Charisma

'''<span lang="Bangla" dir="ltr">Charisma</span>''' ({{IPAc-en|k|ə|.|ˈ|r|ɪ|z|.|m|ə}}) is a personal quality of magnetic charm, persuasion, or appeal.<ref>{{multiref2 |1={{cite book|title=New Oxford American Dictionary|chapter=charisma|editor-first1=Angus|editor-last1=Stevenson|editor-first2=Christine A.|editor-last2=Lindberg|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2010|page=[https://archive.org/details/newoxfordamerica0000unse_l5h7/page/292/mode/1up 292]}} |2={{Cite web |title=charisma |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/charisma |access-date=2022-12-07 |website=Merriam-Webster Dictionary |language=en}} }}</ref>

In the fields of sociology and political science, psychology, and management, the term ''charismatic'' describes a type of leadership.<ref name="auto">{{cite journal |doi=10.1177/1468795X14536652 |title=Becoming a God: Max Weber and the social construction of charisma |journal=Journal of Classical Sociology |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=266–283 |year=2014 |last1=Joosse |first1=Paul |s2cid=143606190 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.5465/amle.2010.0012 |title=Can Charisma be Taught? Tests of Two Interventions |journal=Academy of Management Learning & Education |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=374–396 |year=2011 |last1=Antonakis |first1=John |last2=Fenley |first2=Marika |last3=Liechti |first3=Sue |url=https://serval.unil.ch/resource/serval:BIB_FDC9DF7BA052.P001/REF.pdf }}</ref>

In Christian theology, the term ''charisma'' appears as the ''Spiritual gift'' (''charism'') which is an endowment with an extraordinary power given by the Holy Spirit.<ref name=DotBSpiritGifts>"Spiritual gifts". ''A Dictionary of the Bible'' by W. R. F. Browning. Oxford University Press Inc. ''Oxford Reference Online''. Oxford University Press. Accessed 22 June 2011.</ref><ref>{{Cite American Heritage Dictionary|charisma}}</ref>

==Etymology== The English word ''charisma'' derives from the Ancient Greek word {{lang|grc|χάρισμα}} ({{transliteration|grc|chárisma}}), which denotes a "favor freely given" and the "gift of grace".<ref name="auto"/> The singular term and the plural term {{lang|grc|χαρίσματα}} ({{transliteration|grc|charismata}}) both derive from the word {{lang|grc|χάρις}} ({{transliteration|grc|charis}}), meaning ''grace'' and ''charm''.<ref name=OED>{{cite book|chapter=charism, charisma, charismata, charisms|title=Oxford English Dictionary|edition=Second|volume=III|year=1989|page=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordenglishdic0000unse_a3t6/page/41/mode/1up 41]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Beekes|first=Robert S.P.|title=Etymological Dictionary of Greek|publisher=Brill|year=2010|series=Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series|volume=10/1|page=[https://archive.org/details/etymological-dictionary-of-greek/page/1607/mode/1up 1607]}}</ref> In religious praxis, the Ancient Greeks ascribed ''personality charisma'' to their pantheon of gods and goddesses, e.g. attributing charm, beauty, nature, creativity, and fertility to the individual {{transliteration|grc|Charites}} ({{lang|grc|Χάριτες}}). In theology and sociology, the denotations of the word ''charisma'' expanded from the Ancient Greek definition into the connotations of ''divinely-conferred charisma'' and of ''personality charisma'', thus in ''A History of Charisma'' (2010), John Potts said that:

<blockquote>Contemporary charisma maintains, however, the irreducible character ascribed to it by [[Max Weber|[Max] Weber]]: it retains a mysterious, elusive quality. Media commentators regularly describe charisma as the ''X-factor''. . . . The enigmatic character of charisma also suggests a connection — at least to some degree — to the earliest manifestations of charisma as a spiritual gift.<ref name=Potts>{{cite book|last=Potts|first=John|title=A History of Charisma|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=2010}}</ref>{{rp|3}}</blockquote>

Moreover, the Koine Greek dialect spoken in Ancient Rome employed the terms ''charisma'' and ''charismata'' without the religious connotations.<ref name=Ebertz>{{cite book|last=Ebertz|first=Michael N.|chapter=Charisma|title=Religion Past & Present|editor-first1=Hans Dieter|editor-last1=Betz|editor-first2=Don S.|editor-last2=Browning|editor-first3=Bernd|editor-last3=Janowski|editor-first4=Eberhard|editor-last4=Jüngel|publisher=Brill|year=2007|volume=II|pages=[https://archive.org/details/religionpastpres0002unse/page/493/mode/1up 493]–496}}</ref>

