62. Barnes, Douglas F. "Charisma and Religious Leadership: An Historical Analysis." Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 17, 1978: 1-17.

In Weber's original view, charisma is dependent on its recognition for validity, but charismatic figures must still be unusual in some way. The attempt here is to describe the social and historical conditions under which charismatic leadership will emerge. It is defined as the evoking in followers of "awe, deference and devotion" (p. 2). The charismatic's teachings must address ultimate concerns of his followers, characterized (following Geertz, 1966: see item 284) as situations where meaning and morality are in question and where suffering is particularly general and intense. Charismatic leaders will be "de-alienated" (p. 3) by their own personal experience of the sacred and its symbols. Barnes is following Berger (1967: see item 91) in using the term to mean that the prophet perceives that the social order is a human artifact and thus subject to change as are sacred symbols. [This rests on what seems to me the highly dubious assumption that religion is inherently alienated, being concerned with supernaturals. The problem here is that religion is not concerned exclusively with them, but in its ordinary role as mediator between us and them is equally concerned with this world.] The prophet's private communication with the divine supersedes all other religious precepts; where this does not happen, the leader is alienated. De-alienation may consist either in the ("mystical") recognition that all meaning systems are ephemeral or in the ("prophetic") recognition that the revelation is divine and may or may not accord with the precepts of established religion. The social change context is generally recognized, and the alternative possibility of a group in some way alienated from the mainstream amounts to the same thing structurally. Once the leader dies his teachings must stand alone, and it is at this point that the institutionalization of charisma must occur. The success of this effort rests largely on the extent to which the teachings are creative [that is, to which they innovate and are appropriate to the situation as perceived]. The charismatic leader need not necessarily be an outsider with regard to the established religion.

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