36 Essays in Anarchism and Religion: Volume 1
from a unique, transitory gift of grace of extraordinary times and
persons into a permanent possession of everyday life.”^69 It is for
this reason that charisma is subject to perennial decay: charismat-
ic movements attempt to institutionalize the authority associated
with the charismatic leader, adopting strategies of rationalization
and bureaucratization that make authority stable and transmissi-
ble. While the organizations that evolve out of this process may
continue to benefit from a lingering charismatic aura, on a day-
to-day level their operations look much the same as those of any
other rationalized enterprise and generally bear little resemblance
to the charismatic leader’s original vision.
Each of these three characteristics of charisma can be useful-
ly contrasted with the characteristics I have associated with the
concept of exemplarity. While exemplarity proposes that some in-
dividuals are especially accomplished, for example, it is less con-
ducive to a rigid distinction between leader and follower, since
examples must, in some sense, be accessible to those expected to
imitate them. Rather than treating the exemplar as a quasi-divine
figure in possession of unique qualities, exemplarity envisions peo-
ple operating on a more or less equal plane of ability. Exemplarity
presumes, in other words, that exceptional people do not have a
monopoly on the qualities they exemplify, and that the proper re-
sponse to exemplary behaviour is not genuflection or obedience,
but an effort to discover and develop similar qualities in oneself.
Both Day and Maurin, as we have seen, demurred when charac-
terized by others as saints, and, like most exemplars, downplayed
their own exemplarity by claiming merely to be imitating even
worthier predecessors. Furthermore, they articulated an egalitar-
ianism of aspiration according to which all members of the move-
ment were invited to adopt saintliness as their own ideal. Day went
even further, in fact, by consistently highlighting saintly qualities in
the actions of figures outside the movement altogether, including
the many secular radicals she counted as personal friends.
Exemplarity also differs from Weber’s charisma in that it is,
by its very nature, less likely to be employed as a means of legiti-
mating domination. The actions of the exemplar, unlike the char-
ismatic leader, have little to do with amassing and commanding
followers.^70 The exemplar is generally content to exert an indirect