2023/08/08

Charisma - Wikipedia

Charisma - Wikipedia

Charisma

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Charisma (disambiguation).

Charisma (/kəˈrɪzmə/) is a personal quality of presence or charm that others find compelling.[1]

Scholars in sociology, political science, psychology, and management reserve the term for a type of leadership seen as extraordinary.[2][3] In these fields, the term "charisma" is used to describe a particular type of leader who uses "values-based, symbolic, and emotion-laden leader signaling".

In Christian theology, the term appears as charism, an endowment or extraordinary power given by the Holy Spirit.[4][5]

Etymology[edit]

The English term charisma is from the Greek χάρισμα (chárisma), which means "favor freely given" or "gift of grace".[2] The term and its plural χαρίσματα (charismata) derive from χάρις (charis), which means "grace" or indeed "charm" with which it shares the root. Some derivatives from that root (including "grace") have similar meanings to the modern sense of personality charisma, such as "filled with attractiveness or charm", "kindness", "to bestow a favor or service", or "to be favored or blessed".[6][7] Moreover, the ancient Greek dialect widely used in Roman times employed these terms without the connotations found in modern religious usage.[8] Ancient Greeks applied personality charisma to their gods; for example, attributing charm, beauty, nature, human creativity or fertility to goddesses they called Charites (Χάριτες).

Theologians and social scientists have expanded and modified the original Greek meaning into two distinct senses: personality charisma and divinely conferred charisma.

The meaning of charisma has become greatly diffused from its original divinely conferred meaning, and even from the personality charisma meaning in modern English dictionaries, which reduces to a mixture of charm and status. John Potts, who has extensively analyzed the term's history, sums up meanings beneath this diffused common usage:

Contemporary charisma maintains, however, the irreducible character ascribed to it by 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.[9]: 3 

History[edit]

Divinely conferred charisma[edit]

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 hen (favor) or the verb hanan (to show favor). The Greek term for charisma (grace or favor), and its root charis (grace) replaced the Hebrew terms in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible (the 3rd century BCE Septuagint). Throughout, "the paradigmatic image of the charismatic hero is the figure who has received God's favor".[10]: 1545  In other words, divinely conferred charisma[11] applied to highly revered figures.

Thus, Eastern Mediterranean Jews in the 1st century CE had notions of charis and charisma that embraced the range of meanings found in Greek culture and the spiritual meanings from the Hebrew Bible.[9]: 15  From this linguistic legacy of fused cultures, in 1 Corinthians, Paul the Apostle introduced the meaning that the Holy Spirit bestowed charism and charismata, "the gift of God's grace," upon individuals or groups. For Paul, "[t]here is a clear distinction between charisma and charis; charisma is the direct result of divine charis or grace."[9]: 36–37 [10]: 1549 

In the New Testament Epistles, Paul refers to charisma or its plural charismata seven times in 1 Corinthians, written in Koine (or common) Greek around 54 CE. 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 charisma is in 1 Peter.[9]: 23, 37, 43, 45 [2][8][12]

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".[10] 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".[13]

Believers characterized their revered religious figures as having "a higher perfection… a special Charisma".[13] Then, with the establishment of the Christian Church, "the old charismatic gifts and free offerings were transformed into a hierarchical sacerdotal system".[14] The focus on the institution rather than divinely inspired individuals increasingly dominated religious thought and life, and that focus went unchanged for centuries.[15]

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.[8] 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".[16]

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[edit]

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[17] was immediately recognized in Germany as an epoch-making work.[2] 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.[18] 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."[19] Because he applied meanings for charisma similar to Sohm, who had affirmed the purely charismatic nature of early Christianity,[10]: 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:

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.[20]: 328, 358ff 

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:

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.[2]

