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The Devil Within: Possession & Exorcism in the Christian West
A fascinating, wide-ranging survey of the history of demon possession and exorcism through the ages.
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the era of the Reformation, thousands of Europeans were thought to be possessed by demons. In response to their horrifying symptoms--violent convulsions, displays of preternatural strength, vomiting of foreign objects, displaying contempt for sacred objects, and others--exorcists were summoned to expel the evil spirits from victims' bodies. This compelling book focuses on possession and exorcism in the Reformation period, but also reaches back to the fifteenth century and forward to our own times.
Entire convents of nuns in French, Italian, and Spanish towns, thirty boys in an Amsterdam orphanage, a small group of young girls in Salem, Massachusetts--these are among the instances of demon possession in the United States and throughout Europe that Brian Levack closely examines, taking into account the diverse interpretations of generations of theologians, biblical scholars, pastors, physicians, anthropologists, psychiatrists, and historians. Challenging the commonly held belief that possession signals physical or mental illness, the author argues that demoniacs and exorcists--consciously or not--are following their various religious cultures, and their performances can only be understood in those contexts.
"Riveting [and] readable . . . must-reading for students of history, psychology and religion." --Publishers Weekly
"Levak, a distinguished historian of early modern witchcraft, now sets exorcism in a long historical perspective, providing the most comprehensive and scholarly overview of the theme yet published." --Peter Marshall, Times Literary Supplement
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the era of the Reformation, thousands of Europeans were thought to be possessed by demons. In response to their horrifying symptoms--violent convulsions, displays of preternatural strength, vomiting of foreign objects, displaying contempt for sacred objects, and others--exorcists were summoned to expel the evil spirits from victims' bodies. This compelling book focuses on possession and exorcism in the Reformation period, but also reaches back to the fifteenth century and forward to our own times.
Entire convents of nuns in French, Italian, and Spanish towns, thirty boys in an Amsterdam orphanage, a small group of young girls in Salem, Massachusetts--these are among the instances of demon possession in the United States and throughout Europe that Brian Levack closely examines, taking into account the diverse interpretations of generations of theologians, biblical scholars, pastors, physicians, anthropologists, psychiatrists, and historians. Challenging the commonly held belief that possession signals physical or mental illness, the author argues that demoniacs and exorcists--consciously or not--are following their various religious cultures, and their performances can only be understood in those contexts.
"Riveting [and] readable . . . must-reading for students of history, psychology and religion." --Publishers Weekly
"Levak, a distinguished historian of early modern witchcraft, now sets exorcism in a long historical perspective, providing the most comprehensive and scholarly overview of the theme yet published." --Peter Marshall, Times Literary Supplement
359 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 22, 2013
About the author
Brian P. Levack
86 books31 followersBrian Levack is John E. Green Regents Professor in History and Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Texas at Austin. The winner of several teaching awards, Levack offers a wide variety of courses on early modern British and European history, legal history, and the history of witchcraft. For eight years he served as the chair of his department. His books include The Civil Lawyers in England, 1603-1641: A Political Study(1973), The Formation of the British State: England, Scotland and the Union, 1603-1707(1987); The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe (3rd edition, 2006), which has been translated into eight languages; and Witch-Hunting in Scotland: Law, Politics, and Religion(2008). His newest book is The Devil Within: Possessions and Exorcism in the Christian West.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 17, 2018
If you're noticing a dark theme in my reading, it's because I'm researching a book. Levack's The Devil Within is quite well done. A study of, as the subtitle states, possession and exorcism, it is a valuable resource on the topic, especially for the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period. Historically Levack goes back as far as the Bible, and his information on the New Testament ideas of possession are quite good. He manages to deal with Late Antiquity and the Medieval Period without delving into boring theological discussions. And his book has a thesis.
As I discuss on my blog (Sects and Violence in the Ancient World, the thesis of exorcism being a form of theater is somewhat novel, but apt. During the Middle Ages, and especially around the time of the Reformation, the Catholic Church used exorcism as a demonstration of its power over the feared demons. I also found it quite interesting how Levack noted the changing symptoms of possession. Those that we recognize today are very similar to those of the Middle Ages. The Medieval symptoms, however, are quite different from those of Antiquity. The response, however, is always somewhat theatrical.
