Jesus the Healer: Possession, Trance, and the Origins of Christianity

by Stevan L. Davies

Arguing that the Gospels reveal Jesus to have been a spirit-possessed healer & an exorcist of demon-possessed people, Stevan L. Davies shows how contemporary anthropologic findings illuminate precisely those facts. Jesus had a gift for the induction of religious trance states that he considered to be the present experience of the kingdom of God. His ability to bring about such states can be understood by analogy to the increasingly acclaimed psychotherapeutic techniques of Milton Erickson. After Jesus' death, the experience of spirit-possession became definitive for his followers. The writings of Paul, John & Mark are different forms of reflection on the nature of the experience of spirit-possession, & aren't so different as they are usually taken to be. Jesus the Healer argues that at least some of the sayings of Jesus in John's gospel--for example, "I and the Father are one" & "I come from the Father"--are quotations from Jesus himself when possessed by & speaking as the spirit of God. This book is a radical new look at Jesus as exorcist & healer.

Genres: Christianity

216 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Contemporary liberal biblical scholarship, which encompasses virtually all biblical study of scholarly quality, has a tendency to disregard or to explain away supernaturalistic texts. Decrying this tendency, author Davies attempts to adduce an interpretation of the Christian scriptures in general and of the person of Jesus in particular conversant with and compatible to modern anthropological research and psychotherapeutic method. He does so by focusing on and emphasizing those texts which represent Jesus as an exorcist and healer, the early Jesus movement as charismatic.

The crucial step is in recognizing biblical claims of spirit, or demon, possession and identification as being substantially comparable to recognized psychiatric nosologies and to such altered states of consciousness which occur under those rubrics as well as under the influence of hypnotic induction or psychotropic drugs. While the ancient Jews thought in terms of beneficial spiritual possession--which, given their ostensible monotheism, would amount to being possessed by the spirit of god--as opposed to malificent demonic possession, we talk about such things as semiautonomous complexes of the unconscious or multiple personality disorders. The world pictures differ, but the characteristic behaviors are essentially the same. Thus Jesus' healings are seen a comparable to those conducted today by therapists, most self-consciously perhaps by the school of Milton Erickson.

While this offers crucial insight into the early Jesus communities, some of the supposed insights Davies takes from modern psychotherapy are, in my opinion, taken a bit too far. Basically, the topic is something like faith healing conducted upon those suffering psychosomatic distress. Modern psychology notes that those most prone to be helped by such methods tend to have dissociated personality structures and that such dissociations tend to be based on traumata, these traumata commonly based in dysfunctional family structures. There are, one notes, a number of generalizations piled one upon the other here, assumptions which, tied to Jesus' oft-repeated criticisms of family associations, Davies takes to suggest that the earliest Christians came from, and rejected, their dysfunctional families in favor of a new family headed by the god-inspired Jesus. While this is an interesting speculation, it is at best a tenuous one and might easily be countered, drawing on Paul, with a more sociological analysis contrasting, as Paul does, the vindictive father of the old covenant as opposed to the loving father of the new. Additionally, it is notable that Davies avoids much speculation about what Freud termed "the family romance" in the case of Mary, Joseph and their children.

This remains, however, one of those books which, like "Jesus the Magician", promises to be fruitful in suggesting new perspectives and new avenues of research. For instance, in his relatively brief discussion of the early Jesus communities Davies describes an exceptionally democratic politics of the spirit, all early followers of the Way having been, as he, following Paul again, plausibly surmises, charismatics--i.e. spirit possessed as Jesus had been. Parallels with other mass cults, such as that of Eleusis in Greece, suggest themselves but are neither pursued nor even mentioned. Similarly, such scholarship which has noted the evidence for psychotropic drug use by such cults as a means for self-transformation is hardly alluded to in the text. Was Jesus, after all, the hypostatization of a mushroom as John Allegro maintained?

[Steven H · Rating 3 out of 5]

WERE JESUS’ HEALINGS ACCOMPLISHED IN A STATE OF “SPIRIT POSSESSION”?

