The notion of "charismatic movement", put forward by Max Weber, is a profitable one, since it is closed to empirical and historical data, plausible and open both to disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches, and may also be theorized. It has, for instance, been used in the sociological study of deviance. The historical and social crisis context of the "Jesus movement" may be interpreted as a complex connection of "stigmatization", deeply rooted in the native Galilee of Jesus and his disciples. They formed the nucleus of a religious charismatic movement, the typical configuration of which includes patrons, followers, and opponents, among a general population. The "Jesus movement" was oriented towards this connection of stigmatization: it aimed at escaping from it and overcoming it through "self-stigmatization". "Stigma and charism" are closely related within the Jesus movement, from its presuppositions to its end. One may therefore really speak, in the case of Jesus, of a "self-stigmatization charism".
