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Soft charisma as an impediment to fundamentalist discourse: The case of the Anthroposophical Society in Sweden
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The Anthroposophical Society in Sweden is, in the view of many of its members, going through tough times. Times of crisis and the search for a collective identity often inspire the formation of ideological rifts within a larger religious community. One way of responding to challenges is by turning to doctrines and texts stemming from a purportedly pristine past for guidance – in other words, by developing a fundamentalist discourse. A striking fact about the Anthroposophical Society, in Sweden as well as internationally, is that such returns to a set of canonical texts by the founder of the movement appear to be self-defeating. There are deeply rooted structural features within the Anthroposophical Society as an institution that impede any one voice from gaining significant traction and imposing a collective identity upon the movement. This article uses the example of the Anthroposophical Society in Sweden and the conundrum it repeatedly faces when addressing a perceived crisis in order to formulate a model of charismatic leadership that more generally accounts for the lack of success of fundamentalist discourses in religious movements with certain types of organisational culture.
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From an external perspective, it is more reasonable to treat Anthroposophy as a form of religious belief rather than a science.
“However, due to its reliance on clairvoyant methods and the centrality of reincarnation and spiritual beings in its teachings, it is more reasonable from an external perspective to treat it as a form of religious belief”
From Anthroposophy and Racism (2025) · cites this paper as Swartz and Hammer 2022: 19n
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Hansson, S. O. (2025) · AURA - Tidsskrift for akademiske studier av nyreligiøsitet · doi:10.31265/aura.791
Metadata
- Authors
- Swartz, K., & Hammer, O.
- Affiliations
- University of Southern Denmark (DK)
- ORCID
- Hammer, Olav
- Venue
- Approaching Religion
- Publisher
- Approaching Religion
- Published
- 2022-06-14
- Volume
- 12
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 18-37
- ISSN
- 1799-3121 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4283458898
- Cited by
- 2
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2024: 2
- FWCI
- 3.99
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Locations
- Approaching Religion (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- University of Southern Denmark Research Portal (University of Southern Denmark) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Doria (University of Helsinki) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Religious studies › Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Religion and Society Interactions
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Study and Philosophy of Religion
- Keywords
- charismatic leadership, religious fundamentalism, organizational culture, religious movements, collective identity, Sweden
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