Fascinating book about exorcism. Engrossing, readable, and , if you are at all curious about this subject, Peck is rational, lucid and conversational in his speculation and investigation of what the heck the devil is.

I think M. Scott Peck was a great writer and had a deep understanding of human personality. I've read a couple of his other books and some of his claims make me wonder if they are true or accurate. Others I do think are true. I read this book years ago when dealing with a specific kind of evil in someone and much of what Peck wrote about encountering in his practice sounded very similar to the behavior of the person I was dealing with. However, there were some things he shared of his sessions that I don't fully believe. Still, it's one of the few books that addresses the overlap of the spiritual/psychological in an accessible way.

Glimpses of the Devil: A Psychiatrist's Personal Accounts of Possession, Exorcism, and Redemption by M. Scott Peck (Free Press 2005) (265.94). The author, who is an actual psychiatrist, believes that he has met the devil face to face. This book is two accounts of his work as an exorcist in cases of demonic possession. I'll bet that wherever he went to med school kind of keeps this on the down low, huh? My rating: 4/10, finished 2006.

This book, like I said, was only a sample on Kindle. It seems to be a book I would enjoy to read from time to time. I would have to read how the actual exorcist was.

Literally life-changing

I found this book to be both interesting and quite troubling. I discovered it quite by accident as I was looking for a copy of Malachi Martin’s, “Hostage to the Devil.” I suppose what troubled me the most is a modern western psychiatrist acknowledging the reality of demonic possession and the need for ritualized expulsion or exorcism. The title suggested, at the very least, the fecund smell of superstition. It certainly is not worthy of someone who has an MD after their name.

Albeit the late Dr. Peck was a Christian although not a particularly traditional one in many respects; a viewpoint I take on the author’s own words rather than supposition on my part. To add to my troubled feelings, the author describes his association with the laicized priest, Malachi Martin. Fr. Martin was part scoundrel and very controversial during his life. Martin made for a great guest on Art Bell’s radio program, but as a reliable person in times of extreme mental health emergencies seems dubious.

Frankly, it is hard to cull the rumors and conspiracies from the actual truth and Fr. Martin was no help as he seemed to revel in this quasi mystique that surrounded him. Peck at least understood the legend of Martin even as he sought out Martin as a mentor in the area of possession. Nonetheless, that a man of western medicine and science would take to diagnosing demonic possession and then go about assisting in exorcism and being the principal exorcist in one case is troubling.

The Christian Peck, whom didn’t really “convert” until sometime following the publication of his first book, the groundbreaking, “The Road Less Traveled,” was not Catholic and yet, due to Martin’s influence, the demonology seemed to be a sort of “Catholic lite” rooted in the pre-Vatican II theology of the Roman Church. Peck goes so far as to describe one unfortunate victim as undulating like a serpent. This is something described often by exorcists and William Peter Blatty even used the imagery in his novel, The Exorcist. Interestingly he ascribed boredom and great weariness to this serpentine devil – the association with the great serpent of Christianity will not be lost on the reader here.

One of the troubling things about exorcism is that it is not always successful. The Roman Ritual is complex and depending on the severity of the case can take days, even weeks to complete. It is not unheard of for the patient to die during the exorcism. This may be largely due to the emaciated condition of the patient at the time an exorcism is sought and the extreme stress of the ritual. Often times the patient is near death by the time the ritual is authorized. Even if the patient survives there is no guarantee of improved mental health. To suggest performing one, let alone actually doing it seems irresponsible.

Perhaps, the dismal record has something to do with the length of time it takes to get the Roman Catholic Church to authorize an exorcism. Peck does address the issue and discusses that it is not necessarily prudent to wait for the bed to start levitating. Peck argues here and elsewhere that the church needs to be quicker to respond to cases of possession.

The fact is that by the time the conditions are met, which includes loss of appetite, the victim has deteriorated in body and metal health. Performing such an extreme ritual could result in permanent psychic and or bodily damage, if not death. Exorcism seems that last ditch effort when nothing else seems to work in the face of extreme mental sickness. Did Peck succumb to this because there seemed to be a nothing left to lose sort of feel to his cases? I don’t know. It’s certainly not the feel I get when reading his case studies as desperate as they seem. I have never confronted the magnitude of evil that those who report demonic possession experience so it is difficult to tell what makes a medical professional such as Peck, a man who we might fairly expect to be a rationalist in many ways, shudder to such seemingly superstitious and irrational belief as possession.

Peck is a lively writer and keeps the reader’s attention. The case studies he presents are quite interesting as well as is his rationale for pursing the ancient ritual. It is important to know that even though the Roman Catholic Church officially acknowledges the reality of demonic possession, they also believe it is quite rare. As far back as the 16th century the church published a warning to its exorcists advising them that in the majority of the cases they would investigate the afflicted person would be more in need of a skilled physician then an actual exorcism.

Not being a mental health professional I can’t vouch for the value of Peck’s ideas or case studies. However, if you are looking for an interesting and thought provoking read you might find Glimpses of the Devil meets that criterion.

Wow

I can't believe this kind of book existed and I had no clue, I like Scott Peck's writing this is his second book I have read, he is thorough and deep and it shows in his writing.

I found it really interesting and a page turner especially the fact that he is relaying a real live event.

If you look these kind of books then you need to read it

Deeply Disappointing

Although very well written and dramatic, the author has attempted to scientifically explain the demonic. His arrogance and need to take credit for any healing is appalling; the patients most certainly will never be rid of the demonic. He has good intentions. I am curious why the author, not a Catholic or a Catholic priest, or a duly authorized representative of the Catholic church would have the hubris to employ The Roman Ritual of Exorcism when he obviously isn't qualified.
It is my heartfelt hope that those suffering from demonic oppression, infestation or actual possession, if so wishing, avail themselves to the Catholic Church and realize this is about faith in God, not science. Only God will or will not be the source of healing said individuals. People are sifted like wheat by Satan. Father Gabriel Amorth has written the go-to books on exorcism; they're available for reading on Kindle. They contain a wealth of enlightenment and information on the topic. I have read them all and recommend them.

As a practicing Christian who believes the devil is more than merely a metaphor or Jungian archetype, but is an actual individual personage, I found Glimpses of the Devil interesting because Dr. Peck was both a psychiatrist and a religious man who also believed in the literal existence of Satan. I found his accounts of two exorcisms in which he acted as chief exorcist credible and to jive with what I had previously concluded about demonic and/or satanic possession: that possession just doesn't happen to random people, but occurs when people to some extent cooperate with the evil entity. It's like the folklore about vampires--for vampires to enter one's home, one must invite the creature in.

I gave this book a 3-star rating (rather than 4 stars) because there were some aspects of Peck's behavior and attitudes that I found slightly disturbing. As someone who professed to be a Christian, he seemed to me to exhibit a casual, informal attitude towards God and Jesus Christ, and to the seriousness of the exorcism process, as well as an arrogance to his powers as an exorcist (although he himself admits his own arrogance, and that it was an error on his part). But none of this was really surprising to me, as I was already aware of many of the details of Dr. Peck's personal life.

Still, even with those caveats, I would recommend Glimpses of the Devil to anyone interested in the interplay of science and religion (as well as Peck's earlier work, The People of the Lie).

Scott Peck's arrogance is surpassed only by his blind admiration of a compulsive liar.

wonderful book. This is a book the average person would not have to be afraid to read, unlike some demonic possession books. I like all his books that i read. Since he is not clergy, his viewpoint was fresh. if i was going to read only one book about exorcism, this would be it.

I liked the book.