as it is about expelling evil forces. But what <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Solitary_Confinement/Qu5zDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0">sociology</a> and personal experiences tell us about the violent effects of the conditions in which he had been forced to live raises questions about how we should tell his story.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Medeival mosaic of Jesus expelling the Gerasene demoniac's demons into pigs." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/365171/original/file-20201023-18-cdqlmz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/365171/original/file-20201023-18-cdqlmz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365171/original/file-20201023-18-cdqlmz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365171/original/file-20201023-18-cdqlmz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365171/original/file-20201023-18-cdqlmz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365171/original/file-20201023-18-cdqlmz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365171/original/file-20201023-18-cdqlmz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Was the Gerasene demoniac possessed or an early example of the mistreatment of people suffering mental health conditions?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mosaic from the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Whether or not we believe in the supernatural, we can ask whether the man’s condition was caused or exacerbated by members of his own family or community. Historically speaking, many people, including Jesus himself in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+3%3A20-25&version=NRSV">Mark 3:20-25</a>, have been accused of possession for their failure or inability to conform to certain social norms. We should not assume that all of the behavioural characteristics or torments the demoniac is experiencing when we meet him were present before his initial confinement. </p>
<p>As the coronavirus <a href="https://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/health-emergencies/coronavirus-covid-19/publications-and-technical-guidance/noncommunicable-diseases/mental-health-and-covid-19">pandemic</a> has shown us: isolation and loneliness are stressors for everyone, but <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2008017">especially</a> for those with mental illness. The Gerasene demoniac experienced something much worse.</p>
<p>The realisation that we do not know what role violent exclusion played in the possessed man’s condition raises questions about the ethics of some of our own practices when it comes to imprisonment. We should ask how certain punitive measures psychologically damage those who are incarcerated. Though it may seem as though we have come a long way from Bly Manor, we actually have not. </p>
<p>Over the course of the season, we learn that the primary evil character in the show became vengeful after being abandoned and confined alone for many decades. Even in the realm of fantasy, solitary confinement is psychological torture. It is of isolation and loneliness that we should truly be afraid.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/148646/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Candida Moss does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
A much talked-about scene from the latest Netflix horror raises important questions about how the Bible deals with mental health.
Candida Moss, Cadbury Professor of Theology, University of Birmingham
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/146741
2020-09-25T21:21:49Z
2020-09-25T21:21:49Z
What is charismatic Catholicism?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360077/original/file-20200925-22-1mqwble.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=45%2C15%2C4996%2C3355&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Members of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal organization, which began in Pennsylvania in 1967, holding a meeting in France</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-catholic-charismatic-renewal-organization-which-began-news-photo/583037740?adppopup=true">Photo by Jacques Pavlovsky/Sygma via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>President <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/25/us/politics/amy-coney-barrett-supreme-court.html">Donald Trump</a> has nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360067/original/file-20200925-18-1qf6lgm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360067/original/file-20200925-18-1qf6lgm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360067/original/file-20200925-18-1qf6lgm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360067/original/file-20200925-18-1qf6lgm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360067/original/file-20200925-18-1qf6lgm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360067/original/file-20200925-18-1qf6lgm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360067/original/file-20200925-18-1qf6lgm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/360067/original/file-20200925-18-1qf6lgm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Judge Amy Coney Barrett in Milwaukee, on Aug. 24, 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/SupremeCourtVacancy/e24b29958b714f1cad4500725db55417/photo?Query=amy%20AND%20coney&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=6&currentItemNo=2">Rachel Malehorn, rachelmalehorn.smugmug.com, via AP</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Questions have been raised about her alleged association with the “<a href="https://peopleofpraise.org/">People of Praise</a>,” a nondenominational <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2020/09/24/explainer-amy-coney-barrett-people-of-praise-catholic-charismatic-trump">Christian charismatic community</a>, seen by some as being a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/28/us/amy-coney-barrett-nominee-religion.html">potential influence on her legal thinking</a>, particularly concerning abortion rights.</p>
<p>The People of Praise <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-barrett-religion/as-u-s-supreme-court-nomination-looms-a-religious-community-draws-fresh-interest-idUSKCN26D2RR">leave it to individual members</a> to disclose their affiliation, and Barrett has not spoken about her membership. <a href="https://slate.com/human-interest/2018/07/amy-coney-barretts-alleged-religious-group-people-of-praise-what-is-it.html">And so, the question remains:</a> What is charismatic Catholicism?</p>
<h2>Pentecostalism in the U.S.</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.nsc-chariscenter.org/about-ccr/">Catholic charismatics</a> practice forms of Pentecostalism that embrace the belief that individuals can receive gifts of the Holy Spirit.</p>
<p>Modern <a href="https://www.pwfellowship.org/">Pentecostalism</a> in the United States began on <a href="https://www.apostolicarchives.com/articles/article/8801925/173190.htm">Azuza Street</a> in Los Angeles. </p>
