The Roots of Charisma

Abstract

The word ‘charisma’ did not appear until the first century AD, generated within an environment informed by Jewish and Graeco-Roman cultures. While ‘charisma’ was a late Greek word, it is possible to trace its roots — as term and concept — back several centuries, on two registers: the range of meanings associated with the root Greek word charis, and the precedents in ancient cultures for the idea of spiritual gifts. These meanings and usages, operating in different cultural settings, eventually coalesced in the term ‘charisma’ as developed by Paul in the middle of the first century. They also resurfaced, much later, in various alignments and emphases in the differing uses of ‘charisma’ in the twentieth century.