Yale University Press eBooks
January 7, 2020
Giovanni B. Bazzana
6 citations
Spirit possession and exorcism are central to early Christian writings, the historical Jesus, and his earliest followers. Beyond being a harmful event requiring exorcism, possession can serve positive cultural and religious functions: helping individuals and groups reflect on and reshape identity, plan moral actions, and vividly remember their past. This book examines how a sophisticated notion of spirit possession—emphasizing cultural and religious productivity and its performative nature—illuminates key early Christian texts. It explores possession's fundamental role in Paul's religious experience and his Christ groups, including its social and ethical functions. Drawing on anthropology, the book treats the "spirits" involved seriously, not merely as mythical or metaphorical representations.
Having the Spirit of Christ
January 7, 2020
Giovanni B. Bazzana
Spirit possession in early Christian groups led by Paul served social and ethical functions, shaping social structures, moral agency, and individual identities. Drawing on recent ethnographic studies of possession's productive role, this analysis shows similar traits in Pauline communities. Possession enabled a unique form of engaging with the past, distinct from modern archival history. By embodying the spirit of Christ, Paul and group members could make Christ present, affecting their remembrance, moral choices, and formation as believers.
Having the Spirit of Christ
January 7, 2020
Giovanni B. Bazzana
This concluding chapter examines how spirit possession appears in early Christian texts, drawing on anthropological insights. It argues that the spirits involved in possession should be taken seriously as real entities, not merely as mythical or metaphorical representations, as earlier studies often did. This approach raises complex questions about ontology and agency, because attributing agency to nonhuman entities conflicts with the modern paradigm that only autonomous human individuals possess agency.
Having the Spirit of Christ
January 7, 2020
Giovanni B. Bazzana
Spirit possession is central to the religious experience of Paul and his Christ groups, expressed through the idiom of being "in Christ." This possession by a πνεῦμα (spirit), identified with the risen Christ, grants believers salvation from eschatological wrath and the expectation of eternal life. Paul believed Christ achieved the state of πνεῦμα through his death and resurrection, an idea shared by other early Christ groups, as confirmed by the Shepherd of Hermas, though with notable differences.