Charisma: The Gift of Grace, and How It Has Been Taken Away from Us-Quality Guarantee

Description

From a profoundly influential social theorist comes a posthumouslypublished analysis of the deepest level of crisis in our culture.

“A compelling diagnosis of our condition.” —The Wall Street Journal

According toRieff, the contemporary notion of charisma—the personal magnetism of political leadersor movie stars—is a tragic misunderstanding of a profoundly important concept. Charismaoriginally meant religious grace and authority transferred through divine inspiration,before it evolved into little more than a form of celebrity stripped of moral argues that without morality, the gift of grace becomes indistinguishable fromthe gift of evil and devolves into a license to destroy in the name of faith or brilliant interpretations of Kierkegaard, Weber, Kafka, Nietzsche, and Freud,Rieff shows how certain thinkers attacked the very possibility of faith and genuinecharisma and helped prepare the way for a therapeutic culture in which it is impossibleto recognize anything as sacred.