Ledare av Guds nåde : En undersökning om aspekter av det karismatiska ledarskapet

Sammanfattning: The thesis aims to present and evaluate Liselotte Frisk’s usage of the father of charismatic research, Max Weber’s, theories regarding charismatic leadership. It does this by examining, using textual analysis, chapters from two works meant to examine and categorize new religious movements. The two works are “Nya religiösa rörelser” and “De nya religiösa rörelserna-vart tog de vägen?”. Three specific New Religious Movements have been selected: the Osho-movement, the church of Scientology as well as Hare-Krishna. The study details Frisk’s usage of Weber’s theories based on an analytical model that in itself is based upon Weber’s own definition of what constitutes charismatic leadership. The study finds that while Frisk uses aspects of Weber’s theories, there are certain aspects that do not align. Rather than seeing this as a fault of Frisk in her application of Weber, it should, however, be seen as a sign of the fact that Weber’s theories are somewhat vague and difficult to adapt and use. There is a reason for why he has been challenged and questioned on his views and terminology concerning charismatic leadership when it comes to New Religious Movements. That being said, there are aspects of it that in the present author’s opinion are still worth to investigate and use when it comes to leadership in religious organizations.