Psychiatry and Jesus in the 21st century (original) (raw)

This is a paper I gave at the European Association of Biblical Studies on 17th July 2024. The 20th century saw conflict between the upstart discipline of psychiatry which sought to render Jesus mad to destroy Christianity. In the 21st century psychiatrists are a little more chilled out. But I am not persuaded that Biblical Scholars have recovered enough to think about how psychiatry might assist their work. In this paper I draw attention to the two episodes where Jesus saw visions and heard voice (at the baptism and the transfiguration) and show how these two events can be read as key pivots in Jesus life.