In an article I wrote in 2020<\/a> for this website, I argued for the importance of examining Peoples Temple through the lens of the history of emotions. This article proposes to lay some groundwork to establish an analytical image of what the emotional community of Peoples Temple looked like as early as 1959. In doing so, it will pose a range of questions: what feelings were valued as good? Which ones were valued as bad? How were appropriate emotions supposed to be expressed? How were negative emotions expected to be managed? What did they believe about the nature of their emotions? And what social practices involved the regular mobilisation or regulation of these emotions?<\/p>\n Of course, the answers to these questions in reference to the Temple in 1959 would be very different from the same questions \u00a0in reference to 1978. But despite a radical shift in emotional culture, neither in 1959 or in 1978 was this shared socio-emotional framework sui generis.<\/em> Just as the feeling rules within Jonestown were informed by a process of adaptation and augmentation, often in response to developing internal and external circumstances, the feeling rules within Peoples Temple Full Gospel Church in 1959 were similarly constructed.<\/p>\n Whilst Jones built his ministerial style with influence from a number of sources, one of the most important influences came through his contact with Father Divine and the International Peace Mission Movement (FDIPMM). The FDIPMM and Peoples Temple already shared certain similarities; they were both informed by a Pentecostalist, Revivalist surge within American Protestantism which had ebbed and flowed since the mid-19th<\/sup> century; they were both nominally egalitarian in outlook; they both stressed the importance of social aid; and both were in strict opposition to segregation, acting as integrated churches with a majority black American demographic. With a shared group of Charismatic Christian traditions and practices already linking the two movements, Father Divine would provide Jones with the example sine qua non<\/em> of the type of congregation he wished to lead; one that was positive without fault, radically enthusiastic, and completely faithful \u2013 as it appeared to external observers. Furthermore, Jones believed that FDIPMM provided a more valuable resource: potential members of Peoples Temple.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n Whilst Jones\u2019 absorption of the Peace Mission did result in some successful poaching of individuals and families, the merger he envisioned at a meeting with Father Divine in 1958 never occurred. Despite a number of rebuttals from FDIPMM, the influence of Divine upon Jones\u2019 ministerial style from 1958 onwards is evident as Jones attempted to bring the emotional culture of Peoples Temple in line with that of the Peace Mission. This was possible because Jones, through his position as minister of the Temple, was able to utilise this position of authority to expound a clear set of feeling rules for dissemination within his congregation. All this is not to say that he was entirely successful; indeed, trends in Jones\u2019 preaching towards the admonishment of his followers for their failure to bring their emotional practices in line with the expectations of the wider community is \u00a0evidence of this. In many ways, it can be said of both organisations that happiness was a condition of participation, and this meant that each member was expected to engage in emotion work in order to bring their internal feelings in line with social expectations.[2]<\/a> These expectations were defined by Jones and Divine respectively in several ways: through their sermons, through their decisions regarding worship practices, through song, through work and also utilising publications and newsletters.<\/p>\n One such document, titled \u2018Pastor Jones Meets Rev. M. J. Divine\u2019,[3]<\/a> published in 1959 and circulated for many years among Peoples Temple members, is enlightening in this regard. Written by Jones as \u2018a document appraising and discussing the doctrines, practices, and beliefs of Father Divine\u2019s International Peace Mission Movement\u2019, the booklet examines the particularities of FDIPMM from a preferential point of view. With a number of topics discussed, ranging from celibacy to social work, three topics jump out as fundamental to our present study. First, Jones appraises the practice of leader-worship or adulation; secondly, Jones discusses the importance of enthusiasm in worship; and finally, Jones examines the position of FDIPMM toward