<p>Starting in 1906, African American pastor <a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-65/pentecostalism-william-seymour.html">William J. Seymour</a> led a congregation in the city that claimed to have received miraculous gifts from God, such as prophecy and the power to heal. The movement came to be known as Azuza Street revival.</p>
<p>Members of the Azuza Street congregation believed that they had been given the same blessings as those received by the disciples of Jesus. According to the Bible’s <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%202&version=NIV">Acts of the Apostles</a>, on the <a href="https://www.christianity.com/jesus/early-church-history/pentecost/where-did-pentecost-come-from.html">Pentecost</a> – the Jewish <a href="https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/shavuot-101/">Shavuot</a> harvest festival 50 days after <a href="https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/passover-pesach-101/">Passover</a> – the Holy Spirit came down in the form of <a href="https://biblehub.com/acts/2-3.htm">flames over the disciples’ heads</a>. Afterward, it is believed, the disciples were able to speak in languages they did not know in order to proclaim “the wonders of God.”</p>
<p>In Christianity, the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity and is associated with God’s action in the world. </p>
<h2>The Catholic charismatic movement</h2>
<p>These Pentecostal teachings went on to influence the Catholic charismatic movement that initially took hold in the U.S. in the 1960s.</p>
<p>During a 1967 prayer meeting at <a href="http://www.ccr.org.uk/about-ccr/about/the-duquesne-weekend/">Dusquesne University</a> in Pittsburgh, a group of students and professors spoke about special “charisms,” or gifts, received through the Holy Spirit. </p>
<p>According to <a href="https://www.thearkandthedoveworldwide.org/en/2015/09/duquesne-weekend-testimony/">firsthand accounts</a>, faculty were deeply influenced by two books from the Pentecostal tradition, “<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/346305/the-cross-and-the-switchblade-by-david-wilkerson/">The Cross and the Switchblade</a>” and “<a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/They_Speak_with_Other_Tongues.html?id=8ZenhFGCAQgC">They Speak with Other Tongues</a>.” </p>
<p>Similar experiences of the Holy Spirit were later reported at prayer meetings at the <a href="https://www.nsc-chariscenter.org/article/what-we-have-seen-and-heard/">University of Notre Dame</a> and the <a href="https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/full/10.3366/swc.2019.0267">University of Michigan</a>. </p>
<p>From these beginnings, the Catholic charismatic movement has spread throughout the world. </p>
<p>For Catholic charismatics, the central experience is “the baptism of the Holy Spirit.” The baptism of the Holy Spirit differs from the traditional Catholic infant baptism with water. Adults baptized in the Holy Spirit have their faith reborn and strengthened by members of the congregation laying their hands on them.</p>
<p>Often a sign of baptism of the Holy Spirit is “<a href="https://bustedhalo.com/ministry-resources/speaking-in-tongues">glossolalia</a>,” or “<a href="http://www.ccr.org.uk/articles/what-is-the-gift-of-tongues/">speaking in tongues</a>.” Speaking in tongues refers to using an unintelligible language, which is often interpreted by someone else in the congregation. Usually glossolalia is considered a form of prayer. But other times, glossolalia is believed to contain prophecies about present or future events. </p>
<p>Participants in the Catholic charismatic movement also claim spiritual and physical healing associated with the power of the Holy Spirit working through believers. </p>
<p>Catholic charismatic prayer services are enthusiastic and involve energetic <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q40vLWAOYJ4">singing</a>, hand clapping and praying with arms outstretched. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Q40vLWAOYJ4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Catholic charismatic prayer service.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Controversy and support</h2>
<p>There are also forms of charismatic Catholicism that believe in driving out evil spirits.</p>
<p>A Catholic charismatic community in India that I <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=XuFPwjsAAAAJ&hl=en">researched</a> practiced exorcism as well as faith healing. The group also had a list of evil spirits that they claimed to have dealt with. </p>
<p>[<em>Insight, in your inbox each day.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=insight">You can get it with The Conversation’s email newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>Not all Catholic charismatic groups perform exorcisms, especially since the Vatican <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19850924_exorcism_en.html">tightened</a> exorcism procedures by allowing them to be formally performed only by priests. But Catholic charismatic practices <a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/1991/september-16/charismatic-communities-split-by-controversy.html">remain controversial</a> for some because they differ from mainstream Catholic worship. </p>
<p>Recently, Catholic charismatics have found a strong ally in <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2019/06/14/francis-our-first-charismatic-pope">Pope Francis</a>. In fact, at Rome’s Olympic Stadium, the pope once <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/francis-chronicles/pope-charismatic-rally-stadium-invites-them-vatican-2017">knelt</a> and was blessed by a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFVDQdamv1w">gathering of thousands</a> of Catholic charismatics, all speaking in tongues. </p>
<p>Commentators <a href="https://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2020/09/23/supreme-court-religion-eileen-mcnamara">disagree</a> about whether Barrett’s membership in a charismatic religious community should be an issue in any potential nomination hearings. But charismatic or Pentecostal groups and churches represent <a href="https://religionnews.com/2020/02/25/spirit-empowered-christianity-is-one-of-the-fastest-growing-global-movements-new-study-shows/">the fastest-growing </a> segment of Christianity throughout the world. For this reason, Amy Coney Barrett’s beliefs may be shared by many contemporary Christians.</p>
<p><em>This article has been updated to correct the year of the Azuza Street revival.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/146741/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mathew Schmalz received Fulbright and American Institute of Indian Studies dissertation grants for the study of charismatic Catholicism in India. Mathew Schmalz is a Roman Catholic and is registered as an Independent.</span></em></p>
The Catholic charismatic movement in the United States began during the 1960s. The practices of Catholic charismatics encompass various forms of Pentecostalism.
