In the following I will try to give an idea of what the general perspective of this book is and then what I think I accomplished in it. The very multiplicity of these constructions and their generally equivalent competence in making use of the same body of evidence indicates to me that the view that Jesus should be understood principally to have been a teacher is a flawed paradigm.
Spirit possession is a remarkably common phenomenon attested in cultures throughout the world.
It is a particular kind of altered state of consciousness given a particular supernatural explanation. The ordinary personality of a person is replaced temporarily by another personality, accompanied usually with considerable loss of motor control and volitional behavior. It is normally the case that such persons are credited with the supernatural power to heal and when such persons speak while possessed the speech is understood to be the speech of the supernatural entity possessing them. Philo, a contemporary of Jesus, thought of prophecy as spirit possession and so, doubtless, did most others, especially among the non-elite population. The gospels suggest this possibility.