Finding a Place for Possession, Divination, and Trance within the Historical Perspective
Journal of Religious History June 1, 2014 Christopher Hartney
A review of four publications from 2008–2010 examines how studies of possession, divination, and trance interact with historical method, focusing on historiography rather than anthropology or ethnography. It analyzes framing devices in an edition edited by Amar Annus and a monograph by Sarah Iles Johnston, then considers how seemingly ahistorical phenomena like divination, trance, and possession can be accounted for historically. The article agrees with commentators that anxiety over integrating history with such phenomena stems from a narrow scholarly mentality. It concludes that alternative historical approaches are needed for religious history to study these phenomena without bias or unease.