positivity and negativity. This article will take this three points as launchpads of further investigation and discussion. In all three cases, as will be demonstrated, an implicit emotional framework is constructed. And the preferential nature of this framework is made clear by Jones who emphasises that \u2018a fair analysis and evaluation of the Rev. M. J. Divine ministry is necessary to the progress of every honest believer<\/em>\u2019 [emphasis added]. As such, the document represents more than an open-minded investigation of a religious organisation which had historically been viewed with suspicion; it was a reappraisal designed to be considered, and potentially adopted, by Jones\u2019 existing followers.<\/p>\n Charismatic Authority.<\/strong><\/p>\n With the foreknowledge of how far Jones\u2019 authority within Peoples Temple would eventually stretch, it is somewhat unsurprising that the first topic Jones appraises with regard to FDIPMM is that of leader worship. Jones wrote:<\/p>\n I had heard the usual opinions that it was supposed to be a harem run by a demonically possessed immoral person; in fact, I was almost wholly convinced that it was a complete fraud. I had always been extremely opposed to adulation or worship of religious leaders. In order to stop flesh exaltation which seemed to be developing in my own healing ministry, I publicly insisted that no one even referred to me as Reverend. Naturally, one can imagine the revulsion I felt upon entering their church and hearing the devoted followers of Mr. Divine refer to him as Father.[4]<\/sup><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Jones provides here an interpretation of public opinion regarding the group, as well as a reminder that he had taken steps to prevent adulation from developing within his own healing ministry. \u00a0Max Weber, in his iconic discussions of charisma and charismatic authority, defined the latter as \u2018a certain quality of an individual personality, by virtue of which he is set apart from ordinary men and treated as endowed with supernatural \u2026 or at least specifically exceptional powers or qualities\u2026 regarded as of divine origin or exemplary<\/em>\u2019 [emphasis added].[5]<\/a> Recent sociological scholarship has underlined the emotional basis of charisma.[6]<\/a> In her aptly titled article, \u2018The Emotional Basis of Charisma,\u2019 Patricia Wasielewski has argued that charismatic \u2018redefine both objective and subjective aspects of their follower\u2019s realities\u2019 through the skilful utilisation of emotion rules. From this angle of analysis, the performance of miracles is demystified and can be analysed in terms of the emotions mobilised among observers and participants alike. For both Divine and Jones, faith-healing was a powerfully evocative performance which would not only elicit highly-emotionally expressive responses from their congregations, but would also attract potential members among those in physical or mental pain.<\/p>\n Faith-healing was as much a fundamental part to the early growth of FDIPMM as it was to Peoples Temple. In both cases, the practice worked to mobilise intense socially shared emotions. Within the Evangelical and Pentecostal traditions, these intensely positive emotional experiences are considered to be evidence of God\u2019s touch, and thus are considered not only innate but wholly positive and pure. This unique emotional composition was typically expressed through what W. E. B. Du Bois called \u2018religious shouting\u2019, which he described as so important for black spirituality that \u2018many generations firmly believed that without this visible manifestation of God there could be no true communion with the invisible.\u2019[7]<\/a> Shouting could come in many forms \u2013 as a flexible model of participation \u2013 which could include literal shouting, crying, singing, laughing, entrancement, and proclamations of, awe, gratitude, and love. Testimonies of Father Divine\u2019s ability to heal are numerous,[8]<\/a> and even at the end of the pamphlet \u2018Pastor Jones Meets Rev. M. J. Divine,\u2019 Jones reminds his readers that<\/p>\n Never a service passes without someone being miraculously healed, converted, or filled with the Holy Ghost. Our files are filled with the names and addresses of persons who have been completely healed in the last few days. We will gladly furnish these testimonies to friend or foe alike upon request.