1574
. This essay is adapted from my “Spirit Possession as a Cross-Cultural Experience,” BBR
20
(
2010
):
215
–
36
. Reprinted by permission from Penn State University Press. For my more recent and fuller treatments, see Keener, Miracles,
2
:
769–856; Keener, Acts,
3
:
2429–56
; and, most recently, Keener, “Spirits.”
. For detailed examination of New Testament exorcism passages, see sources such as Twelftree, Exorcist; Twelftree, Name; for one approach to evaluating redactional elements, see Williams, Miracle Stories. I am grateful to Paul Eddy (whose work also appears in Eddy and Boyd, Legend,
67–69
) for sharing with me some of the initial sources from which this study grew (in addition to those I had already cited in the first edition of Keener, Matthew,
285
). Cf. now also Vaughan, “Possession.”
. Some have argued for significant eyewitness tradition in the Gospels (notably Bauckham, Eyewitnesses); I argue here that New Testament spirit-possession accounts cannot be used against that thesis.
. E.g., Bultmann, Tradition,
231–32
. Mediterranean antiquity does, of course, provide the most important context to examine (as also in Keener, Matthew,
283–86
).
. E.g., Borg, Vision,
62
; Crossan, Historical Jesus,
315–17
; for Luke-Acts, see Klutz, Exorcism Stories,
196–97
. Some earlier scholars used psychological approaches; see e.g., McCasland, Finger.
. My dominant focus, for example, in Keener, Matthew,
283–86
.
. Such a denial has been regarded as the anthropological equivalent of “being a ‘flat-earther’” (Burridge, New Earth,
4
n
2
, as cited in Lewis, Healing,
321–22
n
15
).
. Bourguignon, “Spirit Possession Belief,”
18
; cf. also Bourguignon, “Introduction,”
17–19
; Bourguignon, “Self”; Boddy, “Spirit Possession,”
409
; Firth, “Foreword,” ix; Morsy, “Possession,”
189
. For the wide geographic distribution of cultures practicing trance, possession trance, and spirit possession, with maps, see Bourguignon, “Distribution,”
18–32
. On the pervasiveness of negatively perceived spirit “possession” and attempts to control it, see Lewis, Ecstatic Religion,
100–126
.
. Bourguignon, “Spirit Possession Belief,”
19–21
; Bourguignon, “Appendix”; followed also in Kaplan and Sadock, Psychiatry,
259
,
1237
. It occurs in the west, though often interpreted less benignly (Macklin, “Yankee,” esp.
42
).
. Bourguignon, “Spirit Possession Belief,”
21
.
. See e.g., Crapanzaro and Garrison, Case Studies; Goodman, Demons,
1–24
,
126; Lewis, Ecstatic Religion. For bibliography in Boddy, “Spirit Possession,”
428–34
(listing
221
sources); for zar, tumbura, and bori cults, see Makris and Natvig, “Bibliography”; also Lewis, Al-Safi, and Hurreiz, Medicine,
283–91
.
. E.g., Tippett, Solomon Islands Christianity,
14
,
250–51
; Berndt, “Role,”
269
; in New Guinea, Salisbury, “Possession.”
. E.g., Mbiti, Religions,
106
,
111
,
113
,
249–50
; Beattie and Middleton, Mediumship, passim.
. E.g., Natvig, “Zar Cult”; Natvig, “Zar Spirits”; Leiris, Possession; Lewis, “Possession”; Messing, “Zar Cult”; Boddy, “Spirits and Selves”; Boddy, Wombs. In Case Studies, see Saunders, “Zar Experience”; Morton, “Dawit”; in Women’s Medicine, see Tubiana, “Zar”; Constantinides, “Zar”; Kenyon, “Zar”; Makris and Al-Safi, “Spirit Possession Cult”; Luling, “Possession Cults.”
. E.g., Gelfand, “Disorders”; in Madagascar, Sharp, Possessed; Mayotte in the Indian Ocean, Lambek, Knowledge. In Spirit Mediumship, see Garbett, “Mediums”; Colson, “Possession.”