Mathew Schmalz, Professor of Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/107310
2019-01-03T10:23:54Z
2019-01-03T10:23:54Z
Dealing with devil has long been a part of medicine
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251258/original/file-20181218-27773-1uc7owk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=32%2C7%2C1621%2C1118&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nuremberg_chronicles_-_Devil_and_Woman_on_Horseback_(CLXXXIXv).jpg">Illustrations from the Nuremberg Chronicle, by Hartmann Schedel (1440-1514)</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Thirty children in Amsterdam began to show signs of a disturbing affliction in the winter of 1566. The symptoms would strike without warning: the children would at first be seized by a violent frenzy, then fall to the ground, their bodies wracked with painful convulsions. Once the fits had passed, the children reported no memory of them.</p>
<p>This already looked like the work of the devil, but any lingering doubts were put to rest when the children began vomiting strange objects, like pins and shards of glass. They were experiencing, it seemed, a mass demonic possession. Multiple exorcisms would be attempted, but not before first exhausting the expertise of physicians, who often worked alongside ecclesiastical healers to mitigate the effects of such demonic assaults. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251734/original/file-20181220-45403-1dnz01w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251734/original/file-20181220-45403-1dnz01w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=927&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251734/original/file-20181220-45403-1dnz01w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=927&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251734/original/file-20181220-45403-1dnz01w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=927&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251734/original/file-20181220-45403-1dnz01w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1165&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251734/original/file-20181220-45403-1dnz01w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1165&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251734/original/file-20181220-45403-1dnz01w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1165&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Portrait of Johann Weyer.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://wellcomecollection.org/works/e39fm96j">Wellcome Collection</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Shortly afterwards, in the nearby Duchy of Cleve, the learned physician Johann Weyer read about this mass possession, reaching him through the account of the chancellor in Gelderland. His interest was professional. Weyer himself did not believe that strange objects had actually been vomited, but he did not question that reliable authorities had witnessed this happen. Neither did he deny diabolical agency. </p>
<p>Instead, he reinterpreted the scope of demonic power to emphasise the devil’s longstanding status as a master trickster. The extraordinary regurgitation, he argued, was a mere illusion, a common embellishment in fact of natural illnesses often caused by the devil.</p>
<p>Faced with Weyer’s evaluation, modern sensibilities are left reeling. The physician’s scepticism soon appears to be countered by near incomprehensible credulity in the devil’s agency. We are compelled to ask: But what really happened? Many <a href="https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-dispossessed-brian-levacks-the-devil-within/#!">explanations</a> have been offered for similar reports of demonic possession, often invoking categories from modern medicine or pointing to the possibility of fraud (which was considered seriously by early moderns as well). </p>
<p>But this gives us only a limited view of a much larger and much more complex landscape of healing in the early modern period. This was a time in which growing belief in demonic activity in the natural world genuinely shaped the understanding and experience of illness.</p>
<h2>Recognising possession</h2>
<p>Weyer’s account of the mass possession in Amsterdam was first published as a small part of his broader evaluation of demonic power in the 1568 edition of his book <a href="https://books.google.de/books?id=TgQ6AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q&f=false">On the Illusions of Demons</a>. There, we find many such cases that indicate the characteristic signs looked for by professionals who suspected the activity of the devil. </p>
<p>In addition to the physiological – such as physical pain and convulsions – more indicative psychological signs were sought, such as the demonstration of hidden knowledge, prognostication, and xenoglossy, which involved speaking in unlearned languages (especially with strange vocal alterations). Often reports of demonic possession did indeed include the expulsion of strange objects, such as, in more extreme cases, knives or live eels. Despite these extraordinary symptoms, the diagnosis of demonic afflictions was not always straightforward.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251261/original/file-20181218-27764-wf91gt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251261/original/file-20181218-27764-wf91gt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=672&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251261/original/file-20181218-27764-wf91gt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=672&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251261/original/file-20181218-27764-wf91gt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=672&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251261/original/file-20181218-27764-wf91gt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=845&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251261/original/file-20181218-27764-wf91gt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=845&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251261/original/file-20181218-27764-wf91gt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=845&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A bishop exorcising men possessed of evil spirits. France, 15th century.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://wellcomecollection.org/works/np95rkjn?query=Exorcism">Wellcome Collection</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Weyer’s work tells us much about the diverse ways in which the devil was thought to operate, both in illusion and in reality – and the ways in which this complicated medicine in his time. The devil, who was often called “prince of this world”, was understood to be precisely that. Rather than wielding truly supernatural power, the devil and his demons were understood to be restricted to working in nature, which they often did in ways that escaped human understanding. These natural powers included the ability to manipulate the four humours that were believed to govern health. This meant that any natural illness, in theory, could be hiding the hand of the devil as its primary cause.</p>