==History== ===Divinely conferred charisma=== {{See also|Spiritual gift}}

The Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible record the development of ''divinely conferred charisma''. In the Hebrew text the idea of charismatic leadership is generally signaled by the use of the noun {{transliteration|he|hen}} (favor) or the verb {{transliteration|he|hanan}} (to show favor). The Greek term for {{transliteration|grc|charisma}} (grace or favor), and its root {{transliteration|grc|charis}} (grace) replaced the Hebrew terms in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible (the {{BCE|3rd century|link=y}} Septuagint). Throughout, "the paradigmatic image of the charismatic hero is the figure who has received God's favor".<ref name=Scheper>{{cite book|last=Scheper|first=George L.|chapter=Charisma|title=Encyclopedia of Religion|edition=Second|editor-first=Lindsay|editor-last=Jones|publisher=Macmillan Reference|year=2005|volume=3}}</ref>{{rp|[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofre0003unse_a7f0/page/1545/mode/1up 1545]}} In other words, ''divinely conferred charisma''<ref name="auto1">{{cite journal|last1=Grabo|first1=Allen|last2=Spisak|first2=Brian R.|last3=Van Vugt|first3=Mark|year=2017|title=Charisma as signal: An evolutionary perspective on charismatic leadership|journal=The Leadership Quarterly|volume=28|issue=4|pages=473–485|doi=10.1016/j.leaqua.2017.05.001|hdl=1871.1/cfaf823d-55a3-4d48-95e4-68a021621ed2 |url=https://research.vu.nl/en/publications/cfaf823d-55a3-4d48-95e4-68a021621ed2 |hdl-access=free}}</ref> applied to highly revered figures.

Thus, Eastern Mediterranean Jews in the {{CE|1st century}} had notions of {{transliteration|grc|charis}} and {{transliteration|grc|charisma}} that embraced the range of meanings found in Greek culture and the spiritual meanings from the Hebrew Bible.{{r|Potts|page=15}} From this linguistic legacy of fused cultures, in 1 Corinthians, Paul the Apostle introduced the meaning that the Holy Spirit bestowed {{transliteration|grc|charism}} and {{transliteration|grc|charismata}}, "the gift of God's grace," upon individuals or groups. For Paul, "[t]here is a clear distinction between charisma and {{transliteration|grc|charis}}; charisma is the direct result of divine {{transliteration|grc|charis}} or grace."{{r|Potts|pages=36–37}}{{r|Scheper|page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofre0003unse_a7f0/page/1549/mode/1up 1549]}}

In the New Testament Epistles, Paul refers to {{transliteration|grc|charisma}} or its plural {{transliteration|grc|charismata}} seven times in 1 Corinthians, written in Koine (or common) Greek around {{CE|54|link=y}}. He elaborates on his concepts with six references in Romans (c. 56). He makes three individual references in 2 Corinthians 56, 1 Timothy, and 2 Timothy 62–67. The seventeenth and only other mention of {{transliteration|grc|charisma}} is in 1 Peter.{{r|Potts|pages=23, 37, 43, 45}}<ref name="auto"/><ref name=Ebertz/><ref>{{cite book|title=New Catholic Encyclopedia|first=W.F.|last=Dicharry|chapter=Charism|publisher=Thomson/Gale|year=1967|volume=III|page=[https://archive.org/details/newcatholicencyc0003unse/page/460/mode/1up 460]}}</ref>

The gospels, written in the late first century, apply ''divinely conferred charisma'' to revered figures. Examples are accounts of Jesus' baptism and of his transfiguration, in which disciples see him as radiant with light, appearing together with Moses and Elijah. Another example is Gabriel's greeting to Mary as "full of grace".<ref name=Scheper/> In these and other instances early Christians designated certain individuals as possessing "spiritual gifts", and these gifts included "the ability to penetrate the neighbour to the bottom of his heart and spirit and to recognize whether he is dominated by a good or by an evil spirit and the gift to help him to freedom from his demon".<ref name=Benz>{{cite book|last=Benz|first=Ernst Wilhelm|chapter=The Roles of Christianity|title=The New Encyclopædia Britannica|volume=16|year=1986|page=306}}</ref>

