Pastoral Care Methods and Demonology in Selected Writings

Abstract

Styles of pastoral ministry, especially in the interpretation of exorcism in relationship to “demon possession,” is discussed in selected writings from the early Middle Ages to the later Middle Ages. The role of the Christian was to help facilitate “the casting out” of the demonic. This theme seems to have persisted throughout the Middle Ages and had antecedents in the early church. The hypothesis stated is that pastoral care in the Middle Ages attempted: (a) to restore the whole man by reclamation and reintegration from the demonic forces, especially demonic possession which was seen as related to what is known as mental illness; (b) to provide a structure by which one could become stable and unified from the prevailing culture with its environment, societal, and individual disorder and disintegration. The church provided: (a) tangible media based on the Christus Victor motif; and (b) exorcism with its emerging substitutes and parallel styles of ministry.