Prophets, gurus, and charisma

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Prophets, gurus, and charisma

• 19.2.2004

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James Jones

• founder of Peoples Temple (Jonestown (1955)
• Indiana California Guyana
• Referred to himself as
• Dad
• reincarnation of Karl Marx and Jesus Christ
• Background
• born of lowly origins in Indiana
• father
• belonged to the Ku Klux Klan
• mother
• main influence
• religious but skeptical of organized religion
• self-styled theology
• Pentecostalism with social idealism

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David Brandt Berg

• Founder of Children of God / The Family / The
  Family of Love (1968)
• California the Third World / Europe
• Referred to himself as
• "Moses David," "Mo," "Father David," and "Dad
• A prophet
• who receives messages concerning the imminent
  Second Coming
• Background
• third-generation evangelist
• Grandfather methodist preacher
• Father preacher of Disciples of Chirst
• Expelled because of divine healing
• Started as a minister of Christian and
  Missionary Alliance
• Mo Letters
• after Berg relocated to London
• The Laws of Moses / "Voice of God Himself"

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Guru Maharaj Ji

• also known as Prem Pal Singh Rawat
• Leader of Divine Light Mission/ Elan Vital
  (founded in the 1920s, to US in1971)
• variation of sikhism with elements of Hinduism
  meditation techniques
• Southern India US
• Refers to himself as
• Perfect Master and Lord of the Universe
• Background
• Son of the founder Shri Hans Maharaj Ji
• Sacred texts
• Knowledge

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Prabhupada

• A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada
• Founder International Society for Krishna
  Consciousness/Hare Krishna (1966)
• India US
• Refers to himself as
• His Divine Grace
• Believed to be
• reincarnation of Krishna
• Background
• met his guru Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Sarasvati at
  26

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Reverend Sun Myung Moon

• Founder of the Unification Church (Moonies)
  (1954)
• Korea US
• Refers to himself as
• someone who has clarified the Truth
• Shining Sun and Moon
• Messiah
• Background
• parents Presbyterians
• spiritualist tendencies
• Visions / revelations since 1935

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Lafayette Ronald Hubbard

• Founder of the Church of Scientology (1954)
• Referred to as
• L. Ron
• Background
• influenced by psychoanalysis, sciences (GWU),
  Eastern philosophies
• theory of human mind and mental problems
• Sacred text
• Dianetics The Modern Science of Mental Health
  (1950)

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Mary Baker Eddy

• Founder of The Church of Christ, Scientist
  Christian Science (1879)
• Chirsitan-basd system of healing
• Background
• various illnesses and personal tragedies
• cured while reading the Bilbe (on Jesuss
  healings)
• Sacred texts
• Bible
• Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures
  (1875)

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Anthropological studies of religious specialists I

• shamans, gurus, priests, prophets, diviners,
  seers, mediums, witches, sorcerers, and magicians
  
• Priests and prophets
• Sociology, psychology (deviance)
• Main research questions
• Where and how do religious leaders get their
  power?
• What is the distinction between a different
  religious specialists?

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Anthropological studies of religious specialists
II

• Weber
• Prophet vs priest
• Turner
• Shaman vs priest vs medium
• Raymond Firth
• inspirational functionaries vs
  institutional functionaries
• Mediums, shamans and prophets
• communicate in a person-to-person manner
• I-thou relationship with deities or spirits.
• Priests
• institution between the priest and the deity
• I-it relationship with the transhuman

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Readings

• Bromley and Shupe The Leaders Gurus and
  Prophets, or Madmen and Charlatans? (in Bromley
  and Shupe 1981)
• Weber Charismatic Authority / Routinization of
  Charisma (in Economy and Society Vol 1, 1978)

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Discussion topics

• On terminology
• prophet
• prophecy
• guru
• charisma
• Charisma
• Weber
• Worsley
• Challenges faced by religious leaders
• How to maintain the unity of the group (Dawson)
• Accusations against leaders (Bromley and Shupe)

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Prophet

• Religious interpretation
• a recipient of revelation from God
• a messenger
• In Judaism, Christianity, Islam, the Bahá'í faith
  etc
• Abraham, Jesus, Mohammad etc
• In some Christian groups
• only prophecy to the community as a whole
• Non-religious interpretation
• Foreteller of future, oracle
• Nostradamus etc

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Prophecy

• Revelation prophetic message
• accurate description, by paranormal means, of
  events which have not yet occurred
• may be intended solely for the recipient of the
  message
• not always considered a prophet
• usually a truth to be stated to the community at
  large
• eg. Book of Revelations (New Testament)
• prophecies to John
• astrology
• a quasi-scientific form of prophecy

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Different views on prophecy I

• Judaism
• no direct forms of prophecy after the destruction
  of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE.
• less direct forms of prophecies exist
• gentiles may receive prophecy
• Christianity
• Mainstream Christians
• prophecy ended with Jesus Christ
• NRMs of Christian origins
• prophecy continues today
• Mormons Joseph Smith Jr
• The leader of the church "Prophet, Seer and
  Revelator"
• Unification Church - Sun Myung Moon

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Different views on prophecy II

• Islam
• Allah
• sent prophets to all nations at various stages of
  their histories
• Quran (written by God)
• mentions 25 of them
• Muhammad
• the last prophet
• Bahá'í religion
• many prophets, including and Buddha

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Guru

• spiritual teachers or personal mentors in
  Hinduism
• teacher
• in Sanskrit
• Sanskrit-derived languages (Hindi, Bengali and
  Gujurati)
• literally
• "gu" darkness
• "ru" act of removal
• often used interchangeably with satguru (
  teacher of truth)
• common usage
• who makes philosophical or religious statements
• independent of an established school of
  philosophy or religion
• attracts and accepts followers because of this.
• metaphorical usage
• hacker culture an expert of legendary
  proportions
• negative connotation in western countries
• "New Age" movement self-proclaimed "gurus" in the
  1960s and 1970s
• used Hindu terminology without particular reason

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Charisma

• Greek charis gift
• common usage
• Personal qualities
• the ability to charm or influence people
• magneticism
• Popularity
• Attractiveness, appeal
• Since the 1960s
• JFK and nationalist movements in Africa (Worsley)
• Sociological / anthropological usage
• Weber, Worsley
• Relational
• characteristic of the relation between leaders
  and followers
• not an attribute of the leader alone Weber
• religious usage
• certain Christian denominations
• belief in the spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit
  (prophecies)
• eg. Charismatic Movement in Catholicism

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Weber on charisma

• Personal quality
• 'a certain quality of an individual personality
  by virtue of which he is set apart from ordinary
  men and treated as endowed with supernatural,
  superhuman, or at least specifically exceptional
  powers or qualities.
• not accessible to the ordinary person, but
  regarded as of divine origin or as exemplary.
• ascribed charisma
• inherent faculty ("primary charisma")
• achieved charisma
• "produced artificially in an object or person
  through some extraordinary means"
• still dormant capacity
• Discussion of charisma in two contexts
• Forms of authority
• Priest vs prophet

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Weber on charismatic authority

• authority
• power
• which is recognised as legitimate
• and justified by both the powerful and the
  powerless
• Three ideal types' of legitimate authority
  (ideal types)
• traditional authority
• based on custom or divine right
• rational-legal authority
• authority is invested in the position, not the
  person
• impersonal rules
• legally constituted offices (Parliament, police,
  government)
• history traditional rational-legal authority
• charismatic authority
• based on display of personal gifts, extraordinary
  appeal
• routinization of charisma

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Weber on priest vs prophet

• The essence
• Prophet - personal call
• Priest - office
• Authority derived from
• Prophet charisma, revelation
• Priest - service in a sacred tradition/institution
  
• Priest
• "renewer of religion"
• preaches "an older revelation"
• religion maintenance of status quo
• Prophet
• "founder of religion"
• claims to bring completely new "deliverances
• religion force for social change

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Worsley on charisma I

• The Trumpet Shall Sound (1968)
• Emphasis on the personality of the leader
• problematic
• Charismatic leadership
• primarily relational and symbolic
• only secondarily personal.
• Charisma
• born of social interaction
• a relationship between leader and followers
• an attributed not ascribed quality
• a recognition of a group
• Leader
• a symbolizer, catalyst, and message-bearer
• embodies values in which the followers have an
  interest

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Worsley on charisma II

• Relevant message
• strikes responsive chords in his audience (eg.
  Hitler)
• evokes or plays upon some intellectual or
  emotional predispositions
• speaks to the unsatisfied wants in the hearers
• offers them some promise of eventual fulfillment
• eg. cargo
• presents concrete and visible ways of achievement
• signs and proofs
• sine qua non for a continuation of the movement
• need not take the forms of successful actions in
  the short run
• e.g. martyrdom
• hazardous tasks (eg. serpent handling)

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Signs and proofs I

• Lack of signs and proofs
• problem for charisma / movement (especially
  millenarian)
• Short-term falsification - no serious problem
• Festinger study of UFO cult in the US
• constant deferring of the prophesied arrival of
  the Martians
• Long-term falsification
• difficult in case of precise/immediate/testable
  prophecies
• Y2K
• Branch Davidians
• 1959 Day of Judgement
• Jehovahs Witnesses
• 1914 Christ on Earth
• 1914, 1918, 1920, 1925, and 1941 - Armageddon
• easier in case of 'spongy' (vague, general)
  prophecies
• Various doomsday/apocalyptic cults
• All events confirm the prophecy

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Signs and proofs II

• Disconfirmation
• eg. Christianity
• need to redefine/reshape the dogma
• removal of immediacy
• eg. prophesied state will only be realized in
  the after-life
• irrefutable by any test of pragmatic experience
• generalization
• common to all belief systems
• Cargo cults
• Christian denominations
• secular social philosophies
• secondary elaboration of belief
• cannot sustain indefinitely
• secularization
• NRMs

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Strategies of religious leaders

• Challenges facing religious leaders
• lack of signs and proofs
• routinization of charisma
• internal competition
• criticism from outside
• Various strategies (Dawson)
• to maintain the charisma
• to maintain the unity of the group
• deviance amplification
• progressive intensification of the leader's power
• increased homogenization and dependence of the
  followers
• increased fears, anxiety, and paranoia
• violence

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Strategies cultivating mystery

• mystery
• crucial element of charisma
• claiming extraordinary qualities and deeds
• visions, conversing with God
• combating Satan
• elevation to Godlike position
• L. Ron Hubbard
• time travel and astral projection
• Sun Myung Moon
• special appeal with animals
• can sense his special qualities
• congregate around him in zoo
• fish jump onto baitless hooks
• overt deception
• Jim Jones

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Strategies cultivating secrecy

• segregation of leader from the followers
• access m the leader is restricted to the
  especially loyal
• mass exposures carefully managed
• Ron Hubbard
• the last twenty years of his life
• sailing round the world with the Sea Org
• Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh
• a vow of silence
• communicated using his eyes, actions, and
  thoughts alone
• David Berg
• moved to London
• Mo Letters

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Strategies changing doctrines

• sudden altering doctrines and policies
• to attract new members
• to keep followers off balance
• to keep attention on the words and wishes of the
  leader
• L. Ron Hubbard
• Dianetics Scientology
• expanding the scope and complexity of religious
  ideas
• shift in the highest accomplishment
• to be clear Operating Thetan
• keep members paying?
• Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
• founder of Vajradhatu (NRM based on Tibetan
  Buddhism)
• changes in paths to enlightenment
• early 1970s
• casual and Western style of practices
• mid-seventies
• austere, demanding, and traditional practices

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Strategies reaffirmation of loyalties

• Growth of the group
• more dramatic and overpowering rituals
• constant reaffirmations of the loyalty of
  followers
• escalation of the demands
• for personal service
• for sacrifice to the group
• Peoples Temple (Jonestown)
• White Nights
• preparations for revolutionary suicide

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Strategies demonization of enemies

• enemies
• real or imagined
• leaders
• playing upon group's fears of persecution
• inventing new and ever greater enemies
• engaging in crisis mongering
• diverting attention from the group's troubles
• External threat internal solidarity
• Eg. World-rejecting NRMs

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Strategies atomization of followers

• Common practices
• physical separation of couples or friends
• regulation and suppression sexual attachments
• control over marriages
• Heaven's Gate
• strict celibacy
• masking sexual differences
• everyone required to wear similar loose-fitting
  clothing
• castration (not everybody)
• including leader Do
• Branch Davidians
• David Koresh
• anointed messenger of God
• monopoly on sexual access to all women

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Strategies change of physcial location

• Usually
• to a more isolated spot
• Peoples Temple
• Indianapolis rural California jungle in
  Guyana
• Children of God
• Southern California Europe, South America, and
  the Far East
• The Solar Temple
• Switzerland / France Quebec
• The Church Universal and Triumphant
• California Montana
• The Rajneesh movement
• densely populated Southern India rural Oregon

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Accusations against religious leaders

• Attacks of anti-cult movements
• mostly against the leaders
• Four main themes (Bromley and Shupe)
• wealth and greed / get-rich-quick schemes
• political ambitions (beyond the group) as real
  agenda
• satisfaction of lust for power (over group
  members)
• insincere / charlatans
• Testing the claims on 6 religious leaders
• David Berg, Prabhupada, L. Ron Hubbard, Guru
  Maharaj Ji, Jim Jones, Sun Myung Moon

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Accusations Wealth and greed as motives

• Difficult to generalize
• Entirely different lifestyles
• eg. Prabhupada vs Guru Maharaj Ji
• Most leaders
• selfish but not necessarily greedy
• rich beforehand
• the churches' immortality as their prime concern

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Accusations Political Ambitions I

• does not apply to most leaders
• David Berg
• seclusion in Europe
• Prabhupada
• life of ascetic retreat until death
• L. Ron Hubbard Guru Maharaj Ji
• no political ambitions
• Jim Jones
• involved with a variety of civic projects in San
  Francisco
• against repression of blacks
• support of international socialism and rejection
  of the US
• actions largely defensive in nature

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Accusations Political Ambitions II

• Sun Myung Moon
• greatest interest in politics
• anti-communist, pro-Nixon
• vision of worldwide theocracy
• the source of all mankind's problems
• refusal to live up to God-given responsibilities
• close working relationship between church and
  state
• in which the church is the ultimate authority
• Moon
• The time will come, without my seeking it, when
  my words will almost serve as law. If I ask for a
  certain thing, it will be done. If I don't want
  something, it will not be done.
• "I will conquer and subjugate the world. I am
  your brain."

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Accusations Power and domination as motives

• dictatorial power over church members
• brainwashing allegations
• manipulation and abuse of members
• Guru Maharaj Ji
• So whatever extra you have got, give it to me.
  And the extra thing you have got is your mind.
  Give it to me. I am ready to receive it. Because
  your mind troubles you, give it to me. It won't
  trouble me! Just give it... So just try to be
  holy and try to be a good devotee, a perfect
  devotee of that Guru who is Himself perfect, who
  is really perfect!
• Moon
• "I am your brain"
• Communal vs larger movements
• More authoritarian control in the former

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Accusations Lack of sincerity

• Three tests
• background of the leader
• L. Ron Hubbard as an exception
• persecution, personal sacrifices in the course of
  developing churches
• L. Ron Hubbard, David Berg not clear
• Jim Jones constant persecution
• Prabhupada, Guru Maharaj Ji - renounced their
  families
• Sun Myung Moon - imprisoned twice
• the degree of exploiting the church for personal
  advantage
• sexual manipulation
• Sun Myung Moon