Believers characterized their revered religious figures as having "a higher perfection… a special ''Charisma''".<ref name=Benz/> Then, with the establishment of the Christian Church, "the old charismatic gifts and free offerings were transformed into a hierarchical sacerdotal system".<ref>{{cite book|last=Troeltsch|first=Ernst|title=The Social Teachings of the Christian Churches|translator-first=Olive|translator-last=Wyon|publisher=Allen and Unwin|volume=1|orig-date=1911|date=1931|pages=99, 109}}</ref> The focus on the institution rather than divinely inspired individuals increasingly dominated religious thought and life, and that focus went unchanged for centuries.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Morse|first1=William|first2=Mary|last2=Morse|title=Harper's Dictionary of Contemporary Usage|publisher=Harper and Row|year=1985|page=110}}</ref>

In the 17th century church leaders, notably in the Latin tradition, accented "individual gifts [and] particular talents imparted by God or the Holy Spirit." The 19th century brought a shift in emphasis toward individual and spiritual aspects of charisma; Protestant and some Catholic theologians narrowed the concept to superlative, out-of-the-ordinary, and virtuoso gifts. Simultaneously, the term became alienated from the much wider meaning that early Christians had attached to it.{{r|Ebertz}} Still, the narrowed term projected back to the earlier period "A systematically reflected and highly differentiated understanding of charisma was often unconsciously infused into the Scriptures and writings of the church fathers, so that these texts were no longer read through the eyes of the authors".<ref>{{cite journal|last=Baumert|first=Norbert|title='Charisma' – Versuch einer Sprachregelung|language=de|journal=Philosophisch-Theologische|volume=66|year=1991|page=22}} Quoted in Ebertz, 2007, ''op. cit.'', p. 495</ref>

These dialectic meanings influenced changes in Pentecostalism in the late 19th century, and charismatic movements in some mainline churches in the mid-20th century. The discussion in the 21st Century Religion section explores what ''charisma'' means in these and other religious groups.

===Personality charisma=== {{See also|Charismatic authority}}

The basis for modern secular usage comes from German sociologist Max Weber. He discovered the term in the work of Rudolph Sohm, a German church historian whose 1892 ''Kirchenrecht''<ref>{{cite book|last=Sohm|first=Rudolf|title=Kirchenrecht|location=Leipzig|publisher=Duncher & Humblot|year=1892}}</ref> was immediately recognized in Germany as an epoch-making work.<ref name="auto"/> It also stimulated a debate between Sohm and leading theologians and religion scholars, which lasted more than twenty years and stimulated a rich polemical literature.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Smith|first=David Norman.|title=Faith, Reason, and Charisma: Rudolf Sohm, Max Weber, and the Theology of Grace|journal=Sociological Inquiry|volume=68|number=1|pages=32–60|year=1998|doi=10.1111/j.1475-682X.1998.tb00453.x }}</ref> That debate and literature had made ''charisma'' a popular term when Weber used it in ''The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism'' and in his ''Sociology of Religion''. Perhaps because he assumed that readers already understood the idea, Weber's early writings lacked definition or explanation of the concept. In the collection of his works, ''Economy and Society'', he identified the term as a prime example of action he labeled "value-rational," in distinction from and opposition to action he labeled "Instrumentally rational."<ref name=WeberES>{{cite book|last=Weber|first=Max|title=Economy and Society|publisher= Bedminster Press|year=1968|pages=24–25}}</ref> Because he applied meanings for ''charisma'' similar to Sohm, who had affirmed the purely charismatic nature of early Christianity,{{r|Scheper|page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofre0003unse_a7f0/page/1544/mode/1up 1544]}} Weber's ''charisma'' would have coincided with the ''divinely conferred charisma'' sense defined above in Sohm's work.

