Corpus-Paul

["Jeffrey B. Gibson" <jgibson000 AT mailhost.chi.ameritech.net>]

Here is yet another message from Troy Martin

****
Greetings to Carol, Graydon, Yonder, and others interested in Paul as
exorcist.
A few years before his death, I spent an evening with Professor Morton
Smith at a
party hosted by H. Dieter Betz.  Prof. Smith announced that his sequel
to Jesus the
Magician would be a book entitled Paul the Possessed.  Rather than
studying Paul as an
exorcist, Smith proposed investigating the role of possession in Paul's
own life and
ministry.  Most important for Smith's proposal was Paul's reference in 2
Cor 12:7 to
affliction by a messenger of Satan.  Smith interpreted this reference in
relation to
spirit possessions.  Smith's interpretation connected two phenomena that
recent
scholarship is careful to separate.   This interpretation was not new
with Smith,
however, for John Chrysostom in his writings on 2 Cor 12:7 and Gal 4:13
vigorously
resisted interpretations that the Apostle Paul was dominated by a
demon.  Smith also
proposed that Paul's references to possession by the Holy Spirit also be
interpreted
in relation to spirit possessions.  For Smith, possession by the Holy
Spirit differs
from other spirit possessions only in kind but not in form.  The
difference is simply
whether or not one is possessed by a good or a bad spirit.  In typical
Smith style,
all of us that evening were stimulated and many provoked.  As far as I
know, Smith
neither published nor finished his proposed book.

Troy W. Martin
Associate Professor of Religious Studies
Saint Xavier University, Chicago

Carol Bateson wrote:

> I am currently writing a paper on exorcism for an undergraduate
Religion
> seminar.  I have located several books on ancient and modern exorcism,

> along with books on that focus on Jesus as exorcist.  My question to
the
> list is this:
>
> Can anyone recommend a book on Paul as exorcist, that is, if there is
such
> a book?
>
> Thank you in advance,
> Carol Bateson
> University of Southern California
>
> ---
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--
Jeffrey B. Gibson
7423 N. Sheridan Road #2A
Chicago, Illinois 60626
e-mail jgibson000 AT ameritech.net