PREFACE

EMONIC Possession in the New Testament is still
ONIC

DEMO

an unsolved problem. That statement is at variance with a considerable body of opinion recently expressed on two Continents. Nevertheless, it is a correct representation of the present state of the case. Modern writers have attained a certain unanimity, only by approaching the subject from one point of view and confining attention to the more conspicuous phenomena. But any investigation which claims finality must explore the whole environment and scrutinise all residual facts. There is a comparative demonology to be studied; there are types of mental disease to be examined; there is a criterion of genuine possession to be discovered and applied. The inquiry thus broadens out and takes account of many points hitherto ignored or neglected. The whole subject thereby assumes a new complexion and has received restatement accordingly.

This work is an original research; not a com

pilation. Few authorities have therefore been directly quoted; but any one familiar with the vast literature concerned will readily perceive that previous writings are constantly in sight. The tactics of the controversialist have likewise been avoided as essentially unprofitable. The opinions of others have been combated where necessary; but by an array of facts rather than a war of words. This treatise is at most only a fragment. A large amount of material has been held in retentis, and many important questions have been left untouched. The conclusions attained have been reached independently, and are of a novel character. They confirm, in the highest degree, the claim of Christ to be considered the Good Physician and the Revealer of the Father.

WM. MENZIES ALEXANDER.

GLASGOW, January 1902.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY

Composite relations of the subject. Views of Meyer, Farrar,
Bruce, Wendt, Gould. The dilemma. The luminous back-
ground. The concrete investigation. The residual pheno-
menon. Application of the preceding results to the Beelzebul
controversy, the Gerasene affair, the alleged continuance of
possession

PAGES

1-12

CHAPTER II

HISTORIC DEMONOLOGY

Demonology of the Old Testament. Shadow-figures. Degraded
gods. A possessing demon. Demonology of the Septuagint.
Continued iconoclasm. Spirits of the giants. Asmodæus.
Rabbinic demonology. Recipe for seeing spirits. Their
origin, numbers, forms, haunts, times of activity, powers, re-
strictions, management, redeeming features. Ethnic parallels.
Christ and common demonology. Christ and common magic.
Cause of Christ's superiority to superstition

13-60

CHAPTER III

MEDICAL ASPECTS OF DEMONIC POSSESSION

Data of the present inquiry. Uses of a correct diagnosis.
Simple epilepsy not possession. The Capernaum demoniac.
The Gerasene demoniac. The epileptic idiot. Significance

of the demoniac state. The Syro-Phoenician girl. The dumb
demoniac. The blind-and-dumb demoniac. Mary Magdalene.
The Philippian Pythoness. The Ephesian demoniac

PAGES

61-102

CHAPTER IV

MEDICAL ASPECTS OF DEMONIC POSSESSION-continued

Numbers of the possessed in the time of our Lord. Regions
whence the possessed were brought. Capernaum as focus of
the Eastern and Western Dispersions. Population of Pales-
tine. Mental temperament of the people. Mental health of
the people. Representations of the Gospels. Comparison of
the Jews with the Greeks and the Romans. Comparison of
the Jews with the peoples of the British Isles. Approximate
estimate of the numbers of the possessed. Naturalness of the
ethnic theory of possession. Naturalness of the terms "evil"
and "unclean." Responsibility of the possessed. The treat-
ment of the possessed among the Jews. Ethnic parallels.
Comparative results. Christ and current methods of treat-
ment. The psychological explanations of Strauss, Renan,
Keim, Matthew Arnold. Their perpetual futility. Proofs of
the expulsion of spirits

103-146

CHAPTER V

THE EXISTENCE OF GENUINE DEMONIC POSSESSION

The

Principles of investigation. Historicity of the narratives.
criterion of genuine demonic possession. Significance of the
confession of Jesus as Messiah. Accident, clairvoyance, verbal
information, genuine discrimination, as theories to explain
this confession. Demonic inspiration, the only competent
explanation. Classification of the possessed. Results of the
same. Paucity of cases "self-attested." Their restriction to
the early ministry of Christ. Proof of "the strong one
being bound. Antecedents of genuine demonic possession.
Relation to moral depravity. Views of the Fathers, Light-
foot, Olshausen, Dieringer, Trench, Weiss. The fundamental
error. Limits of genuine demonic possession. The moral
and intellectual damage. The time-limit. Hypnotism not
the true analogue of demonic action

147-173