Weber introduced the ''personality charisma'' sense when he applied ''charisma'' to designate a form of authority. To explain charismatic authority, he developed his classic definition:<blockquote>Charisma is a certain quality of an individual personality by virtue of which he is set apart from ordinary men and treated as endowed with supernatural, superhuman, or at least specifically exceptional powers or qualities. These as such are not accessible to the ordinary person, but are regarded as of divine origin or as exemplary, and on the basis of them the individual concerned is treated as a leader.<ref name=WeberTSEO>{{cite book|last=Weber|first=Max|title=The Theory of Social and Economic Organization|translator-first1=A.M.|translator-last1=Henderson|translator-first2=Talcott|translator-last2=Parsons|publisher=Free Press|orig-year=1924|year=1947}}</ref>{{rp|328, 358ff}}</blockquote> Here Weber extends the concept of charisma beyond supernatural to superhuman and even to exceptional powers and qualities. Sociologist Paul Joosse examined Weber's famous definition, and found that:<blockquote>through simple yet profoundly consequential phrases such as "are considered" and "is treated", charisma becomes a relational, attributable, and at last a properly sociological concept.... For Weber, the locus of power is in the led, who actively (if perhaps unconsciously) invest their leaders with social authority.<ref name="auto"/></blockquote>

In other words, Weber indicates that it is followers who attribute powers to the individual, emphasizing that "the recognition on the part of those subject to authority" is decisive for the validity of charisma.{{r|WeberTSEO|page=359}}

Weber died in 1920, leaving "disordered, fragmentary manuscripts without even the guidance of a plan or table of the proposed contents". One unfinished manuscript contained his above quoted definition of ''charisma''.<ref name=MacRae>{{cite book|last=MacRae|first=Donald G.|title=Max Weber|publisher=Viking|year=1974|page=101}}</ref> It took over a quarter century for his work to be translated into English.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Weber, Max|title=Dictionary of the Social Sciences|editor-first=Craig|editor-last=Calhoun|publisher=Oxford University Press| year=2002|pages=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofsoci0000unse_e6d9/page/510/mode/2up 510]–512}}</ref> With regard to charisma, Weber's formulations are generally regarded as having revived the concept from its deep theological obscurity.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Turner|first=Stephen|title=Charisma Reconsidered|pages=5–26|journal=Journal of Classical Sociology|volume=3|number=5|year=2003|doi=10.1177/1468795X03003001692 |s2cid=220121939 }}</ref> However, even with the admirable translations and prefaces of his entire works, many scholars have found Weber's formulations ambiguous. For the past half-century they have debated the meaning of many Weberian concepts, including the meaning of ''charisma,'' the role of followers, and the degree of a supernatural component.<ref name=MacRae/><ref>{{multiref2 |1={{cite book|last=Hunt|first=Sonja M.|year=1984|chapter=The Role of Leadership in the Construction of Reality|pages=157–178|title=Leadership Multidisciplinary Perspectives|editor-first=Barbara|editor-last=Kellerman|publisher=Prentice-Hall}} |2={{cite book|last=Geertz|first=Clifford|chapter=Centers, Kings, and Charisma: Reflections on the Symbolics of Power|title=Culture and Its Creators|editor-first=Ben-David J.|editor-last=Clark|publisher=University of Chicago Press|pages=150–171|year=1977}} |3={{cite book|last=Rustow|first=Dankwart A.|chapter=The Study of Leadership|title=Philosophers and Kings: Studies in Leadership|editor-first=Dankwart A.|editor-last=Rustow|publisher=Braziller|year=1970|pages=10–16}} |4={{cite book |isbn=978-0-85745-329-7 |title=Charismatic Leadership and Social Movements: The Revolutionary Power of Ordinary Men and Women|last1=Stutje|first1=Jan Willem|date=2012|publisher=Berghahn Books }} }}</ref>

== Modern perspectives ==

More recent research has investigated specific behavior patterns that can lead observers to perceive charisma. Through studies of audio and video recordings of people considered charismatic and not, and through experiments, it has become clear that posture, gestures, and prosodic behaviors play important roles.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Niebuhr | first1 = Oliver | first2 = Jana | last2 = Voße| first3 = Alexander | last3 = Brem| title = What makes a charismatic speaker? A computer-based acoustic-prosodic analysis of Steve Jobs tone of voice | journal = Computers in Human Behavior | volume = 64 | year = 2016 | pages = 366–382 | doi = 10.1016/j.chb.2016.06.059 }}</ref><ref> {{cite journal | last1 = Schuller | first1 = Björn W.| title = Computational charisma—A brick by brick blueprint for building charismatic artificial intelligence | journal = Frontiers in Computer Science | volume = 5, 1135201 | year = 2023}}</ref> Moreover, some of these behaviors can be taught.<ref>{{cite book | last= Fox Cabane | first=Olivia| title = The Charisma Myth| date = 2013 | publisher = Portfolio}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last= Antonakis | first=John| title = Charisma can be taught. Tests of two interventions| journal = Academy of Management Learning & Education|volume = 10|year = 2011| issue=3| pages = 374–396| doi=10.5465/amle.2010.0012| url=https://serval.unil.ch/notice/serval:BIB_FDC9DF7BA052}}</ref>

