Possession, Affliction, & Religious Conversion

Film Clip:  3 Sovereigns for Sarah (Court Scene with Afflicted Girls)

Lecture: Possession, Affliction & Religious Conversion (Weisman, Boyer & Nissenbaum)

Divine Intervention in Human Affairs

Conversion = Core Religious Experience: 

Afflictions: 

possession: 

bewitchment: 

Possible Reactions to Afflictions = Witch Hunt or  Religious Revival

Witch Hunt: 

Religious Revivals in Boston & Northampton:

Boston (1692): 

Northampton’s “Little Awakening” (1734–35): 

Film Clip: Crucible (Trial Scene with Afflicted Girls)

In-Class Writing Assignment:

In Arthur Miller’s Crucible, the afflicted girls are portrayed as intentionally manipulating the judicial system. Was there anything in Karlson’s Brands Plucked out of the Burning Fire” that would lead you to question Miller’s representation?  If you haven’t been able to do this reading, write on what you have read or compare the two film clips just shown.

Lecture: Possible Explanations for Salem’s “Afflicted Girls”

Salem—The Afflicted Girls:

Robert Calef (1700): 

Deodat Lawson: 

Questions about Afflicted Girls:

Final Film Clip:  Hocus Pocus (Halloween Party)