This is Heaven Bent.

I'm Tara Jean Stevens.

Season 11, The Spirit of Fear.

This season, we've been tackling some lingering fears of mine

after growing up in the Charismatic Church.

And since decades after I left,

I still consider myself instilled with that spirit of fear

that I just can't seem to shake.

And I definitely still want to tackle the rapture because rapture anxiety is real, and I have it.

But on this episode, Exorcisms.

I mean, what's not to be fearful of when you're, let's say, you're 10, and you're like me, and you believe whatever they tell you, and you take it all to

heart, and they tell you that demons are real and that they

can get inside you if you're bad or if you don't believe enough.

Here's what we're going to do this episode.

We're going to deconstruct the exorcism ritual

through the lens of Tanya Marie Lerman.

She's a renowned psychological anthropologist

and teaches at Stanford.

She's also the author of When God Talks Back,

understanding the American evangelical relationship with God.

Episode 3.

Memories of an Exorcism.

...