Charisma

Living in the Spirit: The Holy Spirit and the Christian Life, by Geoff Waugh, is a personal and group study guide to life in the Spirit. The chapters are:
1 Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
2 Born of the Spirit,
3 Filled with the Spirit,
4 Fruit of the Spirit,
5 Gifts of the Spirit,
6 Ministry in the Spirit,
7 Led by the Spirit
8 The Spirit of the Lord. Revised 2009.

Blog and details are on www.renewaljournal.com

While contemporary communication theorists often avoid the concept of charisma due to its status as an ineffable mystical quality or a natural knack for persuasion, this essay argues that charisma is rather a technē. Using Max Weber's theory of charisma to analyze the major works of the famous community organizer Saul Alinsky, this study seeks to 1) revitalize charisma as a practicable rhetorical strategy, 2) define community organization as one variety of charismatic praxis, and 3) establish Alinsky as an overlooked figure in recent rhetorical history. In recent years, the concept of charisma has been largely ignored by people working in fields related to rhetoric. Although communication scholars showed a flurry of interest in charisma between 1960 and 1980, most contemporary work on this topic is done in the field of organizational psychology. 1 One possible reason for the dearth of new rhetorical scholarship on charisma is that researchers sometimes assume it is an inherent characteristic of some speakers—either you have it or you don't. Indeed, the Greek word for charisma (χάρισµα) roughly translates to " gift of grace, " suggesting that it is something that is inherited rather than learned. 2 Charisma is theorized as a mystical trait, one that is ineffable and irreducible, and therefore inimitable. The enigmatic account of charisma has discouraged communication scholars from undertaking any technical description of this phenomenon. However, a rhetorical theory of charisma that explains not only what it is but how it is done is essential for the effective critique of current speech, politics, and media.

El libro estudia el fenómeno del liderazgo desde los perfiles del carisma, los problemas del poder y los retos de la realidad que, muchas veces, es resistente al cambio. Hoy día se advierte la carencia de líderes legitimados democráticamente, los cuales, al mismo tiempo, estén cultural y éticamente a la altura de los grandes desafíos del presente.

Las épocas de grandes dilemas y tribulaciones exigen la presencia de auténticos estadistas, imaginativos, intrépidos, impulsores del progreso histórico, dirigentes con talento intelectual y convicciones éticas, capaces de adelantarse a su tiempo y  trascender sus circunstancias. Ellos tienen una visión adecuada del conjunto de la nación donde se desenvuelven, pues paralelamente a su carrera política se han consagrado al estudio y análisis de la sociedad. Poseen también voluntad y disciplina, ennoblecidas por los propósitos que se han trazado, objetivos que superan de lejos los apetitos individuales y los egoísmos grupales. Estos últimos no pueden obviamente ser suprimidos, pero sí mitigados y canalizados en pro de un fin superior. Una combinación de coraje, perseverancia y responsabilidad distingue a los líderes genuinos, quienes saben que la verdadera gloria no reside en la acumulación de caudales robados al Estado, sino en el servicio a la comunidad, en la defensa de la justicia y en la construcción de un futuro mejor.

Former President of the Media Ecology Association, Dr Phil Rose, ran for
office in the 2015 Canadian federal election. This article presents an interview with Rose in the wake of his defeat. To stimulate and organize the flow of the interview, and to guide our interrogation of Rose in an exciting way that is in accord with McLuhan’s media ecological approach, this article uses probes derived from reflections on McLuhan’s life-long study of politics and the political.

