Felicitas D. Goodman (1914-2005)
Hungarian linguist and
anthropologist.
She was a highly regarded expert in linguistics and anthropology and researched and explored ritual body postures for many years. She studied the phenomenon of "
speaking in tongues" in
Pentecostal congregations in
Mexico. She is the author of such well-received books as Speaking in Tongues and Where the Spirits Ride the Wind: Trance Journeys and Other Ecstatic Experiences. Her work has been published mostly in the United States and Germany.
Biography
Dr. Goodman was born Felicitas Danels in Budapest, Hungary in 1914, the first of two children. Her parents immigrated to Hungary from Germany and spoke German at home. She attended college in Germany where she met her husband, Glen Goodman, an American from Ohio. Felicitas immigrated to Columbus, Ohio with Glen and her first three children after the Second World War, their fourth child was born a few years later. After her children were grown, Felicitas Goodman returned to school and earned a Master’s degree in linguistics and a doctorate in cultural anthropology at Ohio State University. Until her retirement in 1979, she taught at Denison University.
In 1978 Dr. Goodman founded The Cuyamungue Institute in an area known as Cuyamungue, New Mexico to continue her research into altered states of consciousness and to hold workshops. After the publishing of Where the Spirits Ride the Wind: Trance Journeys and Other Ecstatic Experiences Dr. Goodman’s following grew, primarily in the US and Germany, among “New Age” and “Neo-Shaman” practitioners as well as scholars in her field. Before her death in 2005, Dr Goodman had published over 40 scientific and popular articles and more than seven books.
Glossolalia
Spirit Possession
Trance and Ritual Body Postures
The Cuyamungue Institute
References
Books by Felicitas D. Goodman
- Ecstasy, Ritual and Alternate Reality: Religion in a Pluralistic World, Indiana University Press; Edition: Reissue (1. Dezember 1988), ISBN 0253318998 (10), ISBN 978-0253318992 (13)
- The Exorcism of Anneliese Michel, Resource Publications (OR) (November 2005), ISBN 1597524328 (10), ISBN 978-1597524322 (13)
- How About Demons?: Possession and Exorcism in the Modern World, (Folklore Today), Indiana University Press (1. Mai 1988), ISBN 025332856X (10), ISBN 978-0253328564 (13)
