Jesus the Healer

Arguing that the Gospels reveal Jesus to have been a spirit-possessed healer & an exorcist of demon-possessed people, Stevan L. Davies shows how contemporary anthropologic findings illuminate precisely those facts. Jesus had a gift for the induction of religious trance states that he considered to be the present experience of the kingdom of God. His ability to bring about such states can be understood by analogy to the increasingly acclaimed psychotherapeutic techniques of Milton Erickson. After Jesus' death, the experience of spirit-possession became definitive for his followers. The writings of Paul, John & Mark are different forms of reflection on the nature of the experience of spirit-possession, & aren't so different as they are usually taken to be. Jesus the Healer argues that at least some of the sayings of Jesus in John's gospel—for example, "I and the Father are one" & "I come from the Father"—are quotations from Jesus himself when possessed by & speaking as the spirit of God. This book is a radical new look at Jesus as exorcist & healer.