Books on Exorcism

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A couple of years ago I read The Rite which if you don’t know is about Father Gary Thomas being selected by his Bishop to go to Rome and train as an exorcist. It was a pretty informative book and interesting because Fr Thomas wasn’t really a believer in exorcism at first. I’ve also read interviews with priests including Fr. Amorth who said the book and movie portrayed the most realistic depiction of exorcism.

So today I started reading Hostage to the Devil by Malachi Martin and find that these two books contradict each other on just about everything.

Examples:

Length of exorcism:
The Rite: 20 to 45 minutes per session, rarely completed in a single session and many people have weekly appointments until the exorcism is completed.
Hostage: Can be well over 12 hours and cannot be interrupted until it’s finished.

Where does it take place?:
The Rite: The exorcists office by appointment once it’s established a person is possessed
Hostage: At the home of the possessed because the location is extremely important.

Who performs the exorcism?
The Rite: The exorcist by himself unless he’s training another exorcist.
Hostage: The Exorcist, a Priest Assistant and up to four lay assistants.

The differences keep going from there. There’s almost nothing the two books agree on and I’m wondering if Malachi Martin is a reliable source? I know Gary Thomas and The Rite are legitimate, but I don’t know what to think of these differences. Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions?

-AJ
 
I’ve read both books, though it’s been about nine years since I’ve read Hostage to the Devil. It’s my opinion that Hostage to the Devil is highly sensationalized and written as novel, and therefore not to be taken literally as fact.

The Rite, on the other hand, is written as an account of Fr. Gary Thomas’ life, and his studies in Rome, and is more of a documentary of what he experienced and learned personally. The film that was based on the book to quite a few liberties with the truth, but that’s not unusual for Hollywood.
 
I just want to also mention that you could try reading Fr. Amorth’s books. He’s an exorcist in Rome. I’ve read all of his books, too, and they pretty much, from what I recall, line up with Fr. Gary’s experiences.

I want to add one more book to recommend; it’s written by Fr. Chad Ripperger, who I think now works as an exorcist, but I’ve forgotten what diocese. Anyway, his book is about mental health, based on St. Thomas Aquinas, and it also covers demonic influences. Hopefully I’ll get around to reading it one of these days.

amazon.com/Introduction-Science-Mental-Health-Ripperger/dp/0615815391/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1390593831&sr=1-1&keywords=fr+ripperger
 
Denise, I am very happy to see that someone else is Fr. Ripperger’s book on mental health. It seems to be very good so far.
 
YoungTradCath said:
Denise, I am very happy to see that someone else is Fr. Ripperger’s book on mental health. It seems to be very good so far.
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I hope this isn’t going off-topic, but is Fr. Ripperger’s book difficult to read? I have trouble understanding Aquinas, but if Father can break it down so that a lay person can understand, I’ll get more out of it. This may be the next book that I order from Amazon.
 
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