. E.g., Harris, “Possession ‘Hysteria’”; Noble, “Possession”; Giles, “Possession Cults”; Gomm, “Spirit Possession”; Beattie, “Mediumship.”
. E.g., Crapanzaro, “Mohammed”; Ferchiou, “Possession Cults.”
. E.g., Zempleni, “Symptom”; Field, “Possession”; Prince, “Yoruba Psychiatry,” see Echard, “Possession Cult”; Abdalla, “Friend.”
. E.g., Modarressi, “Zar Cult”; Ashkanani, “Zar.”
. E.g., Gray, “Exorcism”; Peters, Healing in Nepal; Hitchcock and Jones, Spirit Possession; Wayman, “Meaning”; Keller, Hammer,
106–7
. In Case Studies, see Obeyesekere, “Possession”; Kessler, “Conflict.”
. Macklin, “Yankee”; Goodman, Henney, and Pressel, Trance; Dobbin, Dance; Pressel, “Umbanda.” In Case Studies, see Pressel, “Possession”; Koss, “Spirits”; Garrison, “Syndrome.” In Trance and Possession States, see Douyon, “Examen”; Kiev, “Value.”
. E.g., Keller, Hammer,
107
; Edwards, “Possession,”
220
.
. E.g., Borg, Vision,
62
; Crossan, Historical Jesus,
315–17
.
. Prince, “EEG,”
127–29
.
. Goodman, Demons,
126
. For comparison with multiple personality disorder, cf. e.g., Firth, “Foreword,” ix–x; Bourguignon, “Multiple Personality”; Field, “Possession,”
3
.
. Goodman, Demons,
1–24
,
126
.
. Tippett, “Possession,”
162–64
. See e.g., Oesterreich, Possession,
19–22
; Mbiti, Religions,
225–26
; Gelfand, Religion,
169
; Shorter, Witchdoctor,
177
; Instone-Brewer, “Psychiatrists,”
140
; cf. Evans-Pritchard, Witchcraft,
165
.
. E.g., Field, “Possession,”
3
,
6
; Horton, “Types,”
23
; Gelfand, Religion,
166
,
169
; Rosny, Healers,
185–86
; cf. Singleton, “Spirits,”
477
.
. Firth, “Foreword,” x (mentioning his own astonishment).
. See e.g., Verger, “Trance,”
50–51
,
53
.
. E.g., Kaplan and Johnson, “Navajo Psychopathology,”
203
.
. Colson, “Possession,”
79
,
85
.
. Some groups also distinguish their revelatory trance states from possession (cf. Surgy, Église,
216–17
).
. Tippett, “Possession,”
165
(following Eliade); Peters, Healing,
10–11
. For various proposed models, see Krippner, “Perspectives.”
. Lewis, Ecstatic Religion,
64
.
. Peters, Healing, 147–48
.
. Mbiti, Religions,
225–26
; cf. Firth, Ritual,
298
.
. See Mbiti, Religions,
106
; Peters, Healing,
46
,
49
; Pressel, “Possession,”
344
; Shorter, “Migawo,”
114
; Firth, “Foreword,” xiii; Beattie and Middleton, “Introduction,” xxvi; Horton, “Types,”
19
; Verger, “Trance,”
55–59
; Southall, “Possession,”
232–72 in Spirit Mediumship,
233
,
236
,
240–42
,
248
,
269
; Constantinides, “Zar,”
89
,
91
; Luling, “Possession Cults,”
173
; Field, “Possession,”
4
,
7
; Gelfand, “Disorders,”
156
,
162
; Gelfand, Religion,
166–67
; in the Dionysus cult in antiquity, Plutarch T. T.
1
.
5
.
2
, Mor.
623
B. Cf. drumming in an exorcism ceremony in Gray, “Cult,”
177–79
.
. See e.g., Verger, “Trance,”
64
; Southall, “Possession,”
243
; Firth, Ritual,
313–14
. See e.g., common African characteristics (e.g., Jules-Rosette, “Spirituality”).