Author Stevan L. Davies [who admits that “I do not pretend even amateur expertise in theology”; [pg. 20] wrote in the first chapter of this 1995 book, “The quest for the historical Jesus has primarily been conducted under the umbrella of a single ruling metaphor: Jesus the Teacher. If that paradigm is not the best one to apply, then we must supplement it with another ruling metaphor… Scholars look for a teacher and analyze his teachings and end up with something… different, every one… the paradigm Jesus the Teacher has proven itself to be very problematic. The ruling metaphor, or paradigm, that does work… is the metaphor of Jesus the Healer. Start with the question ‘how did he heal’ rather than the question ‘what did he teach’ and many things become clear.” (Pg. 14-15)

He suggests, “it may very well be that the very idea that Jesus was primarily a teacher came into being only after his death. Perhaps it was not the case that Jesus’ coherent ‘message’ was distorted after his death and thus we have several different views of it. It seems more likely that Jesus was thought to have a coherent ‘message’ only after his death and so we have several different creations of it.” (Pg. 12)

He outlines, “I will argue that the historical Jesus became the embodiment of the spirit of God and that this fact, in part, answers the question ‘how did Jesus heal?’… Jesus had inexplicable psychological experiences of a sort that were understood by himself and others to be experiences such that, on occasion, he should not be identified as himself… but as another person, the spirit of God… this is NOT in the category of a ‘supernatural event’ but is in the category of a verifiable historical event… in the usual sense of being evidenced by ancient sources appropriate to the time under discussion… the historical fact that Jesus was understood to be possessed by the spirit of God was caused by understandable historical factors and that his spirit-possession led, during his life, to understandable consequences in accord with reliable elements of the biographies we have.” (Pg. 18)

He cautions, “I must stress that we have perhaps … .001 percent, of the information available to us in the texts that an anthropologist has wo has done even a modicum of field-work in a particular culture. My analysis must of necessity be of a general sort and draw rather general conclusions because there are not enough data available to do more.” (Pg. 42)

He suggests, “Jesus was baptized under circumstances where psychological change… (repentance), was a sine qua non for attendance… The reports that Jesus, under such circumstances, entered into a state of alter-persona consciousness, which he came to define as possession by God’ spirit, are based on reliable historical fact. The story of the baptism of Jesus is not about what happened… or what Jesus believed… but about the origin of a dissociative psychological transformation.” (Pg. 65)

He explains, “My analysis begins with the proposition that Jesus did heal cases of the sort reported in our texts by the means reported in our texts: acknowledgement of his power to heal… The term ‘faith healer’ applies in such cases, for faith is the power of the healer and the healer’s self-presentation is the key factor involved, as it is a key factor in the clinical practice of modern physicians. Cases alleviated or cured by faith healing are usually, but not invariably, psychosomatic in nature.” (Pg. 69)

He argues for “the hypothesis that Jesus, a spirit-possessed healer effective in alleviating the immediate difficulties of a dissociative clientele… would probably have sought to make use of altered states of consciousness … in the process of assisting them to full cure… the kingdom of God was a label he used for a state of religious trance that functioned as an alternative dissociative modality to the benefit of his clientele… Perhaps… the parables of Jesus were means to … a change of mind and a turning-about to achieve a state (not primarily a lifestyle or an eschatological prediction); and ASC trance of the kingdom of God.” (Pg. 128)

He notes, “While in an altered state of consciousness Jesus certainly said some things that were attributed to be attributed not to him but to the spirit speaking through him... the Jewish prophetic paradigm practically demands this… we know some sayings that may have been spoken by Jesus himself while he was in a state of spirit-possession. These sayings refer…. To the spirit’s nature and origin, the spirit’s powers and relationship to God.” (Pg. 152)

He concludes, “Some readers may suspect that this is all just speculation. It is not. I am presenting an interpretation and defense of the historicity of at least some of the elements of a considerable body of first-century textual evidence… conceiving Jesus to have been a spirit-possessed prophet renders that evidence more comprehensible than does any other mode of approach… My line of reasoning leads to interesting consequences. For example, the historical Jesus, speaking in the voice of the spirit, may well have said such things as ‘I and the Father are one.’ … All it takes to move from early first-century Palestinian Judaism to high Christology is a simple shift in the concept of reference vis-à-vis a certain set of Jesus’ sayings.” (Pg. 166-167)

Later, he adds, “Christology grew out of pneumatology. Pneumatology originated from possession experience. Possession experience can be analyzed for the individual by means of psychological theory and for the group by anthropological theory… My principal points are two. First, it was the case that associates of Jesus founded a spirit-possession cult shortly after his death. Second it is the case that analysis of texts in the New Testament … should be done in light of anthropological and psychological information concerning spirit-possession.” (Pg. 187)

This book will be of interest to those seeking ‘alternative’ views of Jesus.