[9]<\/sup><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Faith healing was but one practice incorporated by Father Divine and Jim Jones within their respective congregations, but other more typical practices were also found. The use of music and song, including traditional Christian hymns and popular songs within the Temple, as well as songs unique to Father Divine within the Peace Mission, was also present. In fact, certain songs from the Peoples Temple Songbook have been identified as being adaptations of songs unique to the Peace Mission. In a particularly dated sociological article, unfortunately tainted by racist language, the authors attend one of Divine\u2019s famous services and describe the beginning of the service and the importance of song:<\/p>\n The followers (or \u201cchildren\u201d, as they call themselves) are singing the verse:<\/p>\n Father Divine is the captain \/ Coming around the bend \/ And the steering wheel\u2019s in his hand.<\/p>\n The song has five verses. Singing is accompanied by a small brass band. No one officially leads the \u201cchildren\u201d. It is unnecessary. A few already know the song, and the rest soon catch the simple rhythm. The crescendo increases with each verse. At the end of this song, a large, middle-aged colored woman testifies how Father cured her bad knee\u2026 Some listen, others close their eyes and moan. Shouts of \u201cisn\u2019t it wonderful!\u201d\u00a0 \u201cHe\u2019s so sweet!\u201d and \u201cWe thank you, Father!\u201d are frequent. One or two hysterical negroes walk around dazed and shouting, occasionally falling. The testimony ends with the first line of another song, sung with great feeling by the testifier. It is immediately picked up by the others. The band catches the tune. Soon all are singing.[10]<\/sup><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Positivity and Negativity.<\/strong><\/p>\n Whilst services such as this may have worked to create powerful socially-accepted emotions and their correct expressions among congregants, both Jones and Divine utilised their sermons to expound distinct rules of feeling in much more explicit ways. In the pamphlet \u2018Pastor Jones Meets Rev. M. J. Divine,\u2019 Jones appraises the Peace Mission\u2019s doctrinal emphasis on positivity.<\/p>\n The Divine followers have a policy of never speaking about negative situations\u2026 I can safely say I have never heard an unkind remark in any of the Divine extensions about another and no matter how much one disagrees with them they continue to extend love and kindness.[13]<\/a><\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Positive thought was a fundamental concept within FDIPMM, as it was believed that by focusing on positive thought, people could rid themselves of all pain, all anxiety, all illness, and all troubles. For example, in 1931 Father Divine advised his followers to:<\/p>\n Be happy even if the world burns down and you are all right. Just get to that place and be perfectly closed in by the Universal Mind Substance, perfectly happy, undisturbed and unvoked [sic], and you are in that place then where you are safe.[14]<\/sup><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Perhaps more explicitly, in 1933 he stated:<\/p>\n Peace, Everybody! Here we are once again. We have danced and we have sung, and I believe everybody is happy! That is all we need to do, is to keep you happy. The spirit of your nature itself will work automatically and will work for the common good of mankind in bringing about desirable conditions, so long as you are perfectly happy and in perfect harmony. That is the Law of the Spirit. The Law of the Spirit will bring about perfect happiness and keep perfect conditions as long as a person is in perfect harmony.[15]<\/sup><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Positive emotion, primarily defined as happiness, was absolutely fundamental to the theology and practice of the Peace Mission. As preventative, curative, and indicative of one\u2019s closeness to God, positive emotion was highly valued and by extension, negative emotions were heavily regulated. As with all emotional practices, this was not clear cut \u2013 it is not the purpose of this piece to suggest that all of Divine\u2019s followers were unassailably happy. Rather, the performance of the correct emotional repertoire was central to Peace Mission practice, and membership was in fact predicated on the ability to manage one\u2019s emotions in line with the expectation of the group as defined by Divine.