Gerade hat Rob, Ich-Erzähler in Nick Hornbys High Fidelity und leidenschaftlicher Musikliebhaber, mit Marie LaSalle, einer von ihm geschätzten amerikanischen Folksängerin, geschlafen. Sein Triumph steigert sich noch erheblich, als er erfährt, daß seine Eroberung nicht nur eine unbekannte Musikerin ohne Plattenvertrag ist, sondern früher mit einem bekannten Musiker liiert war: »Sie spuckt den Namen eines ziemlich bekannten amerikanischen Singer-Songwriters aus, jemanden, von dem ihr vielleicht gehört haben werdet. ›Das ist der, mit dem du die Patsy-Cline-Platten teilen mußtest?‹ Sie nickt und ich kann meine Begeisterung nicht verhehlen. ›Ist ja toll!‹ -›Was, daß Du mit jemand geschlafen hast, der mit […] geschlafen hat?‹ (Hier wiederholt sie den Namen des ziemlich bekannten Singer-Songwriters, den ich im folgenden Steve nennen werde.) Sie hat's erfaßt! Genau! Genau! Ich habe mit jemand geschlafen, der mit Steve geschlafen hat (Dieser Satz hört sich ohne den richtigen Namen blöd an. […] Aber stellt euch einfach den Namen von jemand nicht wahnsinnig Berühmten, aber doch ziemlich Berühmten vor -Lyle Lovett zum Beispiel, obwohl ich aus rechtlichen Gründen darauf hinweisen sollte, daß er es nicht ist -und ihr habt eine ungefähre Vorstellung.) ›Sei nicht blöd, Marie so ein Hohlkopf bin ich auch wieder nicht. Ich meine nur, es sei verblüffend, daß jemand der […]‹ (hier nenne ich den Titel von Steves größtem Hit, einer triefend sentimentalen und widerlich einfühlsamen Ballade) ›geschrieben hat, so ein Dreckskerl sein soll.‹ […] ›Das Stück handelt von seiner Ex, verstehst Du, die vor mir. Ich kann dir sagen, es tat richtig gut, ihn das Nacht für Nacht singen zu hören.‹ Das hier ist klasse. Es ist genau so, wie ich es mir vorgestellt habe, mit jemandem zusammenzu-1 sein, der einen Plattenvertrag hat.«

This paper focuses on one type of content, text, which in itself is complex and requires a significant understanding of language and human cognition. Traditionally, researchers used what is now known as the manual approach to carrying out a content analysis of text. This involves humans manually coding and analyzing the text. In the 1980s, the computer-aided approach for content analysis of text was developed for researchers to automate, at least partially, the coding and analysis. Software programs are used to manipulate text and compute word frequency lists, keyword-in-context lists, concordances, classifications of text in terms of content categories, category counts, and so on-results of which human researchers then interpret (Deffner, 1986).

Despite the historical and contemporary prevalence of charismatic terrorist leaders, there has been very little empirical examination of the relationship between charismatic forms of authority and the strategic operation of terrorist groups. In response to this gap in knowledge, this study seeks to investigate if charismatic authority has a real-world impact on strategic choices and attack outcomes of terrorist groups. Using a theoretical framework meant to help measure charisma in terrorist organizations, this study quantitatively examines how differing levels of the presence of charismatic authority contributes to the choice in operational tactics (e.g., weapon and target choices) and the results of attack outcomes (e.g., success rates, lethality) within a sample of thirty international terrorist groups. In the concluding section, relevant findings, policy recommendations, study limitations, and areas for future research are discussed.

Conclusion générale d’un ouvrage collectif, ce chapitre fait la synthèse des enjeux et des problèmes soulevés par la notion de charisme en sciences sociales. Il revient à la fois sur les difficultés de la conceptualisation du charisme chez Weber lui-même et sur les usages extensifs qui ont pu être faits par la suite de cette notion, au point de la banaliser. Le charisme apparaît en définitive comme un concept provisoire dont l’ « utilité scientifique marginale » est aujourd’hui négative ; qui illustre les risques plus généraux pesant sur la méthode idéaltypique ; et qu’il faut donc oser abandonner au profit de concepts plus relationnels, comme « capital symbolique » et « saillance situationnelle ».

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to introduce, apply and compare how artificial intelligence (AI), and specifically the IBM Watson system, can be used for content analysis in marketing research relative to manual and computer-aided (non-AI) approaches to content analysis. Design/methodology/approach To illustrate the use of AI-enabled content analysis, this paper examines the text of leadership speeches, content related to organizational brand. The process and results of using AI are compared to manual and computer-aided approaches by using three performance factors for content analysis: reliability, validity and efficiency. Findings Relative to manual and computer-aided approaches, AI-enabled content analysis provides clear advantages with high reliability, high validity and moderate efficiency. Research limitations/implications This paper offers three contributions. First, it highlights the continued importance of the content analysis research method, particularly with the exp...

Dans cet ouvrage appuyé de nombreux interviews de personnalités du monde de l'entreprise, le leadership apparaît comme une force d’inspiration et d’entrainement du collectif à tous les niveaux de l’entreprise dans le but d’atteindre un objectif estimable et ambitieux. Le Génie du leadership s’adresse donc à tous les passionnés de la chose collective, désireux d’explorer les ressorts et les nouveaux défis de l’action managériale à l’ère de la mondialisation.