<p>The possibility of demonic agency would not usually be considered unless natural medicines first proved ineffective, but ineffective medicine was not taken uncritically to indicate a demonic cause. Physical convulsions, for instance, were also associated with natural diseases such as epilepsy, which was already understood to be unpredictable, chronic, and potentially incurable. For physicians, demonic agency was not simply an explanation for inexplicable illnesses: it was one of many possible explanations for illnesses that might in other cases be diagnosed as purely natural. </p>
<p>While the activity of the devil might be a speciality of the priest, the psychosomatic symptoms associated with demonic possession also required the physician’s expertise to investigate the potential for purely natural causation.</p>
<h2>Healing the possessed</h2>
<p>Like today, medical diagnosis in the early modern period was fraught with difficulties. Learned physicians were rare and expensive, and in fact most healing took place in the home and among neighbours, as had long been the norm. In severe cases, rather than face the uncertainty of a learned physician – or worse, the determination that the illness was in fact incurable – most would naturally prefer the succour of the priest, who was far more accessible and often better equipped to help the unwell come to terms with their illness. </p>
<p>And indeed in practice, the boundaries between ecclesiastical healing and medicine were far more fluid than the terms “priest” and “physician” might suggest. These boundaries were regularly traversed in exorcism by lay healers who prescribed both natural medicines and prayer in answer to demonic afflictions.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251262/original/file-20181218-27755-dho0o6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/251262/original/file-20181218-27755-dho0o6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251262/original/file-20181218-27755-dho0o6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251262/original/file-20181218-27755-dho0o6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=521&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251262/original/file-20181218-27755-dho0o6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=654&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251262/original/file-20181218-27755-dho0o6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=654&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/251262/original/file-20181218-27755-dho0o6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=654&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A bewitched woman vomiting. Woodcut, 1720.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://wellcomecollection.org/works/ax6dnfv3?query=devil%20vomiting">Wellcome Collection</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Weyer concluded that the most extraordinary signs of the mass possession at Amsterdam were illusory, leaving the remaining symptoms – and therefore demonic afflictions in general – much more accessible to medical intervention. For him, diabolical agency was a real factor in the subtle negotiation of diagnosis and treatment. What he understood to be the natural mechanisms of demonic activity meant that medical practitioners always had a role in addressing the symptoms of demonic afflictions.</p>
<p>Today, more than 400 years on, Catholic priests in America <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/12/catholic-exorcisms-on-the-rise/573943/">reportedly</a> field requests for exorcisms numbering in the thousands every year. Their first recourse is to mental health professionals, belying a continuity with exorcism as it was practised in Weyer’s time. In this respect, the professionals who confront reports of demonic possession today are in agreement with their early modern predecessors: call the physician first.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107310/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura Sumrall does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Reports of demonic possession are once again on the rise. But during the devil’s last apogee in early modern Europe, demonic afflictions were taken seriously by both priests and physicians.
Laura Sumrall, Visiting Predoctoral Fellow, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/107932
2018-12-17T11:42:12Z
2018-12-17T11:42:12Z
Exorcisms have been part of Christianity for centuries
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250720/original/file-20181214-185268-dv5mox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A painting showing Saint Francis Borgia, a 16th century saint,, performing an exorcism.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._Francis_Borgia_Helping_a_Dying_Impenitent_by_Goya.jpg">Francisco Goya </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>“<a href="https://www.filmsite.org/exor.html">The Exorcist</a>,” a horror film released 45 years ago, is a terrifying depiction of supernatural evil. The film tells the story of a young American girl who is possessed by a demon and eventually exorcised by a Catholic priest. </p>
<p>Many viewers were drawn in by the film’s portrayal of exorcism in Christianity. As a scholar of Christian theology, <a href="https://www.academia.edu/32863568/God_Sexuality_and_the_Demonic_An_Essay_on_the_Trinity_Combative_Prayer_and_Sarah_Coakley">my own research</a> into the history of Christian exorcisms reveals how the notion of engaging in battle against demons has been an important way that Christians have understood their faith and the world. </p>
<h2>Early and medieval Christianity</h2>
<p>The Bible’s account of the life of Jesus features several exorcism stories. The Gospels, reflecting views <a href="https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/bible-interpretation/how-the-serpent-became-satan/">common in Judaism</a> in the first century A.D., portray demons as spirits opposed to God that haunt, possess or tempt people to evil. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250697/original/file-20181214-185255-1e1qsf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250697/original/file-20181214-185255-1e1qsf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250697/original/file-20181214-185255-1e1qsf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250697/original/file-20181214-185255-1e1qsf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250697/original/file-20181214-185255-1e1qsf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250697/original/file-20181214-185255-1e1qsf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250697/original/file-20181214-185255-1e1qsf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Exorcism by St. Exupere, Bishop of Toulouse, France, at the beginning of fifth century.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cathedral_of_Bayeux_(France),_exorcism_by_Saint_Exupere.jpg">Philippe Alès</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Possessed individuals are depicted as displaying bizarre and erratic behaviors. In the <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+9%3A37-43&version=NIV">Gospel of Luke</a>, for example, a boy is possessed by a demon that makes him foam at the mouth and experience violent spasms. Jesus is shown to have a unique power to cast out demons and <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+10%3A5-8&version=NIV">promises</a> that his followers can do the same. </p>
<p>In the centuries that followed, accounts of using Jesus’ name for casting out demons are common. Origen, an early Christian theologian, <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/04161.htm">writing</a> in the second century, explains how the name of Jesus is used by Christians to expel “evil spirits from … souls and bodies.” </p>
<p>Over the years exorcism came to be associated more widely with the Christian faith. Several Christian writers mention exorcisms taking place publicly as a way to convince people to become Christians. They <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2802.htm">argued</a> that people should convert because the exorcisms Christians performed were more effective than those of “pagans.” </p>
<p>Early Christian texts mention <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=7kbotwEACAAJ&dq=new+catholic+encyclopedia&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=exorcism">various</a> exorcism methods that Christians used, including making the sign of the cross over possessed persons or even breathing on them. </p>
<h2>Minor exorcism</h2>
<p>Beginning some time in the early Middle Ages, specific priests were uniquely trained and sanctioned for exorcism. This remains the case today in Roman Catholicism, while <a href="https://www.goarch.org/-/exorcism-in-the-orthodox-church">Eastern Orthodox traditions</a> allow all priests to perform exorcisms. </p>
<p>Early Christians also <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=7kbotwEACAAJ&dq=new+catholic+encyclopedia&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=baptism">practiced</a> what is sometimes called a “minor exorcism.” This type of exorcism is not for those considered to be acutely possessed.</p>
<p>This took place before or during the ritual of baptism, a ceremony whereby someone officially joins the Church. The practice emerges from the assumption that all people are generally susceptible to evil spiritual forces. For this reason some sort of prayer or statement against the power of the devil would often be recited during catechesis, a period of preparation prior to baptism, baptism, or both. </p>
<h2>Demons and Protestants</h2>
<p>Between the 15th to 17th centuries, there was an increased concern about demons in Western Europe. Not only are there <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=VnSEsi8Q510C&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+devil+within&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiP5vrX-prfAhXkmuAKHTfWDLAQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=the%20devil%20within&f=false">abundant accounts</a> of priests exorcising individuals from this time period, but also of animals, inanimate objects and even land. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250696/original/file-20181214-185234-18cl8ry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250696/original/file-20181214-185234-18cl8ry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250696/original/file-20181214-185234-18cl8ry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250696/original/file-20181214-185234-18cl8ry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250696/original/file-20181214-185234-18cl8ry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250696/original/file-20181214-185234-18cl8ry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250696/original/file-20181214-185234-18cl8ry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A woodcut from 1598 shows an exorcism performed on a woman by a priest and his assistant, with a demon emerging from her mouth.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Woodcut-1598-witch-trial.jpg">Pierre Boaistuau, et al., Histoires prodigieuses et memorables, extraictes de plusieurs fameux autheurs, Grecs, & Latins, sacrez & prophanes (Paris, 1598), vol. 1.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The narratives are also much more detailed. When someone possessed by a demon was confronted by an exorcist priest, it <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=VnSEsi8Q510C&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+devil+within&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiP5vrX-prfAhXkmuAKHTfWDLAQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=the%20devil%20within&f=false">was believed</a> that the demon would be aggravated and cause the individual to engage in more intense and violent behavior. There are reports of physical altercations, floating around the room, and speaking or screaming loudly and angrily during the exorcism process. </p>
<p>Protestants, who were skeptical of many Catholic rituals, <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=VnSEsi8Q510C&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+devil+within&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiP5vrX-prfAhXkmuAKHTfWDLAQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=the%20devil%20within&f=false">combated demonic possession with more informal practices</a> such as impromptu prayer for the afflicted individual. </p>