In a good corrective to the sometimes overstated influence of The Exorcist, Levack notes that exorcisms didn't entirely go away with modernity. Noting the close connections with witches and witch hunts, he points out that both phenomena grew in influence after the Enlightenment began, peaking in the 18th century. Witch hunting died out, but demonic possession continued. The Exorcist doubtlessly did influence public opinion about the reality of demons, but as this informative book shows, there's a lot more going on backstage than might meet the eye.
As I discuss on my blog (Sects and Violence in the Ancient World, the thesis of exorcism being a form of theater is somewhat novel, but apt. During the Middle Ages, and especially around the time of the Reformation, the Catholic Church used exorcism as a demonstration of its power over the feared demons. I also found it quite interesting how Levack noted the changing symptoms of possession. Those that we recognize today are very similar to those of the Middle Ages. The Medieval symptoms, however, are quite different from those of Antiquity. The response, however, is always somewhat theatrical.
In a good corrective to the sometimes overstated influence of The Exorcist, Levack notes that exorcisms didn't entirely go away with modernity. Noting the close connections with witches and witch hunts, he points out that both phenomena grew in influence after the Enlightenment began, peaking in the 18th century. Witch hunting died out, but demonic possession continued. The Exorcist doubtlessly did influence public opinion about the reality of demons, but as this informative book shows, there's a lot more going on backstage than might meet the eye.
April 11, 2026
Levack, in quanto uno dei massimi esponenti della storia della stregoneria, mi ha regalato un'ottima lettura della storia della possessione demoniaca e degli esorcismi nell'ovest.
La tesi di fondo è che, escludendo a priori fenomeni soprannaturali, non si tratta né necessariamente di finzioni né di malattie psichiatriche, ma di performance teatrali. Questa della performance è una tesi che intriga, anche perché rientra in un modo di fare storiografia che non nega necessariamente la verità del fenomeno, ma la circoscrive alla rete di culture locali secondo un modello Geertziano.
Tuttavia alcune tra le conclusioni mi lasciano interdetto: se è dato per scontato che nel mondo calvinista e protestante non venisse data pubblicità alla possessione demoniaca, in quanto segno di mancata salvezza, come facciamo a essere sicuri che durante la fine dell'età moderna questi fenomeni siano calati di numero?
La tesi di fondo è che, escludendo a priori fenomeni soprannaturali, non si tratta né necessariamente di finzioni né di malattie psichiatriche, ma di performance teatrali. Questa della performance è una tesi che intriga, anche perché rientra in un modo di fare storiografia che non nega necessariamente la verità del fenomeno, ma la circoscrive alla rete di culture locali secondo un modello Geertziano.
Tuttavia alcune tra le conclusioni mi lasciano interdetto: se è dato per scontato che nel mondo calvinista e protestante non venisse data pubblicità alla possessione demoniaca, in quanto segno di mancata salvezza, come facciamo a essere sicuri che durante la fine dell'età moderna questi fenomeni siano calati di numero?
May 7, 2015
This is a valuable guide to the concept of demonic possession in early modern European Christianity. It's a little dense and probably not the best starting point on the subject, but it's full of important information and astute observations.
In particular, Levack does an excellent job of contrasting the experience and social context of possession within Catholic communities as opposed to Protestant communities, highlighting how central the Reformation was to the early-modern surge in reported possessions.
The book also does a laudable service in keeping its focus on the religious aspects of possession and exorcism, which tend to be dismissed or ignored by modern writers. Levack convincingly demonstrates why the reductive explanations characteristic of contemporary authors (e.g. possessions were simply cases of "hysteria") are ultimately unsatisfactory in explaining the phenomenon, which, he argues, can't be understood without located them within specific religious contexts.
The book stumbles a little in its final chapter, in which Levack, a historian, tries to tie his insights into contemporary cases of demonic possession and exorcism. He makes a few wince-inducing errors (misreading survey data to suggest that 20 percent of Americans identify as atheists, when in fact the survey in question has 20 percent identifying as people with no religious identification, or "nones," while only about 3 percent identify as atheists) and some sweeping generalizations that aren't supported by the facts (the notion that belief in demonic possession is "on life support" will surely come as a surprise to Christians in Africa and Latin America, as well as to Pentecostal Christians in North America and Europe).
