Review article
https://doi.org/10.31337/oz.79.1.5
Charisma and/or Institution: Consent and/or Conflict
Stipan Tadić
; University of Zagreb Faculty of Croatian Studies, Zagreb, Croatia
Petar Bilobrk
orcid.org/0000-0003-0929-6998
; University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Katarina Tkalčić
; University of Zagreb Faculty of Croatian Studies, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The topic of this paper is charisma and/or institution — the approval and/or disapproval of the socio–religious disciple in Weber’s theoretical framework. It discusses the epistemology, description and interpretation of the binomial “charisma and institution” and their complex interrelationship in view of the phenomenon of the charismatic leader. The charismatic leader, whose charisma is a gift, is a person with extraordinary, (super)natural abilities who becomes a leader of the people — a prophet of his time in difficult and crisis–ridden social upheavals during which he excels in boldness (courage!), critical faculties (truthfulness!) and action in regard to both the temporal and the eternal. Charisma is an undeserved gift of the Spirit to the charismatic, namely, the leader whose task it is to build a community. From the beginning of the modern era up until the (post)modern movements and currents in the society of today, charisma has been secularised whereby it has become a general social phenomenon which has almost lost its original religious meaning. According to Max Weber, such a “secularised” charisma manifests itself paradigmatically in three different areas: through prophets in the area of the religion and religiosity as phenomena, through great and exceptional military leaders in the area of military planning and through demagogues in the area of social and political action.
Keywords
charisma; prophet; institution; supernatural traits; common good
Hrčak ID:
313659
URI
Publication date:
31.1.2024.
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