<p>During the Enlightenment, between 17th to 19th centuries, Europeans began to cast doubt on so-called “superstitious” elements of religion. Many intellectuals and even church leaders argued that people’s experiences of demons could be explained away by psychology and other sciences. Exorcism began to be viewed by many as unnecessary or even dangerous. </p>
<h2>Exorcism today</h2>
<p>Many Christian denominations still practice some form of minor exorcism. Before people are baptized in the Episcopal Church, for example, they <a href="https://www.episcopalchurch.org/files/bcp_04-28-2017.compressed_0.pdf">are asked</a>: “Do you renounce Satan and all the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God?”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250700/original/file-20181214-185264-t0s4hi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250700/original/file-20181214-185264-t0s4hi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250700/original/file-20181214-185264-t0s4hi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250700/original/file-20181214-185264-t0s4hi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250700/original/file-20181214-185264-t0s4hi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250700/original/file-20181214-185264-t0s4hi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250700/original/file-20181214-185264-t0s4hi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Exorcism is practiced by Christians across the world.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/1014910600?src=sJy4tonxTQZIlSV4zWnxYw-3-62&size=medium_jpg">Lutsenko_Oleksandr/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Catholic Church <a href="http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/sacraments-and-sacramentals/sacramentals-blessings/exorcism.cfm">still has</a> an active ministry devoted to performing exorcisms of possessed individuals. The current practice includes safeguards that require, among others, persons suspected of being possessed to undergo medical and psychiatric evaluation before an exorcism takes place. </p>
<p>Exorcism is particularly <a href="http://www.pewforum.org/2014/11/13/chapter-4-pentecostalism/">common</a> in Pentecostalism, a form of Christianity that has <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/subdivisions/pentecostal_1.shtml">grown rapidly</a> in recent decades. This branch of Christianity emphasizes spiritual experience in everyday life. Pentecostals practice something akin to exorcism but which is typically called “deliverance.” Pentecostals maintain that possessed persons can be delivered through prayer by other Christians or recognized spiritual leader. Pentecostalism is an international Christian tradition and specific deliverance <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=o6RMDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=spirit-filled+world&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwie8Znp-ZvfAhXoYN8KHVTKDv0Q6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=spirit-filled%20world&f=false">practices can vary widely</a> around the world. </p>
<p>In the United States belief in demons remains high. Over half of all Americans <a href="https://today.yougov.com/topics/philosophy/articles-reports/2013/09/17/poll-results-exorcism">believe</a> that demons can possess individuals. </p>
<p>So, despite modern-day skepticism, exorcism remains a common practice of Christians around the world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107932/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>S. Kyle Johnson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Forty-five years ago, ‘The Exorcist’ terrified viewers with its portrayal of a practice that goes back several centuries and continues today in Christianity.
S. Kyle Johnson, Doctoral Student in Systematic Theology, Boston College
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/101935
2018-08-23T10:43:31Z
2018-08-23T10:43:31Z
For some Catholics, it is demons that taunt priests with sexual desire
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/232965/original/file-20180821-149478-19noclg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pennsylvania grand jury accused Cardinal Wuerl of helping to protect abusive priests when he was Pittsburgh's bishop</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Kevin Wolf</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A Pennsylvania grand jury recently released a report on the systematic ways Catholic priests <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/pennsylvania-report-on-alleged-child-abuse-by-priests-set-to-be-released-1534261690">aided and abetted one another</a> to sexually abuse children for 70 years.</p>
<p>It reveals once again how the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-catholic-churchs-hierarchy-makes-it-difficult-to-punish-sexual-abusers-89477">strict patriarchal hierarchy of the Catholic Church</a> gives rise to conspiracies of silence and allows for <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/grand-jury-report-about-catholic-priest-abuse-pennsylvania-shows-church-ncna900906">routine cover-up</a> of crimes. Cover-ups are also encouraged by clericalism – the belief that ordained priests are inherently superior and closer to God than the laity. This much has been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/aug/17/religion.childprotection">demonstrated</a> by countless observers. </p>
<p>But there is another, lesser-known factor contributing to the abuse, that I want to point out as a scholar of <a href="https://works.bepress.com/elizabeth_mcalister/">spiritual warfare</a> in some forms of Christianity. This factor lies in the realm of belief: In some strands of Catholic thought, when priests abuse children, it is because they have been tempted by demons, and succumbed.</p>
<h2>History of demon beliefs</h2>
<p>The Catholic Church invites priests to view sexuality as a battle in the war between good and evil. <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/american-possessions-9780190205355?cc=us&lang=en&">Spiritual warfare</a> is one name for this view of the world and it has a long history in Catholic teachings. </p>
<p>The idea of <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/titles/8135.html">demons</a> has been around since antiquity – in the Mediterranean world, the Middle East and elsewhere. In Christianity, preoccupation with demons reached its peak in the Middle Ages. Demons were explicitly defined by the church in 1215 <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520288447/the-anthropology-of-catholicism">under Pope Innocent III</a>.</p>
