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Amelia Brownstein
Heaven and Hell on Earth Paper
Dr. Schlagel
03/28/15
When does a religious sect become a cult? How does one differentiate between a
charismatic radical leader and a megalomaniac? How and why do the efforts to create a
utopia or Gods kingdom on earth fail? How do religious movements interact with
mainstream politics? When does religious fervor go too far? Reflect on more current
domestic and global situations: have we learned anything from history?
Girolamo Jones or Jim Savonarola: Is there a difference?
Religious extremists are always a sensitive topic. They represent the darkest
parts of the human psyche that desire absolute power over others in any way
possible and the downsides to being social creatures. While the mechanisms and
ambitions of both persons approach can be better understood by comparing
Savonarola and Jones, one of the greatest points of divergence between the two is
their inspiration and motivation. Where Savonarola seems to be using his
preaching to attempt to reform the world, Joness message is much more insular
and creates a group that self reinforces after a point instead of continuing to
spread.
The testimony of former members of the Peoples Temple relating to
punishment in the later period residing in San Francisco (Life and Death of the
Peoples Temple) indicates controlling behaviors bordering on sadistic tendencies. A
couple of the former members who were on board with Jones during their initial
narratives came off the band wagon when describing a woman forced to strip down
and have her body criticized piece by piece or remembering badly concealed welts
on one congregation member or another. These kinds of punishments are not

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uncommon in a tightly controlled cult setting, but what disillusioned these people
was their Fathers reaction. Jones was described as looking over his ubiquitous
sunglasses, smiling slightly and never looking away while a naked womans self
esteem and pride was destroyed.
While these kinds of punishments, particularly the beatings, certainly took
place during Savonarolas rule of the Florentine Republic the evidence does not
support the scenario of his involvement in individual beatings even on a
surveillance basis. Savonarola would get up in front of a congregation and use his
charisma and gift with words to make them afraid of the vengeance of the God of
the Old Testament. When impressionable young men came to him asking for help
achieving salvation, Savonarola did what any good Christian would do and told
them to follow the monastic traditions and to help their friends and families find
the correct path. This is the point where Savonarola and Jones really diverge; in
Savonarolas time the Medieval approach to Christianity is still relevant. Following
the commandments and being good Christians was not only a responsibility for the
individual but also for the community. Small town discipline was often extremely
public and designed to humiliate the rule breaker. One punishment for adulterers
was to make them ride backwards on a donkey through the whole town to take all
the verbal abuse and rotten vegetables the town had to offer. In the cultural
context where that is a normal, acceptable punishment public beatings at night are
just the next obvious step up in the escalation of force.
Jones does not have the advantage of being in a culture where the spiritual
welfare of people is considered a community effort. Modern American culture is

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oriented towards the individual in a way that Renaissance Christianity did not allow
normal people to think. One of the advantages Savonarola had was an already
existing culture of congregation where Jones had to convert people to his way of
thinking. Jones presumably had to analyze which people to target at different
stages of the growth of the Peoples Temple, when does he adapt his preaching
style to attract black members, when does he have enough diversity to go to high
schools and make an impression on people and when does he have enough
support to create homes for old people and create a community. Jones then spends
a great deal of effort to isolate his followers from their broader social support
system. The Peoples Temple was moved to San Francisco, far from their starting
point in Indiana in a time when long distance communication was more difficult
than typing texts into a portable telephone. He got them involved in his politics as
bodies at protests and then made them do all the work for the compound they
lived in. There was just not time for people to have lives outside of what he wanted
them to do, particularly when he controlled the money. Savonarola did not seek
this kind of isolation for his general congregation, only for the Angels who were
committing to become members of a monastic order. Clearly this kind of isolation
would occur to a certain degree within a city that only communicated with letters,
but the city knew about the Popes summons to Savonarola, he did not conceal it
from them. This is miles away from Jones taking all the truly faithful to Guyana
because of an article interviewing former members of the Peoples Temple. Jones
knew very well his power was constructed and his ultimate goal was to maintain it