<\/p>\n The emphasis on positive emotion for Divine was not just an individual responsibility but a social responsibility. In this way, Divine came close to recognising the socially contagious nature of emotions \u2013 an effect under investigation by scholars of psychology, sociology and anthropology today. In 1938 Divine states that:<\/p>\n These actuated words of expression, and every \u201cemotionated\u201d word or expression, they are all transmittable. We are transmitting them to others. Copy after this Fashion I have shown you, and AM showing you. Not one of my real followers is on the welfare! Not one of my real followers is a beggar![16]<\/sup><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n For Divine, the cause of ailments, negativity, and antagonism lay within the individual minds of each of his followers, and it was undoubtedly his training in New Thought throughout the early twentieth century which prompted this. As he reminded his disciples at his banquet table in 1938:<\/p>\n Cleanse your minds of every detestable tendency, of every antagonistic and conflicting idea and opinion and recognise GOD as the Infinite among you\u2026 The antagonistic and conflicting minds of the people, they create those things themselves by having infantry [sic] minds and impure minds.[17]<\/sup><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Jim Jones\u2019 adaptation of this aspect of New Thought doctrine was of utmost concern to the young preacher and his nascent Peoples Temple, and throughout the Temple\u2019s lifespan it was a theme which Jones would regularly return to in increasing levels of frustration and desperation. As early as 1957, however, it is clear that Jones was in some ways attempting to imitate the style, success, and size of the Peace Mission at its peak; and that this was conducted in part through his adoption of strands of New Thought which he saw as central to Divine\u2019s method of operation. A sermon given in 1957, for example, contains seeds of New Thought ideology which Jones communicated to his flock:<\/p>\n You have that kind of faith tonight? Do you have a real optimism tonight? How many are optimistic? I\u2019ve heard so many people say today they thought they was dyin\u2019. (Laughs) I\u2019ve heard people thought they were gettin\u2019 sick and gettin\u2019 that and gettin\u2019 the other thing\u2026 We can get so positive with God and such an optimism with God that all things are well, even when we look like we\u2019re just dying or naturally we look like we\u2019re disintegrating.<\/em> [Emphasis added][18]<\/sup><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Here, Jones directly draws the link between remaining positive or optimistic in the face of adversity and the betterment of one\u2019s life. In much the same way as Divine encouraged his followers to be happy even when the world was burning down around them, Jones emphasised the power of positive thought as the solution to individual\u2019s problems. As a natural corollary to this, Jones goes further and warns his congregation about negative thoughts \u2013 as Jones indicates in this sermon, this is because negative thoughts bring about negative experiences:<\/p>\n Last night, some sister, she wouldn\u2019t open the little window \u2026 in that old storefront mission, and she says now, \u201cyou better accept that you\u2019ll get cold.\u201d Uh-huh. That thought come in. I said, I\u2019m not going to think that thought. But it was in. And I felt that breeze coming on my neck\u2026 I did everything, but I had that thought on my mind. And Blessed God, I got the first cold I\u2019ve had in years. I worked myself into a cold, just as sure as your foot. I decided I was gonna get a cold, I got one.[19]<\/sup><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Whilst Jones was well-read and well-educated in various doctrines and liturgies, it is likely that his insistence on a doctrine of positive thinking stemmed directly from his relationship in the late fifties with Father Divine. In this same 1957 sermon, Jones proceeds to admonish certain individuals within Peoples Temple with whom he had shared a car ride with a prior evening on the basis that they constantly spoke of their ills and anxieties:<\/p>\n There\u2019re negative vibrations. Talking about our sickness, or talking about our instant pain, (claps once) let no filthy things proceed out of your mouth\u2026 we could have a new language, we could give no place to the Devil<\/em>, we tried it around here, but we dragged down to the realms of iniquity and we bind ourselves with the carnal conversation, but we should be a happy people\u2026 I\u2019m so confident that we can visualise the Christ<\/em>\u2026 Let there be joy in our face, let there be peace in our hearts, let there be overcoming power