. E.g., Gussler, “Change,”
123–24
; cf. mental illness in Kaplan and Johnson, “Navajo Psychopathology,”
206
.
. Luling, “Possession Cults,”
175
.
. Field, “Possession,”
3–4
.
. Field, “Possession,”
8
.
. Garbett, “Mediums,”
105
.
. See Johnson, “Authority,”
15–65
; I draw here on
65
, table
3
.
. Bourguignon, “Distribution,”
6–7
,
13–15
. Some societies have trance without possession; others possession without trance; and still others, possession trance (Bourguignon, “Distribution,”
18
; Bourguignon, “Spirit Possession Belief,”
21–22
).
. Bourguignon, “Distribution,”
12
.
. Beattie and Middleton, “Introduction,” xix-xxii; Beattie, “Mediumship,”
162
; Horton, “Types,”
15
; Southall, “Possession,”
233
,
246–49
,
255
; Welbourn, “Spirit Initiation,”
291–92
; Koss, “Spirits,”
372
.
. Beattie and Middleton, “Introduction,” xxvii; Field, “Possession,”
9
; Lee, “Possession,”
131–32
; Keller, Hammer,
131–32
,
155
; Zempleni, “Symptom,”
92
; Barrington-Ward, “Spirit Possession,”
456
.
. Turner, Experiencing Ritual,
182
; Obeyesekere, “Possession,”
239
; Garbett, “Mediums,”
123
. For propitiating ancestral spirits, see Tanner, “Theory,”
274
; Ma, “Veneration,”
168
.
. See e.g., Turner, Drums,
14
; Garbett, “Mediums,”
105
; Last, “Possession,”
51
.
. Gelfand, Religion,
177–78
; cf. Turner, Drums,
206
.
. Leonard, “Spirit Mediums,”
176
.
. Shorter, Witchdoctor,
180
.
. Bourguignon, “Assessment,”
337
.
. See e.g., Shorter, “Possession and Healing,”
47
; Shorter, “Migawo,”
122
; cf. Morsy, “Possession,”
192–93
.
. E.g., Natvig, “Zar Cult,”
181
; for syncretism, see e.g., Constantinides, “Zar,”
91
; Ferchiou, “Possession Cults,”
213
.
. Cf. e.g., Last, “Possession,”
49–50
; in Women’s Medicine, see Hurreiz, “Zar,”
154
; Sellers, “Zar,” esp.
156–57
,
163
.
. Some emphasized that Christian experience was distinctvely controllable (
1
Cor
14
:
32
; Chrysostom Hom. Cor.
29
.
2
; but cf.
2
Pet
1
:
21
).
. E.g.,
1
Cor
10
:
20
; Justin
1
Apol.
5
; Athenagoras
26
; Tertullian Apol.
23
.
5–6
; in early Jewish sources, see Ps
106
:
37
(esp. LXX); Bar
4
:
7
;
1
En.
19
:
1
; Jub.
1
:
11
;
22
:
17
;
4
Q
243–245
, line
18
; Sib. Or.
8
.
43–47; T. Job
3
:
3
; T. Sol.
5
:
5
;
6
:
4
; Sipre Deut.
318
.
2
.
1–2
.
. Tippett, “Possession,”
148–51
; often in the literature, e.g., Gray, “Cult,”
171
.
. See Tippett, “Possession,”
155–56
; Douyon, “Examen”; Kiev, “Value.”
. Tippett, “Possession,”
157–58
; Pressel, “Umbanda”; Pressel, “Possession,”
333–35
.
. Prince, “Possession Cults.”
. E.g., Modarressi, “Zar Cult.”
. Wayman, “Meaning.”
. Henney, “Belief.”
. Firth, “Foreword,” xiii; Horton, “Types,”
24
,
25
,
35
; Verger, “Trance,”
52
.
. Shorter, “Possession and Healing,”
48
.
