San Antonio College Library

"A riveting account of demon possession and its devastating impact on one family"--Provided by the publisher.

In The Rite, journalist Matt Baglio uses the astonishing story of one American priest's training as an exorcist to reveal that the phenomena of possession, demons, the Devil, and exorcism are not merely a remnant of the archaic past, but remain a fearsome power in many people's lives even today.--Publisher description.

From the publisher. From the beginning of civilization to the present day, and across all major religions and cultures, there have been documented cases of people seemingly overtaken by an unseen entity. The invading force -- whether good or bad -- appears to replace the possessor's soul with the spirit's own persona, resulting in mystifying symptoms such as levitation or other supernatural feats, speaking in tongues, and even horrific and inexplicably...

"This ... work ... examines spirit possession rituals in relation to interpersonal, institutional, structural and expressive processes, and underscores the potential of possession to adapt to changing circumstances. Each chapter offers ethnographically grounded and theoretically engaged analyses of possession ..."

"The guest is smallpox, an infectious disease from the West that destroyed lives and families. The guest is the twin horrors that Christianity and Communism became when they reached fanatical heights in Korea. And the guest is Ryu Yosop, who visits his homeland for the first time in forty years to face the repercussions of his brother's actions during the Korean War." "Author Hwang Sok-yong brings to life a dark chapter of history, a story of a family's...

The author reveals his more than twenty-five-year work as a psychiatrist and exorcist, discussing his skepticism about the integration of psychiatry and religion, two of his most significant cases, and his beliefs about free will and evil.