Antisemitic Charisma

A Critique of Max Weber’s Interpretations of Paul, Jews, and Charisma and Their Enduring Legacy in Religious Studies

Bibliographic Data

ID12202350
AuthorsLara-Sophie Boleslawsky (0009-0007-4637-9510, PhD Candidate, Department of Religious Studies, The University of Texas at Austin https://dx.doi.org/12330 Austin, TX USA, corresponding author), Anthony Keddie (0000-0002-2027-5357, Associate Professor, Department of Religious Studies, The University of Texas at Austin https://dx.doi.org/12330 Austin, TX USA)
Year2025
Volume37
Issue1
Pages73-109
Publication date2025-01-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueMethod & Theory in the Study of Religion (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0943-3058 • E-ISSN: 1570-0682
PublisherBrill (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1163/15700682-bja10137
OpenAlexW4406130796
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited62

Celebrated for developing objective, secular methods for social analysis of religion, Max Weber has come under increasing scrutiny for his nationalist politics, Protestant assumptions, racism, and antisemitism. Building on this critical scholarship, the present article exposes Weber’s theory of charisma as shaped by his German liberal nationalism, especially his assimilationist resolution to the Jewish Question. Through close analysis of Weber’s publications in light of his private letters, political associations, and intellectual debates, it demonstrates that Weber’s conceptualization of charisma as a quality of leadership that advances a release from tradition reinscribes the antisemitic logic of Protestant biblical interpretation – namely, the exaltation of Pauline Christianity as emancipation from Jewish law, ritual, and self-segregation. Further metacritical investigation of influential social-scientific studies of early Christianity demonstrates that the Weberian theory of charisma continues to prime scholars toward Christian triumphalism. A historically untenable vehicle for Weber’s nationalism, charisma should be retired as a sociological tool

Antisemitism · Charisma · Christianity · Judaism · Nationalism · Political science · Politics · Protestantism · Sociology · Theology · Law · Philosophy · Religion and Society Interactions · Religious studies · Weber, Simmel, Sociological Theory

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