==See also== * {{annotated link|Charis (name)}} * {{annotated link|Charismatic species}} * {{annotated link|Instrumental and value-rational action}} * {{annotated link|Rizz (slang)}} * {{annotated link|Political legitimacy}} * {{annotated link|Superficial charm}} * {{annotated link|Trait leadership}}

==References== {{Reflist|2}}

==External links== {{wiktionary|charisma}}

* {{cite web|last=Antonakis|first=John|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150418063507/http://www.tedxlausanne.com/talk/lets-face-it-charisma-matters|title=Let's face it: Charisma matters|archive-date=2015-04-18|website=TEDx Lausanne|url=http://www.tedxlausanne.com/talk/lets-face-it-charisma-matters|url-status=dead|date=2015-02-09}} * {{cite web|last=Flora|first=Carlin|date=2005-05-01|url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/200505/the-x-factors-success|title=The X-Factors of Success|website=Psychology Today}} * {{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050727085058/http://cbae.nmsu.edu/~dboje/teaching/338/charisma.htm|archive-date=2005-07-27|title=Max Weber and Charisma|url=http://cbae.nmsu.edu/~dboje/teaching/338/charisma.htm|url-status=dead}} * {{cite book|chapter-url=http://hirr.hartsem.edu/ency/charisma.htm|chapter=Charisma|first=Thomas|last=Robbin|title=Encyclopedia of Religion and Society|year=1998 |publisher=Rowman Altamira |editor-first=William H.|editor-last=Swatos|isbn=0-7619-8956-0}} * {{cite journal|last=Toth|first=Michael A.|url=https://web.pdx.edu/~tothm/essays/essays/toward_a_theory_of__the_routiniz.htm|title=Toward a Theory of the Routinization of Charisma|date=April 1972|journal=Rocky Mountain Social Science Journal|volume=9|number=2|pages=93–98}} * {{cite journal|url=https://www.apa.org/monitor/jan05/savoir.html|last=Greer|first=Mark|volume=36|number=1|journal=Monitor on Psychology|publisher=American Psychological Association|title=The Science of Savoir Faire|date=January 2005}} * {{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/thinkingallowed_20050126.shtml|title=Charismatic Cults|publisher=BBC Four|website=Thinking Allowed|date=26 January 2005}} * {{cite journal|title=Moses, Charisma, and Covenant|last=Rapoport|first=David C.|journal=Western Political Quarterly|volume=32|number=2|date=June 1979|pages=123–143|doi=10.2307/448172|jstor=448172 }} * {{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060628210910/http://whyfiles.org/205charisma/|archive-date=2006-06-28|title=The Character of Charisma|url=http://whyfiles.org/205charisma/|url-status=dead|date=2004-07-15}} * {{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/17/weekinreview/17zernike.html|title=The Charisma Mandate|newspaper=The New York Times|date=2008-02-17|first=Kate|last=Zernike}} * {{cite news|url=http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2008/07/20/charm_school/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081204090409/http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2008/07/20/charm_school/|archive-date=2008-12-04|title=Charm School: Scholars Unpack the Secrets of Charisma, and Suggest the Elusive Quality Can Be Taught|first=Mark|last=Oppenheimer|newspaper=The Boston Globe|date=2008-07-20}} *{{cite book |last=Bitar |first=Amer |date=2020 |title=Bedouin Visual Leadership in the Middle East: The Power of Aesthetics and Practical Implications |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X4oBEAAAQBAJ |publisher=Springer Nature |isbn=9783030573973}}

Category:Charismatic and Pentecostal Christianity Category:Anthropology of religion Category:Christian practices Category:Jewish practices Category:Max Weber Category:Religious terminology Category:Social concepts Category:Social influence Category:Spiritual gifts