in our members, and we\u2019ll look like changed creatures. [Emphasis added][20]<\/sup><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Whilst this does demonstrate an attempt on Jones\u2019 part to establish the same kind of feeling rules within his congregation, particularly within the 1957 sermon Jones belies his frustration with the failure of this practice to resonate entirely with the congregation. If it was adopted satisfactorily by those members of Peoples Temple, Jones would not be admonishing them for their contrary actions. This frustration of Jones in response to the unpredictability of this distinct emotional style \u2013 in which congregants are to practice positive emotions and curtail negative ones \u2013 only grew larger as time went on. In 1966, Jones still admonishes part of his congregation for speaking negatively. And interestingly, Jones frames his position from a social angle:<\/p>\n Last week it was affirmed here that there would be no more talking of sickness and tiredness and disappointment and grief, and yet, last evening every time I\u2019d ask somebody how they were, it was well- well- (short laugh) all right\u2026 People, I hear you talking. I heard some conversation about how hard times you\u2019ve had since you\u2019ve been here, the month you\u2019ve been here. And we\u2019ve got newcomers coming. You oughtn\u2019t be talking like that, and then the newcomer himself, he doesn\u2019t know what he\u2026 should be here or shouldn\u2019t be here.[21]<\/sup><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n In both FDIPMM and Peoples Temple, membership was predicated on the ability to perform the correct emotions. And membership, too, brought many benefits: communal support, in-group solidarity, emotional catharsis and release, financial and social aid. As such, there was an incumbent demand upon participants to engage in emotion work to bring their inner feelings in line with social expectations. In this sense Divine offered a specific tool: cognitive reappraisal, or the focused reasoning on one\u2019s thoughts resulting in the reappraisal of a situation as negative or positive. Jones, too, would adopt this theological line in the early years, but utilised his position as a developing charismatic authority to admonish, and thereby manage other people\u2019s emotional expressions, himself.<\/p>\n Enthusiasm and Expression.<\/strong><\/p>\n So far, we have discussed the development and maintenance of Divine and Jones\u2019 charismatic authority through a lens of emotion, and examined some of the tools and sets of practices utilised in this way. Jones and Divine were the thought-leaders of their congregations, and in establishing what kind of emotions were permissible (both implicitly, in practice, and explicitly, in doctrine), they also established guidelines for how<\/em> these emotions were expressed and to what intensity. A defining characteristic of Divine\u2019s congregation was their enthusiasm or the intensity of their emotional energies, and this too was noted by Jones in the aforementioned pamphlet published for Temple consumption:<\/p>\n My comments would not be complete without a discussion of the enthusiastic worship that is practiced consistently by this group\u2026 I have seen the Peace Mission members stand and sing inspirationally for three hours without direction while they were waiting on the appearance of their \u201cShepherd.\u201d I have never seen this atmosphere duplicated anywhere in the Americas.[22]<\/sup><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Similarly, Jones\u2019 appraisal of the adulation of Father Divine justifies the practice on the basis of the quality and intensity of emotions produced by such a practice:<\/p>\n I was nauseated by what seemed to be personal worship to their leader. None the less when I would pause to think and be fair in my judgment, I could not help but see a peace and love that prevailed generally throughout the throng of enthusiastic worshippers. Every face was aglow with smiles and radiant friendliness.[23]<\/sup><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The socioemotional demands of congregants require a high degree of active participation, and compose in and of themselves a set of learned and trained emotional practices. During Divine\u2019s Holy Communion Banquets, the range of emotional performances available as previously described would vary from humming, to crying, to laughing, to religious shouting in its various forms. \u00a0One of Divine\u2019s own disciples recorded a description of a service in 1931 which would contribute to Father Divine\u2019s eventual imprisonment for disturbing the peace:<\/p>\n The fervor of the past two days in the Kingdom and the grandeur of Father\u2019s teachings and the high vibrations he conveyed have been beyond words\u2026 It has been impossible to get down much of what was said because of the constant shouting and because of the feelings aroused in me.