Jesus' charismatic authority: On the historical applicability of a sociological model

In contemporary historical Jesus studies some scholars apply to the religious leader from Nazareth the features of the charismatic ideal-type originally elaborated by Max Weber. Other specialists prefer to have recourse to an alternative model, a reputational one. The aim of the present essay is to survey some recent neo-Weberian researches on charismatic leadership in the fields of political and managerial sciences. These new approaches dramatically reshaped the contours of the original model. As for the charismatic leader sociologists emphasize more and more his or her ability to communicate the vision and to empower the followers. It is indisputable that Jesus' authority has many points in common with these newly proposed definitions of charismatic leadership. The existence of such parallels confirms the validity of the charismatic heuristic model for the study of the historical Jesus.