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whereas Savonarola was using the power as an end to a mean, in that form it was
convenient but not necessary.
Both of them at one point used this power to attempt political reforms but
the scales they were addressing were disparate. Jones wanted to work on the
Housing Commission because it furthered his goal of creating a geographic
incarnation of his ideological community so he could refine his vision to create the
ideal obedient surrogate family for himself. The Peoples Temple was a way for him
to address some personal issues using other people. Yes he did some incidental
good creating an isolated instance of full integration and for a while some
retirement homes. The question that must be asked is if the good was lasting or
temporary and what goals it served.
Savonarolas treatise on political reform was an attempt to address broader
problems with a long-term solution. It is a work commissioned by someone else for
Savonarolas input on problems the Republic of Florence was having at the time.
Savonarolas absence from the pulpit is problematic because his main power
comes from the charisma he has and the ability to find ways to make people listen
to him. He considers the circumstances of the city, his own political readings and
the necessity for the central nature of Christianity to this government. He speaks
about using the kingdom of Heaven as a model for government and the worst kind
of government (tyranny) and how a city can rid itself of that scourge. Religion
serves to keep good government in check that best serves the people. This is an
attempt to address problems in a lasting way for the good of the people, not his
own power.

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At this point you have a reuniting of the two strategies: tightening
ideological control by discovering the dissenters. Both Jones and Savonarola did
this by invoking a direct intervention from a divine power. On Savonarolas side
the prophecies as a method of demonstrating his connection to God are
particularly powerful for the people of Florence. Lightening striking the Duomo,
then Charles VIII as the scourge coming down to wipe out the wicked in Florence
and a plague brought by the French lingering. For someone whose experience
with the Bible and with religion comes from their interactions with a priest where
prophets and saints are the heroes of the people, someone claiming and then
interpreting events as if they are prophecy is enough evidence for having God
speak to you. On the other hand Jim Jones reinvented himself as a faith healer
once his congregation had gotten going. This creates a direct Biblical correlation
to Jesus when he can make the blind see and the lame walk, which would be
powerful for an already taken in congregation. In modern America most people
know that kind of faith healing is impossible for real injuries but seeing it happen
in a setting where questions are not allowed makes it self reinforcing, unless you
are the one woman who found out the woman walking from a wheelchair was a
secretary wearing quite a lot of make up and acting to finish Joness act for him.
The members of the Peoples Temple would most likely not have appreciated the
knowledge their affirmations of faith were being executed by actors and a very
accomplished mentalist. While Savonarola probably used some tricks of the
mentalist in his preaching, evidence suggests that he believed what he was
saying and that his prophecies were real. With this kind of confirmation you can

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convince a people that their sinful ways are best rectified with fire and find
Botticelli tossing his paintings into the inferno.
That possibility of genuine belief is one of the things that probably
contributed to his downfall. If he believed what he was saying was true as much
as the people of Florence believed his fiery sermons of damnation then when he
stopped being able to find correlations between his prophecies and events
occurring in life it might have shaken his faith in his mission and raised doubts in
his mind. Under these circumstances, not defending himself and allowing the trail
by fire would be a way for him to attempt to prove to himself his faith was
justified as well as a public demonstration of his devotion to his cause. After
refusing the summons of the Pope twice with his prophecies faltering his
confidence in his new ideas would probably be shaken. Even if you think the Pope
is the core of corruption of the Catholic Church and he is wrong in his approach,
attempting to provide an example of the New Jerusalem and refusing to meet
with him might make you doubt.
If Savonarolas downfall was causes by a combination of circumstances and
his own intelligence, Joness downfall was the logical conclusion of the trajectory of
his control. Moving from a church to a compound to a series of houses in the forest
while restricting the members ability to go home, to read the news or to have
contact with outside sources at all can only last for so long. This kind of desire for
control comes down to the willingness of people to follow your lead without
question, and after the rehearsal with the Cool Aide he probably recognized the

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only way to keep this community together for long was to keep them with you
even into the afterlife.