This paper considers the emergence of Mount Athos' monk elders in Greek society in recent decades until the current economic crisis. Their social influence has grown over these decades, especially after some of them were recognized as charismatic and gerontismos (elderism) became one of the most important forms of religious discourse in contemporary Greek society. These elders were presented as a kind of cultural resistance in the service of an alternative economy of desire. This analysis suggests that they have ultimately worked in the service of a series of individual or collective fantasies of power and pleasure within Greek society. The theoretical tools informing this analysis are the product of a dialog between symbolic anthropology and Lacanian theory.

This study investigates the influence of crisis on leader use of charismatic rhetoric. We examine leader charismatic rhetoric across two major crises, longitudinally exploring potential long-term influences of charismatic rhetoric on perceptions of leader effectiveness. Using an inductive approach to theory generation, we draw upon findings from the data analysis of eight charismatic rhetoric constructs (collective focus, temporal orientation, followers' worth, similarity to followers, values and moral justifications, tangibility, action, and adversity) to advance propositions regarding potential time and ceiling effects of charismatic rhetorical leadership on followers. Additionally, we discuss the relationships between characteristics of the crisis and the use of charismatic rhetorical leadership. In doing so, we identify potential boundary conditions for the use of charismatic rhetoric (as an element of charismatic leadership) within the context of different crises.

In order to illuminate our theological understanding of love this essay
analyzes love in the context of the Pauline formula of faith, love, and hope.
In terms of method, the essay combines exegetical observations, conceptual
tools from communication theory and constructive theology. Faith, love,
and hope are theologically conceptualized not as virtues but as media of
communication of the Holy Spirit. The relationships between faith, love,
hope are illuminated with conceptual tools coming from communication
theory: They can be seen as symbolically generalized media of communication.
On this basis the rich texture of love is unfolded. The unity of faith,
love, and hope constitutes the shape of the Christian life and provides an
indispensable contribution to social live.

Sind wir Zeugen einer neuen Ausgießung des Heiligen Geistes über die leidende, gottferne Menschheit? Erleben wir heute ein neues Pfingsten – mit Reden in fremden Sprachen, Prophetien und Wunderheilungen? Das wäre so ein großes Geschenk Gottes für uns. Viele unserer Mitchristen sind davon fest überzeugt und haben sich in der Charismatischen Erneuerung zusammengefunden. Dieses Buch soll untersuchen, ob wir wirklich in einer solchen außerordentlichen Zeit leben. Innerhalb der Charismatischen Erneuerung spielt das Zungenreden oder Sprachenreden wohl die größte Rolle unter den drei genannten pfingstlichen Zeichen des Kommens des Heiligen Geistes. Was ist darunter nach der Kirche, der Bibel und den großen Theologen mit dem Hl. Thomas von Aquin an ihrer Spitze zu verstehen?
Der Autor, Allgemeinmediziner und Psychotherapeut in eigener Praxis, kennt die Charismatische Erneuerung durch jahrelange Erfahrung „von innen“, darunter zwei Jahre Mitgliedschaft in einer klosterähnlichen charismatischen Gemeinschaft.
Eine genaue Untersuchung der biblischen Texte, die Meinung Thomas von Aquins, ein Blick auf profanwissenschaftliche Untersuchungen des Zungenredens und die überlieferte Lehre der Kirche legen nahe: Das Zungenreden in der Charismatischen Erneuerung sollte durch andere, bessere, der Natur des Menschen und der katholischen Religion mehr entsprechende Formen des Gottesdienstes ersetzt werden.

Aus dem Vorwort
Ich versuche zu zeigen, dass das biblische Sprachenreden, heute gemeinhin als Zungenreden bezeichnet (das griechische Originalwort lässt formal beide Übersetzungen zu), ein völlig anderes Phänomen ist als das, was gemeinhin in charismatischen Gruppen unter dieser Bezeichnung praktiziert wird.
Um das zu belegen, stütze ich mich neben meiner persönlichen Beobachtung auf Hauptargumentationslinien: Sprachwissenschaftliche (philologisch-linguistische) Argumente zur Auslegung (Exegese) der betreffenden Bibelstellen, die biblische Parallelität zwischen Babel und Pfingsten, die Argumente unseres größten Theologen, des Heiligen Thomas von Aquin, sowie schließlich auf naturwissenschaftliche Untersuchungen an Zungenrednern und Zungenrede.

"Megaleh Temirin (Revealer of Secrets), ed. Jonatan Meir, Three volumes, Mosad Bialik, Jerusalem

Megaleh Temirin (Revealer of Secrets), first published in Vienna in 1819, is one of the sharpest and wittiest pieces of Jewish literature written in the first half of the nineteenth century, and is perhaps the most important piece of Hebrew prose composed before the stories of Mendele Mocher Seforim. A sly and complex story deriding Hasidism and Hasidim, it is told through the correspondence between the beadles of Hasidic courts and contemporary rabbis, and it presents a dark picture of  avaricious frauds and swindlers whose main concern was control over territory and the souls of believers, a goal achieved by beguiling the authorities and attacking all opponents. Perl lends his book a ‘Hasidic’ feel both in its physical design and in its language, presenting a Maskilic version of In Praise of the Ba’al Shem Tov that lays Hasidism bare so that no reader will ever be able to look at that, or any other Hasidic book, in the same way again. In addition to the book’s satiric sting, which would have been enough to bring its readers a dual pleasure, Perl’s hints at contemporary people and places, hidden within anagrams and numerological tricks. With the unraveling of these clues, which also include the use of actual Hasidic sources, the book is a valuable, contemporary view of historical reality. A meticulous reading of the book may therefore open a window on the hidden worlds of Hasidism and the Haskalah at the start of the nineteenth century.


The first volume (Imagined Hasidism) serves as an introduction to the complex satirical writings of Josef Perl of Tarnopol (1773-1839). At the center of the book stands an analysis of the satires, Megaleh Temirin (1819) and Bochen Tzadik (1838), including a systematic treatment of the ‘characters’ in the central works and a discussion of the dozens of manuscripts to be found in the Perl Archive in Jerusalem. Perl’s writings are analyzed here in the fuller context of Hebrew and Yiddish literature in general and Maskilic and Hasidic literature in particular, as well as other polemical writings and governmental records critical of Hasidism. The study thus presents a complex and nuanced picture of the relationship between literature and history, between the anti-Hasidic reports and the more complicated historical reality, and lays the groundwork for further research into the genre of nineteenth-century Maskilic satire.

The second and third volumes (Megaleh Temirin) present for the first time an annotated edition of Megaleh Temirin. It is based on the first edition and the scattered manuscripts and it includes a comparison to its Yiddish translation. The book is accompanied by appendices on its origins and contents, including fundamental treatments of several passages: an explication of the encoded names, the Hasidic sources used by the author, and the variants found in the manuscripts and in the only edition of the book in Yiddish.

The editor of the book, Professor Jonatan Meir, teaches in the Goldstein-Goren Department of Jewish Thought at Ben-Gurion University. He has published several articles on the Haskalah of Eastern Europe, Hasidism, and a number of varied topics in twentieth-century Kabbalah.


Contents

Volume 1  - Critical Edition

Concerning this edition
Key personalities
Sefer Megale Temirin – Critical Edition


Volume 2 - Appendixes:
1. Glossary, Abbreviations, Acronyms
2. Explanation of the Speaking Names
3. Perl’s Hasidic Sources
4. Manuscripts of Sefer Megale Temirin
5. Yiddish Introduction to Sefer Megale Temirin
Bibliographic Abbreviations

-------------------------------
Reviews:
(1) Dan Meron, 2013, ‘Megaleh Temirin’, Kivunim Hadashim 29, 55 pages (Hebrew)
(2) David Assaf, 2014, ‘Hasidim will not Read it but Tear it’, Haaretz, Tarbut ve-Sifrut, p .6 (Hebrew) http://onegshabbat.blogspot.co.il/2014/04/blog-post_18.html
(3) Eliezer Brodt, 2014, 'New book Announcement- Megale Temirin', The Seforim Blog http://seforim.blogspot.co.il/2014/01/new-book-announcement-megale-temirin.html
(4) Matan Hermoni, 2014,  הסבתא המופקרת של הספרות העבריתHaaretz, Sfarim (Hebrew) http://www.haaretz.co.il/.premium-1.2382365
(5) Shinichi Yamamoto, 2015, 山本　伸一, "ヨナタン・メイール編著『想像のハシディズム』", ユダヤ・イスラエル研究　第28号  http://www.waseda.jp/assoc-jsjs/jistudies.html
(6) David Biale and David Assaf,, 2015, 'Revealer Revealed', Jewish Review of Books, pp. 17-21  http://jewishreviewofbooks.com/articles/1454/revealer-revealed/
(7) Hillel Halkin, 2015, "Sex, Magic, Bigotry, Corruption- and the First Hebrew Novel', Mosaic Magazine,  http://mosaicmagazine.com/observation/2015/05/sex-magic-bigotry-corruption-and-the-first-hebrew-novel/
(8) Tomer Persico, 2015, "Interview", Lula'at haEl Blog, http://tomerpersico.com/2015/08/10/meir_perl/

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to introduce, apply and compare how artificial intelligence (AI), and specifically the IBM Watson system, can be used for content analysis in marketing research relative to manual and computer-aided (non-AI) approaches to content analysis. Design/methodology/approach-To illustrate the use of AI-enabled content analysis, this paper examines the text of leadership speeches, content related to organizational brand. The process and results of using AI are compared to manual and computer-aided approaches by using three performance factors for content analysis: reliability, validity and efficiency. Findings-Relative to manual and computer-aided approaches, AI-enabled content analysis provides clear advantages with high reliability, high validity and moderate efficiency. Research limitations/implications-This paper offers three contributions. First, it highlights the continued importance of the content analysis research method, particularly with the explosive growth of natural language-based user-generated content. Second, it provides a road map of how to use AI-enabled content analysis. Third, it applies and compares AI-enabled content analysis to manual and computer-aided, using leadership speeches. Practical implications-For each of the three approaches, nine steps are outlined and described to allow for replicability of this study. The advantages and disadvantages of using AI for content analysis are discussed. Together these are intended to motivate and guide researchers to apply and develop AI-enabled content analysis for research in marketing and other disciplines. Originality/value-To the best of the authors' knowledge, this paper is among the first to introduce, apply and compare how AI can be used for content analysis.

Culture's influence on leadership processes is generally accepted. However, differing leadership styles will be differentially impacted by the cultural context in which they seek to operate. The current paper examines two seemingly similar but distinct leadership styles, charismatic leadership and transformational leadership in the context of cultural dimensions of individualism-collectivism and tightness-looseness. A conceptual framework is presented to describe the interaction of these leadership styles and cultural dimensions. It is argued that charismatic leadership would be the preferred leadership style in individualistic and loose societies, whereas transformational leadership style would be more acceptable in collectivistic and tight societies. These insights have practical implications for design of leadership intervention programs for businesses spanning more than one culture.

Luxury retail strategy differs from other retail strategies not merely in distinctive formulations of product, price, distribution, and appeals to customer distinction. Instead, it increasingly stands or falls on the legitimacy of a charismatic creative director. The director offers an aesthetic brand ideology. Luxury retail draws on the principles of art and magic to assemble the charismatic persona of the creative director and to diffuse his aesthetic ideology to the brand. Moreover, luxury retail strategy enlists magical and aesthetic principles within and without the store to achieve these ends. Finally, retail luxury is producer rather than consumer oriented and seeks to generate awe rather than community. This strategy appears to be to some extent a response to legitimacy crises provoked by recent strategic extensions of luxury brands into mass marketing. We offer some
implications for marketing in which the charisma of a key personage is at stake.

Una de las funciones fundamentales del Espíritu Santo es conservar y custodiar la frescura de los dones carismáticos y jerárquicos derramados en la Iglesia. Un gran fruto de la actividad del Espíritu Santo, como animador y dador de vida, es enriquecer la Iglesia desde la dimensión carismática. Esta dimensión incluye una constelación diversa de organizaciones, desde las Ordenes y Congregaciones religiosas más tradicionales hasta los «movimientos», «nuevas comunidades» y «nuevas formas de vida consagrada». Frente a visiones eclesiológicas que plantean un conflicto entre las antiguas y las nuevas realidades consideramos que todas estas formas de asociación carismáticas pueden ser consideradas en conjunto, pues tienen en común su origen en un fuerte carisma que las origina y les da identidad. Uno de los elementos que permite descubrir la pertinencia de esta mirada eclesiológica lo encontramos al articular una reflexión sobre los procesos de actualización y reforma que se generan hoy en las realidades carismáticas, tanto en las más antiguas como en las recientes.

