ABSTRACT
The development of demonology and deliverance practices in the United States offers a revealing window onto the interaction of local and global influences in Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity. The Christian practice of driving out demons can be traced to Jesus of Nazareth in first-century Palestine. As Christianity became a majority religion in the Roman Empire, Christians continued to read the same Bible as did the early church, yet educated elites came to interpret biblical stories through a functionally naturalistic worldview. Examination of US demonology and deliverance practices offers a revealing point of entry for examining the relationship between the local and the global in modern Pentecostalism. Many practitioners feel more comfortable with low-key models that resemble psychological counseling or marginalize deliverance as a last resort, rather than a normative demonstration that the kingdom of heaven has come near.