<p>Theologians worked to identify <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/titles/8135.html">classes and ranks of demons</a> who operated under the authority of the devil himself. Demons were seen as fallen angels who disobeyed God and worked to subvert God and goodness. </p>
<p>Demons are malevolent beings who lord over specific domains of sin. Christians are called to battle evil, including evil that comes by way of the demonic. The more pious one is, the more intense will be the attacks from the demons.</p>
<p>After the Second Vatican Council of 1964, demons faded out of focus and exorcisms were rare. But my research shows that the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/20566093.2016.1085239">spiritual warfare world view</a> is on the rise in the Catholic Church. This is despite the fact that demons and exorcisms are largely viewed by most American Catholics as remnants of a medieval past. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/232961/original/file-20180821-149481-148ugq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/232961/original/file-20180821-149481-148ugq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232961/original/file-20180821-149481-148ugq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232961/original/file-20180821-149481-148ugq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232961/original/file-20180821-149481-148ugq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232961/original/file-20180821-149481-148ugq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/232961/original/file-20180821-149481-148ugq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=560&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Thirteenth-century frescoes of demons.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:13th-century_unknown_painters_-_Fabulous_Creatures_-_WGA19688.jpg">St. Jacob's Church, Kastelaz</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The return of demons and exorcisms</h2>
<p>In 1999, Pope John Paul II brought back a focus on the formal rites of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1999/01/27/us/pope-s-visit-doctrine-vatican-s-revised-exorcism-rite-affirms-existence-devil.html">exorcism</a> – the official ritual that priests use to rid a person from demonic affliction or possession. The pope later recommended that every diocese in the Catholic world appoint and train an exorcist.</p>
<p>The Catholic Church in the United States took up <a href="http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/us-exorcists-demonic-activity-on-the-rise">the call</a> and in 2012 founded the Pope Leo XII Institute in Illinois to support “the spiritual formation of priests to bring the light of Christ to dispel evil.” To this day it serves as a <a href="https://popeleo13institute.org/">“school for exorcism and deliverance”</a> of the laity from demons. </p>
<p>The institute offers workshops for clergy such as “<a href="https://popeleo13institute.org/summer-conference-1">Angels and Demons, Natures and Attributes</a>.” </p>
<p>Under this belief system, in the battle for souls, demons can establish relationships with people who open the door to them through sin and disobedience to God. If someone masturbates, for example, which is a mortal sin, they are opening the door wider to demons of more serious sexual perversion.</p>
<p>Such demons include figures mentioned in the Bible such as Baal, the ancient Phoenician sun God, and his consort Ashtoreth, now viewed as a force of sexual immorality and perversion. Jezebel, the ninth-century B.C. Phoenician princess, lives into the modern era as a demonic personality who encourages illicit sexual acts, violence and rape. </p>
<h2>Devil and role-play in one church</h2>
<p>Writing for Commonweal, an American Catholic journal, one ex-seminarian <a href="https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/inside-seminary">described a formation, or training, workshop</a> sponsored by his seminary. He described how participants were given nametags with the names of demons on them and asked to play the role of demons to tempt one another. He explained how they would choose one person and “hiss and curse” to entice him to “watch pornography” and “masturbate.” </p>
<p>The point, of course, was to train the participants how to choose chastity and to stand strong against sexual desire.</p>
<p>To be clear, this is only one documented instance. However, I would argue that it points to the Church’s current preoccupation with evil spirits and the need for priests to ritually remove that evil.</p>
<p>It is sobering that one seminary should choose to offer those training for a life of service and celibacy, a role-play of hissing demon impersonators, as a way to govern their conduct. </p>
<h2>Medieval practices in today’s church?</h2>
<p>Ascribing sexual desire to demonic temptation takes away the blame from the perpetrators. It puts the cause, the consequences, and questions of accountability into an invisible world populated by angels and demons, sin and repentance.</p>
<p>Suggesting that the offending priests were afflicted by demons is a version of “<a href="https://www.hijackedlife.com/blogs/pbs-blog/the-devil-made-me-do-it">the devil made me do it</a>.”</p>
<p>There is a second heartbreak. Many of the abused report <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520288447/the-anthropology-of-catholicism">feeling guilty</a>, as if they had sinned themselves. I have heard from my own research participants that because sinning opens the door to more demons and more sin, then some abuse survivors think of themselves as being in relationships with personal demons and more vulnerable to demonic attack. </p>
<p>As investigations continue into the institutional factors allowing for this horrific abuse, it may also be pertinent to look into some of the intellectual and theological elements at the heart of the Catholic tradition. </p>
<p>For some branches of the Church, this includes the medieval world of demons.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/101935/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth McAlister received a grant from the Social Science Research Council's Project on New Directions in the Study of Prayer to study Aggressive Forms of Prayer in 2013 .</span></em></p>
While many American Catholics believe demons and exorcism to be part of a distant past, an expert explains how beliefs that sexual desires could be part of demonic temptation still persist.
