Possessed, or Sent? Possessions and Exorcisms in the Fourth Gospel

Although the synoptic gospels provide a great deal of attention to the accounts and discussions of Jesus' exorcisms, John's gospel remains completely silent on this point. The first part of the paper evaluates four possible explanations of this John's attitude and concludes that John avoided mentioning exorcisms intentionally, but without denying their historicity. The second part seeks to explain this by arguing that John considered exorcisms unsuitable for expressing the proper meaning of Jesus' ministry.

Keywords: Jesus; Possession; Exorcism; John's Gospel; Miracle