The Holy Ghost in American Politics: How to Make Sense of Charismatic Leaders, Then and Now

Speaker: Molly Worthen

March 5th, 7 pm Location Gyertson Screening Room, Miller

Sponsored by the AU Honors Program

What is charisma? In the context of politics, sometimes we use the word as a synonym for charm; in other cases, it can imply immoral manipulation. Just as often, charisma is a hazy word that we punt to when, frankly, we don’t understand a leader’s appeal at all. A survey of the dynamics between leaders and followers across American history helps us cut through the confusion and recover insights from the Christian tradition. Charisma in secular politics remains more connected to charisma in the original New Testament sense than we might think—and theological concepts like transcendence and idolatry are more relevant than ever. 

Molly Worthen’s research focuses on North American religious and intellectual history. Her most recent book, Spellbound, is a history of charisma as both a religious and political concept over the past 400 years in America. Worthen teaches courses in North American religious and intellectual history, global Christianity and the history of politics. In 2017 she received the Manekin Family Award for Teaching Excellence in Honors Carolina. She writes regularly about religion, politics and higher education for the New York Times and has also contributed to the Atlantic, the New Yorker, Slate, and other publications. She has created courses for Audible and the Teaching Company on the history of charismatic leadership as well as the history of global Christianity since the Reformation.