Elizabeth McAlister, Professor of Religion, Wesleyan University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/93459
2018-04-17T12:47:11Z
2018-04-17T12:47:11Z
Exorcism – how does it work and why is it on the rise?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215173/original/file-20180417-163986-lp8w9o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It's not always about demons.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?src=8ATbi73JoYUU5rv1LoG3ZQ-1-22">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Exorcism is again in the news, as the Vatican announces <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/30/vatican-to-hold-exorcist-training-course-after-rise-in-possessions-exorcism-priests">a new training course will be held</a> to meet increased demand for deliverance ministry. So what does this actually mean, and should it be a cause for reassurance or concern? Newspaper headlines about a “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/30/vatican-to-hold-exorcist-training-course-after-rise-in-possessions-exorcism-priests">rise in possessions</a>” may bring to mind horrific scenes from <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070047/">The Exorcist</a>, but sensationalism doesn’t help public understanding of a serious and complex reality.</p>
<p>Broadly speaking, exorcism signifies freeing a place, person or even object from some form of negative spiritual influence. Beliefs and rituals which could appropriately be labelled exorcism are found in almost all cultures and faith traditions, but in the West are encountered most frequently <a href="https://www.thestar.co.uk/news/video-evil-spirits-possessions-and-black-magic-welcome-to-the-sheffield-mosque-providing-islamic-exorcisms-1-8973104">within Christian or Islamic settings</a>. </p>
<p>It is important to emphasise that within both Muslim and Christian circles, however, there is a wide spectrum of opinion about exorcism and its place in the 21st century. For instance, there are theological voices within Roman Catholicism and Anglicanism which would deny the existence of demonic entities altogether – but institutionally, these churches do accept the possibility of human possession and provide for <a href="https://www.london.anglican.org/kb/advisers-on-the-paranormal/">specialist ministry in such cases</a>. </p>
<p>The reality within these churches is very different from the picture presented by Hollywood. These matters are only dealt with by specially trained priests and always with the minimum of publicity.</p>
<h2>How it works</h2>
<p>A key element of the training is to help priests discern whether the cause of the problem relates to mental health or emotional issues, rather than anything supernatural, and to support the person in seeking appropriate help. Indeed, exorcism rites should never be carried out without medical assessment by a suitably qualified doctor. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215177/original/file-20180417-164001-1h3s20h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215177/original/file-20180417-164001-1h3s20h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215177/original/file-20180417-164001-1h3s20h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215177/original/file-20180417-164001-1h3s20h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215177/original/file-20180417-164001-1h3s20h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215177/original/file-20180417-164001-1h3s20h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/215177/original/file-20180417-164001-1h3s20h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Real or imagined?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?src=8ATbi73JoYUU5rv1LoG3ZQ-1-22">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Consequently, providing a training course for deliverance ministers should not be straightforwardly translated as an endorsement of the idea that there has been a perceived sudden increase in demonic activity. What it really means is that the Church is experiencing a growing number of people coming and seeking help because they feel themselves to be suffering from spiritual evil.</p>
<p>The causes of this increased demand are a matter of debate, but there are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/06/exorcists-catholic-evangelical-church-child-abuse-new-inquisition">voices expressing reasonable concerns</a> that a growing recourse to exorcism rituals may lead to vulnerable people being harmed. After all, not all religious organisations have structures or controls to safeguard participants.</p>
<p>For Anglicans and Roman Catholics, tight regulation is in place – because exorcism is an exceptional practice which involves people who will always be fragile, and may often be ill. When carried out, the rite will involve spoken prayers, readings from scripture and sometimes the gentle laying on of hands. Authorised exorcism will never include any violent contact, touching in intimate areas or interaction which could be interpreted as having sexual connotations. The term “deliverance ministry” is preferred to “exorcism”, and it is seen as part of the Church’s <a href="https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/common-worship/wholeness-and-healing/wholeness-and-healing">broader ministry of healing</a>.</p>
<p>In contrast, within some other traditions, for instance some forms of Pentecostalism and Charismatic Evangelicalism, exorcism is seen as routine and <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4596127.stm">many members of the community receive it without worry or stigma</a> – almost akin to purifying rituals. Those undergoing them are not necessarily at risk, but there is always the danger they could be. </p>
<p>In a liberal, democratic society, the state does not seek to make value judgements in relation to the religious choices of citizens. Without good reason, there is no justification for limiting the freedom of individuals to express their faith as they see fit. It would be difficult to argue for secular regulation of exorcism across the board.</p>
<p>But equally, it would be irresponsible to ignore the challenges which some exorcism practices can present. There have been a number of tragic cases of people, <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2062590.stm">children as well as adults</a>, dying as a <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/nicaragua_exorcism_vilma_trujillo_murder">result of exorcism rituals</a> in the UK and elsewhere. There is also ample evidence of people who feel that they were subjected to rituals to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/06/exorcists-catholic-evangelical-church-child-abuse-new-inquisition">which they did not properly consent</a>, or were kept from accessing medical treatment or other forms of support for some time, prolonging their suffering and the distress to those around them.</p>
<h2>The law</h2>
<p>In some respects, the law in England and Wales is clear. Where children are concerned, child abuse is child abuse, regardless of the motivation behind it. If a child is suffering, or at risk from harm which is sufficiently serious, then public authorities need to act – and they are required to do so. </p>
<p>Where adults are concerned the picture is much more complicated. Some faith groups practice exorcism rites which involve a <a href="https://www.christiantoday.com/article/extreme-and-violent-exorcism-practices-lead-to-record-number-of-ritual-child-abuse-cases/41442.htm">degree of violence</a> – the understanding is frequently that the evil spirit is occupying the body, and so by making the body an uncomfortable place to be, it can be driven out. </p>
<p>This is especially dangerous, because pleas to stop can be interpreted as coming from the demon rather than the sufferer. Here, consent – even if given – will probably not avail a defendant if the victim suffers actual bodily harm (anything more than “transient or trifling” injury). </p>
<p>In many Western countries, exorcists have considerable freedom. And there is still clearly demand for them. But this is an ancient ritual which must very much stay on the right side of the modern law.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/93459/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen Hall is affiliated with Church of England </span></em></p>
The Vatican has announced a training course to meet growing demand for exorcists.
Helen Hall, Senior Lecturer, Nottingham Law School, Nottingham Trent University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.