Spirit Possession, Theology and Identity: A Pacific Exploration

The growing contemporary interest in spirit possession prompted eleven past and present faculty members of The University of Auckland's School of Theology along with two of the School's recent post-graduate students to offer essays that in some way explored the reality of spirit possession in Oceania today. Authors were chosen because of their particular research teaching or ministry competencies, and this explains the division of the book into three sections. The first section draws on the experiences of those engaged in pastoral ministry with people who believe they are possessed or those whose particular research interests are the relationship of faith culture and praxis. In the second section, the function and place of spirit language in the biblical texts is examined, while the last section's focus is somewhat broader, addressing some of the historical responses to spirit possession, as well as emerging pneumatologies of good and bad spirits and their impact on the human condition.

The George Sainsbury Foundation was established in 1989, `for research into and treatment of spirit possession as it relates to mental illness for the benefit of those persons suffering from such sickness.' In 2006, a legal representative for the Foundation approached the School of Theology at the University of Auckland, asking if the School could conduct research into spirit possession. The research project undertaken in response to the grant of funds from the George Sainbury Foundation was conducted in Aotearoa New Zealand for the `benefit of those suffering' from spirit possession in this particular context.

Elaine M Wainwright is Professor of Theology and Head of the School of Theology at the University of Auckland. She is a New Testament scholar with research interests in contemporary hermeneutical approaches to biblical interpretation and in healing---both in the Graeco-Roman world of early Christianity and today. She is currently engaged in an ecological reading of the Gospel of Matthew for the Earth Bible Commentary Series to be published by Sheffield Phoenix.
Philip Culbertson is an ordained Episcopal priest who recently semiretired after fifteen years of teaching theology in Auckland. At present, he is Adjunct Lecturer in Theology at the University of Auckland, and a copy-editor for a major US religious publishing house. He resides now in Palm Springs, California. His research interests include contextual theology, practical theology, gender and sexuality studies, Pasifika cultures, and the relationship between psychotherapy and spirituality.
Susan Smith is a Sister of Our Lady of the Missions, who retired from lecturing at the University of Auckland in 2006, although she is still involved with the School of Theology as a supervisor, author, and editor. Her current research interests include Missiology and the New Testament, and she is involved in teaching in the Asian provinces of her religious congregation.