RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Demoniac Dempster
viction that " the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devU " (I John iii. 8) continued active in the early Church. Thus Irenffius (II. xlLx. 3) asserts that certain exorcisms " mightily and truly expel demons " ; while TertuUian put the belief in the form of a challenge {Apol, xxiii.; cf. De corona, xi.; De idolis, xi.; Minucius Felix, xxvii.; Origen, Contra Celsum, vii. 4, viii. 58, etc.). While in the earliest period many Christians expelled evil spirits, exorcists are definitely mentioned as special officials of the Church as early as Cyprian (Epist., xvi.; cf. the tenth canon of the Council of Antioch and the twenty-sixth of the Apostolic Constitutions). [The energumens (Gk. energoumenoi, " worked upon," "influenced," i.e., by an evil spirit) constituted a special class. They were not permitted to enter the church if they were violent, but were commanded to stand in the porch, so that they could hear the singing and prayers; and with them might be found lepers and persons of offensive lives (cf. the seventeenth canon of the Synod of Ancyra, 314; Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, i. 235- 237); after the prayers they came in to receive the blessing of the bishop. If they were quiet, they were allowed in the church, yet separated from the catechumens, and listened to the sermon. They were also called cheimazomenoi (" storm-tossed "). The exorcists daUy brought them food, laid their hands upon them, and prayed for them. After their recovery they kept a twenty to forty days' fast, then partook of the sacrament; a particular prayer was made for them by the priest, and their names were entered upon the church-records, with especial mention of their recovery.] The belief in demoniac possession and the power of exorcism has continued in the Church down to modern times. See Benediction; Sacramentals.
This phenomenon loses its singularity in view of its ethnic distribution. In the Old Testament a special instance is the evil spirit which troubled Saul after the spirit of God had departed from him, mentioned by Josephus {Ant., VI. viii. 2, xi. 2) as a case of demoniac possession, and the lying spirit of I Kings xxii. 20-23. The cases of Judges ix. 23; II Kings xix. 7; Isa. xxix. 10 are more doubtful, but the underlying concept is clearly that of possession by evil spirits. Josephus expressed a firm belief in possession. According to him, in a case which he observed, the exorcist held 6. Exor- to the patient's nose a ring containing cism by under its seal one of the roots which Jews. Solomon had endowed with healing power, thus drawing the demon from the nostrils of the person possessed. The patient then fell down, and the exorcist conjured the demon not to return, commemorating Solomon, and pronouncing the incantations which he had composed. ' Jewish exorcists are mentioned by Jesus (Matt. xii. 27) as well as in Acts xix. 13-20, while Origen [Contra Celsum, I. xxviii., xxxviii.) declared exorcism an art which the Jews had learned from the Egyptians. Lucian {Philopseudes, xvii.) describes exorcists in terms which resemble those of the New Testament, mentioning particularly a Palestinian and an Arab conjurer. Especially famous were
the exorcisms of ApoUonius of Tyana (q.v.), although there is no foundation for Baur's view that they were imitations of the Gospel narratives.
Strong evidence for the wide-spread extent of the ancient belief in demoniac possession are the countless incantations still preserved, and the mass of magic papyri recently discovered. A distinct category is formed by the " Ephesian letters," a mixture of foreign and unintelligible names, including many Hebrew words and even verses from the Bible. In these formulas the Hebrew name of God and the name of Jesus recur with great frequency, both being regarded as especially potent.
In spite of the progress of modern thought and of the natural sciences, the primitive conception of all these things as supernatural has by no means been eliminated. In the Roman Catholic and orthodox Protestant churches it finds a strong support in the Scriptural narratives and in the
general supernatural standpoint from 7. Modern which their exposition is approached. Explana- The natural view of these phenomena tions. was first taken by the rationalist
school, especially by Semler, and is today fully recognized in historical theology. Theologians are now willing to adimt their need of information on the underlying psychological facts at the hands of specialists, especially the medical men who in recent years have made careful study of phenomena of this class. The labors of Charcot, Richer, Snell, and others have led to a prevalence of the view that cases of so-called possession are usually to be regarded as acute hysteria, and the cures, the accomplishment of which is still possible, as the work of suggestion. This would have been all the more likely to operate effectively in the early days of Christianity, when powerful religious excitement and extreme submissiveness of faith would have offered the most favorable conditions for its exercise. (Johannes Weiss. )
Bibliography: On Biblical presentations consult: F. C. Conybeare, in JQR, 1896-97; W. Baudis.sin, Stiidien, part 1, Leipsic, 1876; G. Hafner, Die Damonischen des N. T., Frankfort, 1894; H. Laehr, Die Damonischen des N. T., Leipsic, 1894; R. Stube, Jiidisch-babylonische Zaubertexte, Halle, 1895; W. M. Alexander, Demoniac Possession in the New Testament, Edinburgh, 1902; DB, i. 590-594; 811-813; EB, i. 1069-74, ii. 1451-S3; JE, v. 305-306. On the relationship of Christ to the subject consult: F. TSIippold, Die psychiatrische Heilthiitigkeit Jesu, Bern, 1889; idem, Engels- und Satansidee Jesu, ib. 1891; Schwartzkopff, in Zeitschrift fiir Theologie und Kirche, 1897. For beliefs and practises of the Middle Ages cf. Schaff, Christian Church, v. 1, pp. 878 sqq.
On ethnic belief consult, besides the literature under Comparative Religion: A. Harnack, Medizinisches a^ls der alten Kirchengeschichte, in TU, viii. 4 (1892), 111 sqq.; J. L. Nevius, Demon Possession, Chicago, 1895 (Chinese phenomena); W. R. Newbold, Demon Possession, in New World, 1897, pp. 499 sqq.; W. M. Townsend, Satan and Demons, Cincinnati, 1902. The medical side may be
" consulted in -J. M. Charcot, Les Maladies du systeme nerveux, 3 vols.; 'Paris, 1886-87. Consult J. M. Charcot and P. Richer, Les Demoniaques dans I'art, Paris, 1887.
DEMPSTER, THOMAS: Scotch scholar; b. (according to his own not altogether trustworthy account) at Gliftbog, near Muiresk (32 m. n.w. of Aberdeen), Aberdeenshire, Aug. 23, 1579; d. at Bologna Sept. 6, 1625. He led an adventurous life as student at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, at Pans,
Senio Denmark