Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: Discerning the Spirits / David Bradnick -- Demonology in the Patristic and Medieval Eras / David Bradnick -- The Demonic According to the Early and Classical Modern Eras / David Bradnick -- Late Modern Theologies of the Demonic / David Bradnick -- The Demonic and the Social Sciences / David Bradnick -- Causality in Philosophy and Science: Toward an Ontology of the Demonic / David Bradnick -- Emergence Theory and the Demonic / David Bradnick -- The Demonic in the Bible: An Emergentist Perspective / David Bradnick -- Conclusion: Binding the Spirits / David Bradnick.

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In Evil, Spirits, and Possession: An Emergentist Theology of the Demonic David Bradnick develops a multidisciplinary view of the demonic, using biblical-theological, social-scientific, and philosophical-scientific perspectives. Building upon the work of Pentecostal theologian Amos Yong, this book argues for a theology informed by emergence theory, whereby the demonic arises from evolutionary processes and exerts downward causal influence upon its constituent substrates. Consequently, evil does not result from conscious diabolic beings; rather it manifests as non-personal emergent forces that influence humans to initiate and execute nefarious activities. Emergentism provides an alternative to contemporary views, which tend to minimize or reject the reality of the demonic, and it retains the demonic as a viable theological category in the twenty-first century.

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