exorcism

The expulsion of evil spirits. It was the belief in the 1st cent. CE, and long afterwards, that evil spirits could take possession of a person and cause mental and physical illnesses, especially epilepsy. By exorcism, which could take the form of an incantation, the demon [[➝ demons]] might be expelled and the sufferer cured. Jesus cast out spirits (Mark 1:25; 9:25) and the disciples were given the same power (Matt. 10:1, 8), which they made use of (Acts 19:13–16), though exorcism is not included by Paul in any of his lists of spiritual gifts. Some of the Pharisees, however, were exorcists (Matt. 12:27), and Paul attributes some human ailments to Satan (2 Cor. 12:4).

Indeed belief in demons and demon possession was common amongst Jews of the 1st cent. CE, and in Hellenistic literature there are accounts of exorcists extracting a demon from the nose of a demoniac with a ring. Jesus' exorcisms were effected by word only. They are not mentioned in the gospel of John, but the undoubted fact of this aspect of Jesus' ministry witnesses, like his pre-critical views on the OT (e.g. Mark 12:36), to the distance of his world from ours. There has nevertheless been a revival of the practice of exorcism in some modern churches of a conservative outlook; sometimes there is cooperation with medical and psychiatric opinion.