[24]<\/sup><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n In as much as enthusiasm was demanded, it was also constructed. As the practice of religious shouting was not only allowed, but encouraged, it established a high ceiling in both congregations for the permissible intensity of emotional expressions of positivity. This is not to suggest that anything was possible and that no limit existed to the range of permissible expression. Rather, the range of expression was defined both in part by the practice of the groups and the doctrines espoused by Divine and Jones. And this was not always an entirely successful enterprise. Returning back to the Peoples Temple sermon dated 1957, Jones once again admonishes his congregants for their lack of enthusiasm:<\/p>\n But, ohh, this crowd we\u2019ve got today. [Pause] [Voice rises higher] I said, this crowd we\u2019ve got today. This little bunch of people that call themselves Pentecostal. You know, I\u2019d take the name down off of these churches that are cold and dead already\u2026 I think that\u2019s mostly what we do, is let our dead folks out. And we had better [unintelligible] this boneyard if we ever did have. Dry bones and certainly most of us are pastoring the First Church of Death Valley. But it\u2019s about time that somebody got resurrected. [Pounds pulpit several times, in full throat] Hallelujah![25]<\/sup><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n And in a similar vein, Jones\u2019 preoccupation with higher and higher levels of enthusiasm is made clear again in 1966, when he addresses the congregation for their lack of eagerness:<\/p>\n And you all found jobs, homes, and an abundance of every good desire with now over 25,000 dollars in the bank to do something for our cooperative. But you do not understand what\u2019s in your midst. For you come with no real enthusiasm, and let us say loud \u201cAmens\u201d for this.[26]<\/sup><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n It appears that from the earliest days of Peoples Temple, the enthusiasm of Jones\u2019 congregation was something which Jones strived to mobilise, but struggled to achieve. This also touches on another important difference between the style of Jones and Divine, that is the former\u2019s consistently critical sermonising style compared to the latter\u2019s embodied focus on positivity. Compared to Father Divine, whose congregation by the sixties had been practicing the prescribed rules of feeling for at least thirty years, the followers of Jim Jones were not as well versed in the specific sort of Pentecostal participation he desired. This source of frustration perhaps led to Jones\u2019 reliance on the practice of admonishment, which may have explanatory value in assessing how the group transitioned from one focused on positivity in 1958 to one beset by the spectre of negativity and paranoia in 1978.<\/p>\n Concluding Remarks.<\/strong><\/p>\n In this short article, in essence abridged from a work-in-progress chapter of this author\u2019s upcoming thesis, I have attempted to paint a rough map of the emotional communities of Father Divine\u2019s International Peace Mission Movement and Peoples Temple, between the loose dates of 1958 and 1966. This was done for two reasons: first, to demonstrate how the initial community of Peoples Temple was influenced by the contemporary example of FDIPMM; and secondly, to demonstrate that whilst Jones utilised his position to mould the emotional style of his community to be closer to that of Father Divine\u2019s, this was not always successful. Indeed, from 1957 through to 1966, a clear source of frustration for Jones which bleeds through his sermons is the failure of individual congregants to successfully internalise the feeling rules he was attempting to establish.