‘Physicians of the Soul’: Clerical Responses to Demonic Temptation and Possession in Early Modern Reformed English Protestant Theology

Abstract:Recent scholarship has highlighted the centrality of demonic temptation (to commit sin) in early modern Reformed English Protestantism. This article develops this argument further by examining the manifestation of, and the clerical response to, demonic possession in late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century England. Demonic possession is framed here as an expression of intense conflict with demonic temptation: a reading that emphasises the spiritual effects of this affliction on the soul. Moreover, it presents English clergymen—particularly those of Puritan convictions—as predominantly concerned with treating the effects of demonic temptation on the soul. In this role, they thereby fashioned themselves as ‘physicians of the soul’. Through examining a range of early modern English works of practical divinity, demonology, and demonic possession, this article establishes the broader ‘Godly’ concern with demonic temptation, along with how this concern shaped their conceptualisation of demonic assault and spiritual healing.