Cette étude se base sur une veille des sites internet de l’organisation et une enquête de terrain réalisée en immersion aux côtés des raéliens. Son enjeu est de montrer comment la notion de réseau permet au mouvement raélien et à son leader charismatique, de répondre au défi de la quotidanisation. A cet effet, deux grandes questions se posent.
Après avoir posé les bases théoriques et méthodologiques de notre enquête (I.1.), en prenant comme prologue l’interview réalisée avec Rael en Slovénie, on analysera la compatibilité étroite existant entre la notion de réseau et le phénomène du charisme, notamment dans le cas du mouvement raélien (I.2). Ensuite, on montrera la manière dont le réseau internet, et notamment le site www.rael.org, exaltent le charisme de Rael (II.1.). Enfin, à partir du site Facebook, on dévoilera les moyens à travers lesquels le charisme de Rael se cultive au quotidien parmi les fidèles, et participe à la création d’un sentiment communautaire (II.2.).

Depuis ses débuts à treize ans où « pelusa » est alors une attraction footballistique dans son pays et à l'étranger, jusqu'à la consécration mondiale du « Pibe de oro » en 1986 qui fera du lui l'un des hommes les plus célèbres de la planète, le mythe du footballeur argentin Diego Armando Maradona s'est bâti sur de nombreux coups de génie-comme celui de ce quart de finale de coupe du monde contre l'Angleterre qui donnera lieu au fameux« but du siècle »-mais aussi et surtout sur le charisme extraordinaire d'un enfant star sorti de la pauvreté pour devenir le sauveur symbolique d'une nation dévastée : l'Argentine ou d'une ville rejetée comme Naples.

Après avoir été suspendu pour dopage, raccroché les crampons et être sorti vainqueur de son duel avec la mort, Maradona a toujours son portrait qui flotte sur des drapeaux à l'intérieur des stades de football, et même une « Eglise Maradonienne » revendiquant 80.000 fidèles à travers le monde. A l'occasion d'un classement, forcément subjectif, des meilleurs joueurs du monde le magazine sofoot résume ainsi son choix de le mettre en haut du podium : « S'il ne devait en rester qu'un, cela serait lui, car personne d'autre n'oserait prendre sa place ».

Current debates about the ethics of mindfulness swing between two poles: on one hand, critics of “McMindfulness” take issue with mindfulness’ corporatization under conditions of free-market capitalism; on the other, “Trojan horse” defenders of corporate mindfulness emphasize mindfulness’s capacity to change corporate culture “from the inside”. While the former emphasize the dangers of stripping away the religious tradition of Buddhism (including Buddhist ethics) from the secular practice of mindfulness, the latter assume such stripping away is impossible, since mindfulness will bear “Buddhist” ethical fruit whether practitioners expect it or not. We depart from both positions by suggesting, against the former, that Buddhist ethics are in fact harder to detach from the secular practice than both supporters and critics of McMindfulness make out; and, against the latter, that Buddhist ethics cannot be considered inherent in the practice of mindfulness itself. Drawing on theories of discourse and social constructivity, we argue, rather, that mindfulness has become joined to distinct ethical dispositions and practices through decades of discursive elaboration by charismatic mindfulness practitioners in the West—especially the Vietnamese Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh—that link Buddhist ethics to the very meaning of mindfulness. Indeed, we suggest it is now impossible to practice mindfulness in the West without in some way connecting to distinct ethical dispositions, rooted in the Buddhist tradition and sanctioned by religious forms of authority. The complex intertwining of religious and secular justifications in current discourses of mindfulness, leads us to categorize mindfulness-centered forms of charismatic authority like Thich Nhat Hanh’s as neither secular nor religious, but postsecular.