<\/p>\n I suspect that this frustration, and the spectre of Father Divine after 1965, would encourage Jones towards stricter methods of communal emotional regulation as his expectations and the reality of participation diverged. This would culminate in disastrous ways after the group\u2019s migration to Jonestown, where emotion work of all kinds became less sustainable in the face of communal adversity and isolation. But as demands of emotional conformity and performative expectations increased, so too would the pendulum swing towards paranoia. paranoia, in one sense, as no one could be sure exactly what someone else was feeling due to the high demands of the emotional community; and paranoia in another sense as one lapse \u2013 one failure to clap at the correct moment \u2013 could result in public shaming directed by Jones and his inner circle.<\/p>\n Even with this preliminary conclusions, questions remain. If we measure the success of an emotional style as the degree to which it is incorporated by, and works for, the individuals whom it impacts, why did Jim Jones encounter so much frustration, as early as 1957 in mobilising his community toward the adoption of these emotional practices? Why by contrast was Father Divine\u2019s International Peace Mission Movement so successful? Whilst I do not presume in either case that there was a monolithic response to either emotional style as practiced by FDIPMM or Peoples Temple, it seems clear that the Peace Mission was not beset by the same kinds of emotional unpredictability as the Temple. As research progresses, so too will these questions change. But, at the very least, I hope the two aims of this article have been accomplished: to outline the emotional communities of Peoples Temple and the Peace Mission, and to demonstrate how heavily the former was influenced by the latter.<\/p>\n Notes:<\/strong><\/p>\n [1]<\/a>The official statement of FDIPMM in response to the tragedy at Jonestown, 1978, claims that Jones had explicitly stated his intent to \u2018eventually take FATHER\u2019s place\u2019. \u2018Rev. Jim Jones Once Sought Control of Peace Mission Movement; Cut Down by Retribution; Takes Hundreds With Him in Death Pact,\u2019 Father Divine\u2019s International Peace Mission Movement, November 24, 1978. Accessible from: https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=98031<\/a>, accessed on 15\/04\/21.<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Happiness as a condition of participation is a feature of many Evangelical groups: Wilkins, Amy C., \u2018\u201cHappier than Non-Christians\u201d: Collective Emotions and Symbolic Boundaries among Evangelical Christians,\u2019 Social Psychology Quarterly, <\/em>Vol. 71 No. 3 (2008) pp. 281-301 [283]. For more on emotion work, see: Hochschild, Arlie, \u2018Emotion Work, Feeling Rules, and Social Structure,\u2019 American Journal of Sociology<\/em>, Vol. 85 No. 3 (Nov. 1979) pp. 551-575.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> The Jonestown Institute, \u2018Jim Jones Meets Father Divine (Text)\u2019, accessible from: https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=16635<\/a>. PDF of original document also available from The Jonestown Institute, \u2018Pastor Jones Meets Rev. M. J. Divine,\u2019 accessible from: https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/01-04-JJFatherDivine.pdf<\/a>.<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> The Jonestown Institute, \u2018Jim Jones Meets Father Divine\u2019.<\/p>\n [5]<\/a> Weber, Maximilian, Theory of Social and Economic Organisation<\/em>, trans. Henderson, A.M., (Talcott Parsons, 1947) pp. 328.<\/p>\n [6]<\/a> Wasielewski, Patricia L., \u2018The Emotional Basis of Charisma,\u2019 Symbolic Interaction<\/em>, Vol. 8 No. 2 (Fall, 1985) pp. 207-222.<\/p>\n [7]<\/a> Du Bois, W.E.B., The Souls of Black Folk<\/em>, (Project Gutenberg ed., 1996 [1903]) accessible from: https:\/\/www.gutenberg.org\/files\/408\/408-h\/408-h.htm.<\/p>\n [8]<\/a> For example, see the legal deposition of a devout follower of Divine: FDIPMM, \u2018Supreme Court: New York County Verinda Brown, etc., Plaintiff, against FATHER DIVINE, et al, Defendants, State of New York, County of New York, SS\u2019 accessible from: http:\/\/peacemission.info\/fdipmm\/mdbook\/lambtx.html accessed on 4\/04\/21.<\/p>\n [9]<\/a> Federal Bureau of Investigation, \u2018Pastor Jones Meets Rev. M. J. Divine\u2019, pp. 1-33, [27]. Accessible as a PDF from: https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=13779<\/a> uploaded 17\/02\/2013, last updated 12\/05\/2020, accessed on 04\/04\/2021.<\/p>\n [10]<\/a> Cantril, Hadley; Sherif, Muzafer, \u2018The Kingdom of Father Divine,\u2019 Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology,<\/em> Vol. 33, 1938, p. 148 [pp. 147-167].<\/p>\n [11]<\/a> Durkheim, Emile, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life<\/em>, (New York: Free Press, Project Gutenberg ed., 2012 [1965]) pp. 210-211.<\/p>\n [12]<\/a> Footage available on Youtube: https:\/\/youtu.be\/hOv_hSJJ3vo<\/a>.