The Demonology of Jesus

King's Crown Essays, Columbia College, Fall 1960

I. Introduction

BIBLICAL SCHOLARS have generally neglected the demonology of Jesus, de­spite the important role it played in his life and thought. According to Mark, Jesus first become famous as an exorciser of demons:

And they were all amazed so that they questioned among themselves, saying, "What is this? A new teaching! With authority he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.”(1)
When Luke tells about the return of the seventy disciples, he mentions only one occurrence of their mission, apparently the most remarkable.
The seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name.”(2)
Matthew, too, records the amazement of the people when they saw Jesus' power over demons:
And when the demon had been cast out, the dumb man spake; and the crowds marvelled, saying, "Never was anything like this seen in Israel."(3)
In considering the demonology of Jesus we shall utilize terms from the­ology and psychoanalysis, but let it be understood from the beginning that we shall not strictly adhere to these disciplines. No self-respecting theologian or psychoanalyst would be satisfied with the methods of this paper. The theologian would argue that we have neglected a spiritual plane of existence which lies beyond the personality of Jesus. The psychoanalyst would argue that since Jesus did not have the time nor the money to visit an analyst several hundred times, he must forever remain unanalyzed.

Since, lacking data, we cannot psychoanalyze Jesus the man, we shall instead scrutinize Jesus the image. This image, as portrayed in the New Testament, has meant so much to Western Religion, that any insight we gain will also be a commentary on the men who have sought to follow it.

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NOTE: Unless otherwise stated, all New Testament quotations are from the Revised Standard Version.
1. Mark 1:27.
2. Luke 10:17.
3. Matthew 9:33.

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