. See discussion in Thomas, Deliverance,
227
; Pilch, Healing, 105; Weissenrieder, Images,
338–39
; Twelftree, Name,
154
.
. Demons were associated with various afflictions, from which deliverance could be sought (see Eve, Miracles,
174–216
).
. Bourguignon, “Spirit Possession Belief,”
20–21
; Bourguignon, “Distribution,”
17
; for examples, see Gray, “Cult,”
171
,
178
; Lewis, “Possession,”
193
; Southall, “Possession,”
259
,
262
; Welbourn, “Spirit Initiation,”
292
; Firth, Ritual,
319
; Saunders, “Zar Experience,”
179; Morton, “Dawit,”
193
,
220
; Pressel, “Possession,”
339
; Evans-Pritchard, Religion,
98
; Turner, Drums,
34
,
119
,
296
; Colson, “Possession,”
71–72
; Beattie, “Mediumship,”
164; Peters, Healing,
65–68
; Shorter, Witchdoctor,
174–76
; Shorter, “Migawo,”
124
; Rosny, Healers,
116–19
; Luling, “Possession Cults,”
175
; Ferchiou, “Possession Cults,”
214–15. In Manus, Mbefo, and Uzukwu, Healing, see Ejizu, “Exorcism,”
13
,
15
,
21
; Ikeobi, “Healing,”
57
.
. See e.g., Wyllie, “Effutu.”
. With most scholars, e.g., Reimer, Women,
154–55
.
. E.g., Mbiti, Religions,
233
; Evans-Pritchard, Religion,
96
,
303
; Field, “Possession,”
6
; Middleton, “Possession,”
224
; Southall, “Possession,”
242–43
.
. Mbiti, Religions,
249–50
; Field, “Possession,”
9
.
. Mbiti, Religions,
111
; Beattie and Middleton, “Introduction,” xxi-xxii, xxvii; cf. Shorter, Witchdoctor,
188–89
; Shorter, “Possession and Healing,”
48–49
,
52
; Field, “Possession,”
13
.
. Ohnuki-Tierney, “Shamanism,”
194–96
; cf. Mbiti, Religions,
233
.
. Nevius, Possession,
46–47
,
58
. Nevius, Possession,
140–43
, defends the reliability of his Chinese informants, interestingly noting on
143
that their reports are consistent with those from other cultures and eras. As William M. Ramsay also noted (Ramsay, Teaching), it was only Nevius’s field experience that convinced him that spirit possession was genuine (Nevius, Possession, ix, 9–13
).
. Nevius, Possession,
58
. The use of allegedly alien dialects also appear in some other reports (Horton, “Types,”
29
; Shorter, Witchdoctor,
183
).
. Cf. the use of various missionary reports in Oesterreich, Possession,
143–46
,
213–15
,
219–23
,
229
,
362–64
.
. More recently, see the defense of actual spirits in Crooks, “Psychology.”
. Thus, e.g., Smith, Magician,
9
, reports his own observation of possession behavior, yet does not associate it with a spirit. Cf. similarly Peters, Healing,
47
, of his own “possession” state.
. Tippett, “Possession,”
143–44
.
. Crapanzaro, “Introduction,”
7
(emphasis his).
. See Boddy, “Spirit Possession,”
408
,
410–14
,
427
.
. Lewis, Ecstatic Religion,
39
.
. Lewis, Ecstatic Religion,
45
. Trance occurs without possession (
44
), and Lewis regards “possession” as a cultural construction of the state (
46
).
. Peters, Healing,
11–16
,
46–47
,
50
; Frey and Roysircar, “Acculturation and Worldview,” citing a large number of other studies.
. Cases in Last, “Possession,”
52–53
.
. Bourguignon, “Introduction,”
14
.
. Prince, “EEG,”
124–25
; cf. Field, “Possession,”
4–5
.
. Prince, “EEG,”
122–24
.
. Prince, “EEG,”
125–27
.
. Prince, “EEG,”
129–30
. Both drum beats and flashing lights at the right intervals can produce emotional and neurological shifts (Prince, “EEG,”
133–34
).
