The weeping sermon: persuasion, binding and authority within the Gülen-movement
One of the remarkable aspects of the weekly meetings (sohbet) organised by the followers of Fethullah Gulen is the so-called weeping sermon. The visual depiction of the weeping sermon, where Fethullah Gulen bursts into tears, after which his followers intensively weep during a certain period, hardly reveals the implications of the ritual. Weeping sermons are not just emotional performances, or modes of enchantment. They are part of a larger mediating practice common in the Gulen movement. It has persuasive qualities in three regards: (1) participating in a weeping sermon is a form of bodily moral attunement. It is part of a broader trajectory of religious training and disciplining and enhances spiritual and pious competence. (2) The total ritual including preparations has implications for the internal binding between followers and the forming of community. And (3) the ritual reconfirms and reproduces religious authority. We argue that the specific features of the sessions and the ways in which followers a...