Believe not every spirit : possession, mysticism, & discernment in early modern Catholicism

385 Pages·2007·1.62 MB·English

BelieveNotEverySpirit

Believe Not Every Spirit
Possession, Mysticism, & Discernment
in Early Modern Catholicism
moshe sluhovsky
the university of chicago press Chicago& London
moshe sluhovskyisprofessorofhistoryattheHebrewUniversity
ofJerusalemandvisitingassociateprofessoratBrownUniversity.
HeistheauthorofPatronessofParis:RitualsofDevotion
inEarlyModernFrance.
TheUniversityofChicagoPress,Chicago60637
TheUniversityofChicagoPress,Ltd.,London
(cid:2)C 2007byTheUniversityofChicago
Allrightsreserved.Published2007
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 1 2 3 4 5
isbn-13:978-0-226-76282-1 (cloth)
isbn-10:0-226-76282-3 (cloth)
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Sluhovsky,Moshe,1958–
Believenoteveryspirit:possession,mysticism,&discernmentinearlymodern
Catholicism/MosheSluhovsky.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn-13:978-0-226-76282-1(cloth:alk.paper)
isbn-10:0-226-76282-3(cloth:alk.paper)
1.Demonology. 2.Discernmentofspirits. 3.Demoniacpossession.
4.Spiritpossession. 5.Exorcism. 6.Mysticism. I.Title.
bt975.s58 2007
(cid:3)
235.4—dc22
2006018189
(cid:2)∞ Thepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstheminimumrequire-
mentsoftheAmericanNationalStandardforInformationSciences—
PermanenceofPaperforPrintedLibraryMaterials,ansiz39.48-1992.
ForJamesN.Green
&
ForYo’avandNa’aman

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
part one: possession & exorcism
1:TrivializingPossession 13
2:ThePrevalenceofaMundanePractice 33
3:FromPraxistoPrescribedRitual 61
part two: mysticism
4:LaSpiritualite´a` laMode 97
5:Contemplation,Possession,& SexualMisconduct 137
part three: discernment
6:AnatomyoftheSoul 169
7:DiscerningWomen 207
part four: intersections
8:TheDevilintheConvent 233
9:Conclusions 265
Notes 269
Bibliography 325
Index 361

Acknowledgments
AsIfinishthisbook,Iamverypleasedtoacknowledgethesupport,help,
andadviceIhavegottenovertheyearsfrommanyfriendsandcolleagues.
Twentyyearsago,NatalieZemonDavisandPeterBrownstartedtoenrich
my thinking about history, religion, gender, and the connections among
them.Theirsupportandfriendshipsincethenhavebeenasimportantas
theiroriginalimpactonme.InJerusalem,Ihavebenefitedfromconver-
sations and much more with Yossi Chajes,Esther Cohen,BatyaFriesel,
Melila Hellner-Eshed, Tamar Herzig, and Michael Heyd. Astar’s pres-
enceinJerusalemhasalsobeenasourceofjoyandareasontoneverwant
to leave. This book project started many years ago, while I was a post-
doctoral fellow at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena,
California.IthankSusanDavis,PhilHoffman,RosyMeiron,andBryant
Simonfortheirgenerousfriendshipthenandsince.InLosAngeles,JoeA.
Boone,AliceEchols,PaulLerner,PatMorton,PeteSigal,MarlaStone,
andAliceWexlerlistenedtomyideas,asdidJesu´sEscobarandKatherine
FlemingandZviBen-DorBeniteinNewYork.AlainFaudemayinParis
andMalcolmDaniel,DarrylMorrison,andthelateDianeShalet-Strong
inNewYorkwerealwaysreadytooffermehomesawayfromhome.
InstitutionalthanksareduetotheDepartmentofHistoryattheHebrew
UniversityofJerusalemforgrantingmemorethanmyshareofleaves,and
totheDepartmentofHistoryatCaliforniaStateUniversity,LongBeach,
and especially its amazing ex-chair Sharon Sievers. Much of this book
waswrittenduringtheacademicyear2003–4,whichIspentastheHaynes
Fellow at the National Humanities Center in North Carolina. I wish to
thank the center’s entire staff for making it a wonderful and immensely