Summary Of The Devil Within Sq's

Getter, Daniel
The Devil Within SQ's

Preface
1. a. Levack writes that modern scholars thought people were either playing a scripted role of being possessed and copying the actions of others, experiencing the effects of a similar physical sickness, or simply pretending to be possessed by the Devil. b. The "actor"hypothesis takes the other two explanations a step further and ties what the demoniacs were experiencing and saying to the existing religious and social norms at the time. He believes that the spread of demoniac hysteria can be better comprehended if these norms are studied.

2. The reform movements of the Protestant and Catholic Reformations are thought to be the origins of the wave of demonic possession. The new waves of

"Obsession" was the idea that a person was affected by a demon externally: that is, the demon inflicted pain and discomfort upon a person without actually entering and taking over their bodily control. "Possession" was when a demon was thought to actually be inside a demoniac, hijacking the person's mental and physical capabilities and causing the myriad of abnormal actions described by Levack. According to Levack, the girls at Salem were obsessed, mainly because they did not show the most common examples of possession as described by documentation of other demoniacs. They were described as having many physical injuries and abnormal behavior, neither of which distinctly showed that they were truly possessed.

7. Demons were thought of as beings that did not physically exist, thereby allowing them to easily get into the bodies of humans. Humans were thought of as being very penetrable and having many openings for the devil to gain access inside them. The demons attack the body, especially the brain, where they take over the person's "...memory, imagination, and reason" (Levack 20).

8. The New Testament solidified for people the true existence of demons. The part of the text wherein it describes Jesus using his ability to rid people's bodies of demons was what made people believe that demons existed and that they took over human

"Counterfeit demoniacs" were those who faked being possessed often for reasons of personal gain. Many counterfeit demoniacs usually wanted to receive more money and blaspheme without blame, which they believed they could achieve by saying they were demoniacs. Some of them were not interested in gain, however, but were induced into acting like one by a doctor for their own gain. Levack writes that not all of these counterfeits were doing so "volitionally," that is, voluntarily, because he believes that everyone involved in the wave of possessions were acting off of scripted behaviors set forth by religious teachings. While some did fake possession voluntarily, there were those who Levack believes were not willingly taken over by demons. These people were using a script that had been embedded into them by their religion and their community, and were behaving the way they were 'supposed' to as deemed by the people around