The leadership style of inspirational leadership has not gained substantial research attention. Studies have found inspirational leadership to be particularly relevant for practitioners. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the theoretical aspects of inspirational leadership and present practical steps for applying the theory. First, inspirational leadership is defined in the context of other leadership theories, with particular emphasis on the vision that is central to inspirational leadership. Consequently, effective leadership behaviour is contrasted against management actions, to then define main areas leaders should focus on. Moreover, this paper outlines specific actions to be implemented in these focus areas. Comparing the different perspectives on inspirational leadership theory, it becomes evident that self-awareness and authenticity are the main foundations for inspiring followers and implementing a shared vision. A tool is presented for practical implementation that allows leaders to measure different characteristics of inspirational leadership and to assess their progress in these areas. In this context, this paper discusses the critical role of authentic behaviour and the challenge of showing the right level of authenticity as a leader. Special attention is given to authentic leadership development, and how organisations must work to avoid over-dependency on inspirational leaders.

Influencers have monopolized media attention in recent years, the result of a long process lasting two decades dating from the rise of blogging at the beginning of the twenty-first century. In this article, I set out the historical framework in which the social media practitioners known as fashion bloggers and influencers have emerged and developed as relevant players in the field of fashion. I propose a reading of fashion blogging and influencing as a process articulated in four stages between 2000 and 2020. These two decades, marked by a progressive institutionalization of social media practice in the field of fashion, saw the advent of Instagram-based influencers in the second half of the 2010s and their continuing domination of fashion platforms, and TikTok’s rise in relevance in the same field during the early 2020s. I first explore the rise of fashion blogs in the early 2000s and the scholarly debate regarding its characteristics. I then frame the transition from blogging to Instagram, not just as a change of platform, but as an opportunity for the invention of a new occupation, the influencer, and the consecration of the business of influence. Lastly, I critically examine the concepts of influence and influencer.

This essay developed out of the final chapter of The Sympathy of Things where I related beauty to a notion of radical generosity. Tracing generosity back to the ancient Greeks brought me to a whole new world of grace and “charis”, the etymological root of words like charisma and charity. The essay establishes a fundamental connection between grace and beauty, deeply interrelating movement and object. In the second part the argument develops into an ontology based on the concept of radiance, which we encounter in Aglaia, the first of the Three Graces, in fireworks, jewelry, makeup and in fashion, but also in acts of bravery, kindness and friendship. Radiance is subsequently defined as “thickened appearance”, where phenomenology and ontology become continuous in a “presence beyond the present”.

Max Webers Religionssoziologie als eine Typologie und Soziologie des Rationalismus ist von Interesse geblieben, da in ihr nicht nur Einsichten in die Einstehung der Teilordnungen des modernen Gesellschaftssystems, sondern auch in die Entwicklung- und Gesellschaftsgeschichte des Okzidents überliefert sind. Diese Untersuchung nimmt im Kontext des Forschungsstandes eine Neubewertung seiner Religionssoziologie vor. Sie möchte zu einen Zugang zu Webers leitender Fragestellung beitragen und die Grenzen herausfinden, die uns heute von seiner Soziologie trennen.

"Representations", N. 129, Winter 2015.

The essay analyzes the project of maintaining the body of V. I. Lenin in the Mausoleum in Moscow for the past ninety years, focusing on the unique biological science that developed around this project, and the unexpected political role this body has performed.

This book provides a thorough synthesis of classic theories on charisma and group psychology.  The usefulness of this theoretical synthesis  is then tested against detailed case studies of the cults surrounding Jim Jones and Charles Manson, as well the cult of Hitler.  Shamanic religion is also considered.  The conclusion is that charisma is a quintessentially human experience which has no substantive content beyond providing an immediate  a visceral and ecstatic moment that is outside of and opposed to the alienation and isolation of the mundane world - a memory upon which ordinary life can be constructed.  The paradigm established by Weber and Durkheim, and restated by psychological theory, claims, in fact, that society is based upon a deeply evocative communion of self and other, a communion that offers not reason, but lived vitality.  Without this electrifying blurring of boundaries, life no longer has its savor, action is no longer potent, the world becomes colorless and drab. 
The question then is not whether such moments of selflessness and communion will continue to exist.  They are a part of our existential condition.  The question is what form these moments will take.

21 € 264 pages Parution le 22 avril 2021 MANUEL DU PARFAIT DICTATEUR Jules César et les « hommes forts » du XXI e siècle Christian-Georges SCHWENTZEL Qui pourrait imaginer que Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Viktor Orbán, Narendra Modi, Xi Jinping, Vladimir Poutine ou encore Jair Bolsonaro ont eu, sans le savoir, un seul et même maître à penser ?