Prophet Motive

Deguchi Onisaburō was a man who liked to dress as a woman, wear costumes, make puns, and converse in Esperanto. He was also one of the Japan's most influential religious leaders of the early twentieth century. After becoming the leader of Oomoto, he transformed it from a small, regional Shinto sect founded by his mother-in-law into the third largest new religion in Japan with hundreds of thousands of followers. What made Onisaburō so successful? Nancy K. Stalker argues in Prophet Motive that it was his “charismatic entrepreneurship,” a term that she says “suggests a combination of spiritual authority, an intuitive grasp of the religious marketplace, savvy management skills, and a propensity for risk taking” (3). By showing how this term applies to Onisaburō and by placing it in the context of Oomoto's activities, doctrine, and social context between the 1910s and the 1930s, Stalker does something rare for a study of a Japanese new religion: she provides an in-depth historical account with insightful theoretical suggestions for understanding other new religions and new religious leaders both in and beyond Japan.

Charisma · Context (archaeology) · Converse · Doctrine · Epistemology · Political science · Sociology · Chinese history and philosophy · History · Japanese History and Culture · Law · Philosophy · Religious studies · Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices