ABSTRACT
The origins of Christianity, according to the “Received View” (see Chapter 8), lie rooted in the charismatic leader Jesus of Nazareth (Gager 1975:20ff; see also Malina 1986b; Gager’s perspectives derive from Weber 1922/1968, who is also followed by Schütz 1974; Ebertz 1987; Mödritzer 1994). Subsequently the charisma of the leader was routinized (after Weber) or preserved (after Worsley 1968). The purpose of this chapter is to question the Received View. Did Jesus in fact have Weberian charisma? Was he in fact a Weberian charismatic leader? The basis for this questioning is the fact that there is little if any evidence from the earliest Jesus movement groups that would fit Weber’s model of the charismatic leader. The information provided by the earliest sources offers nothing significant that might provide a fit or match with either Weber’s original model or his preferred way of using that original model, or with the model developed by Weber’s heirs and their preferred way of employing it.