Overall, though, this book is a welcome addition to any collection on the subject.
In particular, Levack does an excellent job of contrasting the experience and social context of possession within Catholic communities as opposed to Protestant communities, highlighting how central the Reformation was to the early-modern surge in reported possessions.
The book also does a laudable service in keeping its focus on the religious aspects of possession and exorcism, which tend to be dismissed or ignored by modern writers. Levack convincingly demonstrates why the reductive explanations characteristic of contemporary authors (e.g. possessions were simply cases of "hysteria") are ultimately unsatisfactory in explaining the phenomenon, which, he argues, can't be understood without located them within specific religious contexts.
The book stumbles a little in its final chapter, in which Levack, a historian, tries to tie his insights into contemporary cases of demonic possession and exorcism. He makes a few wince-inducing errors (misreading survey data to suggest that 20 percent of Americans identify as atheists, when in fact the survey in question has 20 percent identifying as people with no religious identification, or "nones," while only about 3 percent identify as atheists) and some sweeping generalizations that aren't supported by the facts (the notion that belief in demonic possession is "on life support" will surely come as a surprise to Christians in Africa and Latin America, as well as to Pentecostal Christians in North America and Europe).
Overall, though, this book is a welcome addition to any collection on the subject.
November 29, 2016
Very fascinating and informative if you're interested in the history of demonic possession in Christianity, but also very dense!
April 2, 2019
This book is a skeptical scholarly treatment of the phenomenon of demonic possession in the early modern era (16th and 17th centuries) in Western Europe. It does not accept possession as real, magic as real, so reader beware. If you are looking for a sympathetic history this is not it.
The author approaches the phenomenon of demonic possession not using the typical scholarly explanations: medical conditions, mental illness, faking. Instead he treats it as a social performance phenomenon. He traces the origins in the Gospels and early Christianity to the early modern era. What came before became the model or script for demonic possession in the early modern period. Basically he is applying the social performance anthropology of Victor Turner to the phenomenon.
His explanation for the prevalence in the early modern period was increased anxiety in European society as a consequence of the transition from the medieval to the modern and the reformation.
The reformation figures prominently for another reason. It was an effective marketing method for Catholicism against the upstart Protestant denominations. Protestantism rejected the efficacy of ritual exorcism, and focused on fasting and prayer. Catholic exorcism is a dramatic ritual and appears efficacious.
I am not totally sold on the anxiety theory. Other periods in European history were revolutionary without triggering epidemics of exorcisms. The causal path is not fully established to account for it under some conditions and not others.
The author approaches the phenomenon of demonic possession not using the typical scholarly explanations: medical conditions, mental illness, faking. Instead he treats it as a social performance phenomenon. He traces the origins in the Gospels and early Christianity to the early modern era. What came before became the model or script for demonic possession in the early modern period. Basically he is applying the social performance anthropology of Victor Turner to the phenomenon.
His explanation for the prevalence in the early modern period was increased anxiety in European society as a consequence of the transition from the medieval to the modern and the reformation.
The reformation figures prominently for another reason. It was an effective marketing method for Catholicism against the upstart Protestant denominations. Protestantism rejected the efficacy of ritual exorcism, and focused on fasting and prayer. Catholic exorcism is a dramatic ritual and appears efficacious.
I am not totally sold on the anxiety theory. Other periods in European history were revolutionary without triggering epidemics of exorcisms. The causal path is not fully established to account for it under some conditions and not others.
October 27, 2021
extremely well thought out arguments and well researched, great deep dive and great thesis. the idea of possession as unconscious performance is very believable
May 23, 2013
This was a really interesting look at the differing "scripts" which informed both possessions and exorcisms. Levack is not saying there were no psychological or physiological bases for individual possessions or arguing that they was all fraud--he is saying that whatever the causation, the actual events followed cultural scripts. He shows the differences between Protestant and Catholic scripts (and further breaks down the differences between Protestant sects) and discusses why they differed as they did. Among the other topics he covers are the symptoms of possession and the "diagnoses" of possession through the ages (melancholy, epilepsy, hysteria).
April 6, 2014
Interesting! (a tad heavy here and there, you need to focus and have little to no distraction to absorb this better)
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews