The Origins of Charisma as Process: A Case Study of Hildegard of Bingen

Abstract

A case study of the twelfth‐century visionary Hildegard of Bingen is presented to examine the process through which a charismatic relationship is constructed in interaction between an individual and significant others and more distant followers. Hildegard's identity as a charismatic prophet developed over a number of years through a process of interaction with various ecclesiastical authorities; alterations occurred in both the prophet's self‐identity and the way others viewed her, leading finally to her authorization as a prophet and visionary. The cultural context provided plausibility structures, relevant symbols, and limitations that influenced the form of Hildegard's charismatic status. This status led to unprecedented achievements for a woman of her time, but her efforts mainly supported and strengthened the institutional tradition in which she served.

Countering Trump: Toward a Theory of Charismatic Counter-Roles

“…1976; Oakes 1997;Schiffer 1973), a substantial literature has arisen that bears out the notion that interactionism offers explanatory power with respect to charisma's production, reception, and routinization (Blasi 1991;Couch 1989;DuPertius 1986;Finlay 2002;Joosse 2017aJoosse , 2017bReed 2013;Smith 2013;Wallis 1982;Wasielewski 1985).…”

Max Weber's Disciples: Theorizing the Charismatic Aristocracy

“…I hope that the reader will permit a few more observations. First and most obvious is that the emergence here of an authority "alien to all regulation and tradition" 1978:1115) was something that transpired by way of a drawnout developmental process that involved close disciples-it was not present in full form during the first flushes of de Ruiter's leadership (see Finlay 2002). I expect that increased attention to these developmental processes will pay dividends for future analyses since while accounts of "pure" charisma will always be difficult to understand for outsiders to the charismatization process (Barker 1993;Palmer 2001), such outsiders will nevertheless be able to arrive at etic understandings if these "alien" forms of authority are contextualized by a history of antecedent iterations of the charismatic persona.…”

“…This follower side has been stressed recently in a move toward redefining charisma in terms of the expectations of followers themselves (Chan 2013;Feuchtwang and Mingming 2001;Finlay 2002;Goossaert 2008;Zhe 2008), a tack that is part of a larger ecological approach to charisma as something that is salient in moments of societal crisis (see Bendix 1960;Wilson 1975). Chan (2013), for example, reveals how followers were particularly agentic in contributing to and even reconstructing charismatic representations of Falun Gong leader Li Hongzhi during his nearly year-long disappearance from the movement amid repression from the Chinese government.…”

Countering Trump: Toward a Theory of Charismatic Counter-Roles

“…Rather, they can also simply be "players" whose company serves in its own right as a signal of the remarkable aspirations of the incipient charismatic leader. Barbara Finlay's (2002) tracing of the charismatic ascent of the twelfth-century nun Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) is instructive on this point. Hildegard's power was augmented Trump and Charisma 13 through her status as a public interlocutor with increasingly powerful figures, beginning with her confessor, then her bishop, and then her archbishop.…”

“…Bourdieu once noted that it was possible to read "between the lines" of Max Weber's writings on charisma and find descriptions of relations between actors "that may be termed interactionist (in the sense in which we speak today of symbolic interactionism)" ([1971] 1987, 121, emphasis in the original). Indeed, despite recurrent suspicion about the concept's Carlylian overtones (Gerth andMills [1946] 1958, 53;Friedland 1964, 20, Joosse 2014Lindholm 1990), and in addition to important psychodynamic treatments (Dawson 2006;Kohut 1976;Oakes 1997;Schiffer 1973), a substantial literature has arisen that bears out the notion that interactionism offers explanatory power with respect to charisma's production, reception, and routinization (Blasi 1991;Couch 1989;DuPertius 1986;Finlay 2002;Joosse 2017aJoosse , 2017bReed 2013;Smith 2013;Wallis 1982;Wasielewski 1985).…”