Under
the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer, 2003, Excerpts
Charisma is a quality
that’s hard to define and even harder to explain, but Joseph was flush with it.
The term is derived from the Greek kharis, meaning “graced” or “a special gift
from God.” And the Latin word charisms, defined as “gift of the holy spirit.”
It’s meaning has evolved through the centuries and is now seldom associated
with sanctity, but Joseph’s brand of charisma seems to have been true to the
original definition. He was imbued with that exceedingly rare magnetism
possessed by history’s most celebrated religious leaders – an extraordinary
spiritual power that always seems to be wrapped in both great mystery and great
danger.
“He was big,
powerful, and by ordinary standards very handsome, except for his nose, which
was aquiline and prominent. His large blue eyes were fringed by fantastically
long lashes which made his gaze seem veiled and slightly mysterious.”
Joseph’s budding
religion was both a reflection of the era’s Jacksonian ideals and reactionary
retreat from them. On the one hand, Joseph was a champion of the common man and
a thorn in the side of the ruling elite. But on the other, he was deeply
suspicious of the confusing babble of ideas sweeping the country, and was made
nervous by the fickleness of democratic government. His church was an attempt
to erect a wall against modernity’s abundance of freedom, its unbridled
celebration of the individual.
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