. Stress or emotional conflict provide a precipitating factor appears in numerous studies (cited by Ward and Beaubrun, “Psychodynamics,”
206
). A psychological explanation seems to fit the second case in Ward and Beaubrun, “Psychodynamics,”
203
. Instone-Brewer, “Psychiatrists,”
134–40
, argues that psychological explanations suffice for some but not all cases.
. E.g., Prince, “Possession Cults.” Cf. even nineteenth-century observations in Nevius, Possession,
58
. For their greater frequency among the uneducated, see Field, “Possession,”
4
.
. Cf. e.g., Hollenbach, “Demoniacs”; Crossan, Historical Jesus,
318
.
. Bourguignon, “Spirit Possession Belief,”
22
.
. Bourguignon, “Introduction,”
22
; Greenbaum, “Societal Correlates,”
54
; Greenbaum, “Possession Trance,”
84
.
. Bourguignon, “Assessment,”
339
. But mediums initially uncontrollably possessed may learn to control the impulses (Horton, “Types,”
36
,
41
; Verger, “Trance,”
51
).
. Bourguignon, “Epilogue,”
342–43
(she offers early Methodists as an example). Marginalized groups experiencing such phenomena (cf. e.g., Ghanaian movements in Field, “Possession,”
9–10
) might view it as God’s favor toward the marginalized.
. Lewis, “Possession,”
189–90
; cf. Rahim, “Zar,”
138–45
; Morsy, “Possession,”
204–5
.
. E.g., Tanner, “Theory,”
281
.
. Kessler, “Conflict,”
301–2
; Shorter, “Migawo,”
115
(cf.
119
); Horton, “Types,”
41–42
; Colson, “Possession,”
90–92
,
99–100
; Lee, “Possession,”
143–44
,
150–51
,
154
; Southall, “Possession,”
244
; Abdalla, “Friend,”
41
,
44
; Last, “Possession,”
58–59
; cf. Gray, “Cult,”
171
; Lewis, “Possession,”
216–17
; Lewis, “Introduction,”
5
; Constantinides, “Zar,”
89
; Ashkanani, “Zar,”
228–29
.
. Modarressi, “Zar Cult,”
154–55
; cf. Lewis, “Possession,”
201–4
,
210–12
,
216–17
; Southall, “Possession,”
243
; Ludwig, “Altered States,”
86
.
. Ward and Beaubrun, “Psychodynamics,”
201
(with a psychological explanation esp. plausible in the second case); Ivey, “Discourses,”
56–57
.
. Though Prince, “Foreword,” xiii, warns that the cathartic model cannot explain societies where the healer rather than the patient enters a dissociated trance state.
. Jacobs, “Possession,”
186–87
; Shorter, Witchdoctor,
179
; Makris and Al-Safi, “Spirit Possession Cult,”
118
.
. See e.g., Lewis, Ecstatic Religion,
44
; cf. also Peters, Healing,
11–16
,
46–47
,
50
.
. Bourguignon, “Distribution,”
4–11
.
. E.g., many offer psychological explanations, such as the emergence of repressed subconscious thoughts (e.g., Singleton, “Spirits,”
475
); certainly this appears to be the case in some instances (see e.g., Lewis, “Possession,”
201–3
).
. Bourguignon, “Distribution,”
6
.
. Bourguignon, “Distribution,”
7–12
; Lewis, Ecstatic Religion,
64
.
. See especially Turner, “Reality of Spirits”; cf. Turner, “Reality” (also critiquing ethnocentric western readings in Turner, Experiencing Ritual,
3–4
; advocating entering indigenous experience in Turner, “Anthropology”). More view them as simply psychologically real to the patient (e.g., Singleton, “Spirits,”
477
).
. Turner, Experiencing Ritual,
149
. On the ihamba more generally, cf. Turner, Drums,
156–97
(on the ihamba tooth, e.g.,
175–83
,
298–99
).
. Turner, “Reality,”
29
.
. Turner, “Reality,”
30
, comparing this anthropological approach to that of missionaries (whose perspectives she also dislikes).
. See Strelan, Strange Acts,
51
, citing Hume, Ancestral Power; cf. Barnes, “Introduction,”
19–20
.
. Miller and Yamamori, Pentecostalism,
156
; among psychiatrists, Peck, Glimpses,
237–38
.
. Keller, Hammer,
39–40
.
. Not all demonization is expressed in this manner in Luke-Acts; much may be simply physical affliction instigated or perpetuated by spirits, as in Luke
11
:
14
;
13
:
11
,
16
; perhaps Luke
6
:
18
; Acts
10
:
38
. For one discussion of healing in relation to demons in Luke-Acts, see relevant material in Thomas, Deliverance.
. The image was apropos; for “binding” in ancient sources addressing spirits, see e.g., Tob
8
:
1–2
; Incant. Texts
3
.
2
,
7
;
5
.
1–2
;
5
.
3–4
;
10
.
1
;
27
.
2–3
;
47
.
1–3
; PGM
4
.
384–85
,
2246–48
;
101
/
1–3
. One could also use such spirits to “bind” people (PGM
4
.
355–56
,
376–83
,
395
;
7
.
912–13
;
15
.
1
;
32
.
1–19
;
101
.
8–9
,
16–17
,
36
).
. E.g., Kaplan and Johnson, “Psychopathology,”
208
; Murphy, “Aspects of Shamanism,”
58
; Field, “Possession,”
5
; cf. Borg, Vision,
62
; Mark
5
:
4
. But elsewhere a “possessed” person could be bound (Gray, “Cult,”
182
).
. Cf.
1
Kgs
18
:
28
(with Roberts, “New Parallel”); Seneca Dial.
7
.
26
.
8
; the Galli in Lucian Syr.
51
; Lucretius Nat.
2
.
614–15
; Rhet. Her.
4
.
49
.
62
; Epictetus Diatr.
2
.
20
.
17
,
19
.
. Given cross-cultural parallels, I am strongly tempted to suggest also
1
Sam
18
:
10–11
. Because the meaning of the Hebrew text is debated, however, I defer that debate to my colleagues in Hebrew Bible.
. For similar irony of Stephen’s accusers stripping themselves, in contrast to conventional expectations at an execution, see Keener, “Notes,”
42–45
.
. For moral, political, and theological agendas in ancient historians, see e.g., Polybius
1
.
1
.
1
; Dionysius of Halicarnassus Ant. rom.
1
.
2
.
1
;
1
.
6
.
3–5
;
8
.
56
.
1
; Tacitus Agr.
1
; Ann.
3
.
65
; Lucian Hist.
59
; Maximus of Tyre Or.
22
.
5
; Fornara, Nature of History,
115–16
; Hemer, Acts in History,
79–85
; Squires, Plan,
15–20
; Marguerat, Histoire,
28–29
; Lang, Kunst, 7–13
,
97–167
.
. Eliade, Rites,
71
; Gelfand, “Disorders,”
165
,
170
; Schmidt, “Psychiatry,”
145
; Kaplan and Johnson, “Navajo Psychopathology,”
227
; for threats and aggression, see Obeyesekere, “Possession,”
251
.
. Fox, “Witchcraft,”
185
; cf. Evans-Pritchard, Witchcraft,
162
; Ludwig, “Altered States,”
86
. For spirits cursing and berating the possessed, see e.g., Morton, “Dawit,”
221
.
. Jochim, Religions,
154
. Possession in traditional Ghana does not lead to self-injury, but it can produce immunity to hunger (Field, “Possession,”
6
).
. Field, “Possession,”
5
. For exhaustion after ecstasy, see e.g., Lewis, “Possession,”
202
; after possession by spirits additional to one’s normal one, see Firth, Ritual,
311
.
. Lee, “Sociology,”
41–42
,
47
.
. Lee, “Sociology,”
42
.
. Mbiti, Religions,
225–26
.