<\/p>\n [13]<\/a> \u2018Pastor Jones Meets Rev M. J. Divine,\u2019 pp. 9-10.<\/p>\n [14]<\/a> Father Divine, quoted in The Word of GOD Revealed<\/em>: FATHER DIVINE\u2019s Words from \u2018The Notebook of John Lamb\u2019<\/em>, Instalment 08, November 21, 1931. Located online at: http:\/\/peacemission.info\/fdipmm\/wogr\/31wogr08.html<\/a>, accessed on 01\/01\/2021. Upload date unknown, due to the uploading process being a private work conducted by remaining members of the Peace Mission with outside assistance. It should be noted that FDIPMM had quite unique, idiosyncratic rules of grammar and syntax and this, in part, was a result of Divine\u2019s own unique language as transcribed by the Peace Mission \u2013 hence, the unknown word \u201cunvoked\u201d. Last modified Dec 4 2019.<\/p>\n [15]<\/a> FDIPMM, \u2018The Spirit of Happiness Works Automatically\u2026 By You Being in Perfect Harmony with the Law of the Spirit of Life That Is in Christ,\u2019 1938,<\/p>\n [16]<\/a> Father Divine, \u2018Message Given at Banquet Table in New York City\u2019, 1938, accessible from: http:\/\/peacemission.info\/fdipmm\/worddrtv\/38070414.html<\/a>, accessed on 28\/04\/21.<\/p>\n [17]<\/a> Father Divine, \u2018The Golden Rule Put into Practice\u2019, July 4, 1938, available from: www.peacemission.info\/fdipmm\/worddrtv\/38070414.html<\/a>, accessed on 25\/04\/21. As noted before, FDIPMM had quite unique, idiosyncratic rules of grammar and syntax and this, in part, was a result of Divine\u2019s own unique language as transcribed by the Peace Mission \u2013 hence, the unknown context for the word \u201cinfantry\u201d.<\/p>\n [18]<\/a> The Jonestown Institute, Transcript of FBI Audiotape Q1058-2, accessible from: https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=27329<\/a>, accessed on 25\/04\/21.<\/p>\n [19]<\/a> Audiotape Q1058-2.<\/p>\n [20]<\/a> Audiotape Q1058-2.<\/p>\n [21]<\/a> The Jonestown Institute, transcript of FBI Audiotape Q1055-2, accessible from: https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=27322<\/a>, accessed on 25\/04\/21.<\/p>\n [22]<\/a> \u2018Pastor Jones Meets Rev. M. J. Divine\u2019, p. 20.<\/p>\n [23]<\/a> \u2018Pastor Jones Meets Rev. M. J. Divine\u2019, p. 6.<\/p>\n [24]<\/a> New Day, <\/em>August 13, 1974, p. 18. Recorded November 1931 by John Lamb, in the Journals of John Lamb.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/image-3-300x220.jpeg\")
<\/a>Faith-healing was a fundamentally important feature within Father Divine\u2019s International Peace Mission Movement, and Divine was said to have cured ailments ranging from blindness to cancer and even death. These performances \u2013 displays of miraculous, divine power \u2013 were fundamental in the development of both Divine\u2019s charismatic authority throughout the 1920s and 1930s, and it would be fundamental to Jones\u2019 development into a charismatic leader also. It is irrelevant whether or not Jones or Divine actually performed any miracle in question. But what matters is that these performances, and importantly the testimonies of these performances, were convincing and emotionally compelling.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/image-4-300x183.jpeg\")
<\/a>If one can ignore the distasteful characterisation afforded members of Divine\u2019s congregation, the above quoted piece highlights that the emotionally charged atmosphere of a Divine Holy Communion Banquet was constructed through communal song, music, and dance; followed by a testimonial of healing, religious shouting, and further song. One could argue that by incorporating these variety of practices, carefully culturally tuned and shaped from a history of black worship and Pentecostalism, Divine\u2019s services worked to actively mobilise the congregation toward a state of collective emotional effervescence. Durkheim described effervescence as the sociological process in which defined societal groups come together to participate in religious rituals; these rituals arouse intense, shared emotional energies among participants and work to solidify a powerful group identity as well as a social convergence of feeling and increase intensity in their expression.[11]<\/a> And this worked in a similar way within Peoples Temple \u2013 one is reminded of footage from a healing service performed by Jones during the group\u2019s time in Los Angeles: healing, song, testimonial, and music are intertwined to create an emotionally expressive atmosphere which sees congregants shouting, dancing, laughing, with hands held in the air in praise.[12]<\/a><\/p>\n