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Summary:

"Levitation. Feats of superhuman strength. Speaking in tongues. A hateful, glowing stare. Spirit possession has been documented for thousands of years and across religions and cultures, even into our time: In 2019 the Vatican convened 250 priests from 50 countries for a week-long seminar on exorcism. The Penguin Book of Exorcisms brings together the most astonishing accounts: Saint Anthony set upon by demons in the form of a lion, a bull, and a panther, who are no match for his devotion and prayer; the Prophet Muhammad casting an enemy of God out of a young boy; fox spirits in medieval China and Japan; a headless bear assaulting a woman in sixteenth-century England; the possession in the French town of Loudun of an entire convent of Ursuline nuns; a Zulu woman who floated to a height of five feet almost daily; a previously unpublished account of an exorcism in Earling, Iowa, in 1928--an important inspiration for the movie The Exorcist; poltergeist activity at a home in Maryland in 1949--the basis for William Peter Blatty's novel The Exorcist; a Filipina girl "bitten by devils"; and a rare example of a priest's letter requesting permission of a bishop to perform an exorcism--after witnessing a boy walk backwards up a wall. Fifty-seven percent of Americans profess to believe in demonic possession; after reading this book, you may too"-- [Provided by publisher]

Table of Contents:

• Machine generated contents note: PENGUIN BOOK OF EXORCISMS: THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST
• Exorcism from the Library of Ashurbanipal, Seventh Century BCE
• Bentresh Stela, Fourth Century BCE
• GRECO-ROMAN WORLD
• Hippocrates, "On the Sacred Disease," 400 BCE
• Lucian of Samosata, The Syrian Exorcist, 150 CE
• Tertullian, The Nature of Demons, 197 CE
• Philostratus, The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, 210 CE
• Athanasius, The Life of Saint Anthony, 370 CE
• MEDIEVAL EUROPE
• Cynewulf, "Juliana," 970
• 990
• Thomas Aquinas, The Powers of Angels and Demons, 1274
• EARLY MODERN EUROPE AND AMERICA
• Desiderius Erasmus, "The Exorcism or Apparition," 1519
• Possessed Woman Attacked by a Headless Bear, 1584
• "A True Discourse Upon the Matter of Marthe Brossier," 1599
• Des Niau, The History of the Devils ofLoudun, 1634
• Samuel Willard, "A briefe account of a strange & unusuall Providence of God befallen to Elizabeth Knap of Groton," 1673
• Diary of Joseph Pitkin, 1741

• Fray Juan Jose Toledo, An Exorcism in the New Mexico Colony, 1764
• George Lukins, the Yatton Demoniac, 1788
• JEWISH TRADITIONS OF EXORCISM
• Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 94 CE
• Spirit in the Widow of Safed, 1571
• Exorcisms of the Baal Shem Tov, 1814
• ISLAMIC TRADITION
• Ahmad b. Hanbal, "The Prophet Muhammad Casts an Enemy of God Out of a Young Boy: A Tradition from Ahmad B. Hanbal's Musnad," 855 CE
• Trial of Husain Suliman Karrar, 1920
• SOUTH AND EAST ASIA
• Hymn to Drive Away Gandharvas and Apsaras, Eleventh to Thirteenth Century BCE
• Chang Tu, "Exorcising Fox-Spirits," 853 CE
• Fox Tale from the Konjaku Monogatrishu, Eighth to Twelfth Centuries CE
• Harriet M. Browne's Account of Kitsune-Tsuki, 1900
• D. H. Gordon, D.S.O., "Some Notes on Possession by Bhuts in the Punjab," 1912
• Georges de Roerich, "The Ceremony of Breaking the Stone," 1931
• MODERN EXORCISMS
• Exorcism Performed by Joseph Smith, 1830
• W. S. Lach-Szyrma, Exorcizing a Rusalka, 1881
• Mariannhill Mission Society, An Exorcism of a Zulu Woman, 1906
• E J. Bunse, S.J., The Earling Possession Case, 1934
• "Report of a Poltergeist," 1949
• Lester Sumrall, The True Story of Clarita Villanueva, 1955
• Alfred Metraux, A Vodou Exorcism in Haiti, 1959
• E. Mansell Pattison, An Exorcism on a Yakama Reservation, 1977
• Michael L. Maginot, "Report Seeking Permission of Bishop for Exorcism," 2012.

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Contributors:

Laycock, Joseph, 1980- , editor

Languages:

English

Language Notes:

Item content: English

Other Related Resources:

Online version: The penguin book of exorcisms (1st; New York : Penguin Classics, 2020 — ISBN 9780525507147; LCCN 2020018193)

Related Series:

Penguin classics

Subjects:

Exorcism

Demonology

Spirit possession

General Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.
Description based on print version record.

Physical Description:

1 online resource.

Call Numbers:

BF1559 .P38 2020eb

ISBNs:

9780525507147 (electronic bk.)
0525507140 (electronic bk.)
9780143135470 [Invalid]
0143135473 [Invalid]

OCLC Numbers:

1155484062

Other Control Numbers:

2376733 (source: EbpS)
[Unknown Type]: ybp301466661