. Mbiti, Religions,
106
; cf. dangerous wandering in the forest in Gray, “Cult,”
178
. For throwing themselves into the fire (as in Mark
9
:
22
), see e.g., Kaplan and Johnson, “Navajo Psychopathology,”
211
(noting multiple cases); Southall, “Possession,”
234
.
. Graf, “Ecstasy,”
800
; Dionysius of Halicarnassus Ant. rom.
1
.
31
.
1
; cf. Dio Chrysostom Or.
34
.
4
.
. Nilsson, Piety,
172
.
. See discussion in Ferguson, Demonology,
33–67
; Keener, Miracles,
2
:
769–79
.
. Strelan, Strange Acts,
103
, citing Diodorus Siculus
4
.
11
.
1
; see Euripides Herc. Fur. passim. Fits of anger could act as temporary insanity; cf. Horace Ep.
1
.
2
.
59–62
; Seneca Ep. Lucil.
18
.
14
; Philostratus Ep. Apoll.
86
; cf. the spirit of anger in T. Dan
2
:
1
.
. E.g., Gelfand, Religion,
166
,
169
; Field, “Possession,”
3
,
6
.
. Achilles Tatius
4
.
17
.
4
; but contrast Dan
4
:
36
.
. Phaedr.
265
B.
. Aen.
6
.
77–80
; Graf, “Ecstasy,”
800
.
. E.g., Arrian Alex.
4
.
13
.
5–6
.
. C.W.
5
.
166–67
; see Klauck, Context,
187–88
. Plutarch, who had significant knowledge of Delphi (cf. Jaillard, “Plutarque et divination”) avers that the inspiration affects only her mind (Or. Delph.
7
, Mor.
397
C). Although ancient views varied regarding the subterranean exhalations that supposedly inspired the Pythia (Cicero Div.
2
.
57
.
117
; Pliny N. H.
2
.
95
.
207–8
), archaeology reveals no source for “mephitic vapors” (Klauck, Context,
187
).
. Lucan C.W.
5
.
97–101
. This conception of inspiration is not uniquely Lucan’s; Maximus of Tyre Or.
9
.
1
, for example, depicts spirits speaking through mortals as one would play a pipe.
. Lucan C.W.
5
.
148–57
. While acknowledging cases of faked trances, Firth, “Foreword,” xii, also notes that genuine trances (those that the “possessed” person genuinely believes) are common (cf. also Verger, “Trance,”
64–65
; Beattie, “Mediumship,”
166–67
).
. Lucan C.W.
5
.
165–93
. Against some, her inspired speech was probably normally articulate (see Aune, “Magic,”
1551
).
. As some appear to do: see Klauck, Context,
187–88
, who notes that it depends solely on Lucan C.W.
5
.
116–20
,
161–74
,
190–97
.
. Valerius Maximus
1
.
8
.
10
; Cicero Div.
1
.
36
.
79
; Dio Chrysostom Personal Appearance
12
; Plutarch Or. Delph.
21
, Mor.
404
E; Maximus Tyre Or.
8
.
1
; Iamblichus Myst.
3
.
11
. Some depict it as divine impregnation, e.g., Longinus Sublime
13
.
2
; probably Plutarch Obs. Or.
9
, Mor.
414
E (see Aune, Prophecy,
40–41
).
. Plutarch Dial. L.
16
, Mor.
759
B (regaining tranquility afterward); Aelius Aristides Defense
34–35
, §
11
D.
. Sib. Or.
11
.
315
,
318
. Some Tannaim believed that demons would enter people, forcing them to do what the demons desired (Sipre Deut.
318
.
2
.
1–2
).
. The one disputed example appears to be Acts
16
:
16
, but in light of the narrative unity of Luke’s work (cf. Luke
4
:
33–36
,
41
;
8
:
28
), I maintain that this one is also negative (Keener, Acts,
3
:
2456–63
). For a wider and more positive definition of possession that includes filling with God’s Spirit, see Tibbs, “Possession.”