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.[20]: 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.[21] It took over a quarter century for his work to be translated into English.[22] With regard to charisma, Weber's formulations are generally regarded as having revived the concept from its deep theological obscurity.[23] 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.[21][24]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Stevenson, Angus; Lindberg, Christine A., eds. (2010). "charisma". New Oxford American Dictionary. Oxford University Press. p. 292.
    • "charisma". Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  2. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Joosse, Paul (2014). "Becoming a God: Max Weber and the social construction of charisma". Journal of Classical Sociology. 14 (3): 266–283. doi:10.1177/1468795X14536652. S2CID 143606190.
  3. ^ Antonakis, John; Fenley, Marika; Liechti, Sue (2011). "Can Charisma be Taught? Tests of Two Interventions" (PDF). Academy of Management Learning & Education. 10 (3): 374–396. doi:10.5465/amle.2010.0012.
  4. ^ "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.
  5. ^ "charisma". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (5th ed.). HarperCollins.
  6. ^ "charism, charisma, charismata, charisms". Oxford English Dictionary. Vol. III (Second ed.). 1989. p. 41.
  7. ^ Beekes, Robert S.P. (2010). Etymological Dictionary of Greek. Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series. Vol. 10/1. Brill. p. 1607.
  8. ^ Jump up to:a b c Ebertz, Michael N. (2007). "Charisma". In Betz, Hans Dieter; Browning, Don S.; Janowski, Bernd; Jüngel, Eberhard (eds.). Religion Past & Present. Vol. II. Brill. pp. 493–496.
  9. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Potts, John (2010). A History of Charisma. Palgrave Macmillan.
  10. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Scheper, George L. (2005). "Charisma". In Jones, Lindsay (ed.). Encyclopedia of Religion. Vol. 3 (Second ed.). Macmillan Reference.
  11. ^ Grabo, Allen; Spisak, Brian R.; Van Vugt, Mark (2017). "Charisma as signal: An evolutionary perspective on charismatic leadership". The Leadership Quarterly. 28 (4): 473–485. doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2017.05.001.
  12. ^ Dicharry, W.F. (1967). "Charism". New Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. III. Thomson/Gale. p. 460.
  13. ^ Jump up to:a b Benz, Ernst Wilhelm (1986). "The Roles of Christianity". The New Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 16. p. 306.
  14. ^ Troeltsch, Ernst (1931) [1911]. The Social Teachings of the Christian Churches. Vol. 1. Translated by Wyon, Olive. Allen and Unwin. pp. 99, 109.
  15. ^ Morse, William; Morse, Mary (1985). Harper's Dictionary of Contemporary Usage. Harper and Row. p. 110.
  16. ^ Baumert, Norbert (1991). "'Charisma' – Versuch einer Sprachregelung". Philosophisch-Theologische (in German). 66: 22. Quoted in Ebertz, 2007, op. cit., p. 495
  17. ^ Sohm, Rudolf (1892). Kirchenrecht. Leipzig: Duncher & Humblot.
  18. ^ Smith, David Norman. (1998). "Faith, Reason, and Charisma: Rudolf Sohm, Max Weber, and the Theology of Grace". Sociological Inquiry. 68 (1): 32–60. doi:10.1111/j.1475-682X.1998.tb00453.x.
  19. ^ Weber, Max (1968). Economy and Society. Bedminster Press. pp. 24–25.
  20. ^ Jump up to:a b Weber, Max (1947) [1924]. The Theory of Social and Economic Organization. Translated by Henderson, A.M.; Parsons, Talcott. Free Press.
  21. ^ Jump up to:a b MacRae, Donald G. (1974). Max Weber. Viking. p. 101.
  22. ^ Calhoun, Craig, ed. (2002). "Weber, Max". Dictionary of the Social Sciences. Oxford University Press. pp. 510–512.
  23. ^ Turner, Stephen (2003). "Charisma Reconsidered". Journal of Classical Sociology. 3 (5): 5–26. doi:10.1177/1468795X03003001692. S2CID 220121939.
  24. ^ Hunt, Sonja M. (1984). "The Role of Leadership in the Construction of Reality". In Kellerman, Barbara (ed.). Leadership Multidisciplinary Perspectives. Prentice-Hall. pp. 157–178.
    • Geertz, Clifford (1977). "Centers, Kings, and Charisma: Reflections on the Symbolics of Power". In Clark, Ben-David J. (ed.). Culture and Its Creators. University of Chicago Press. pp. 150–171.
    • Rustow, Dankwart A. (1970). "The Study of Leadership". In Rustow, Dankwart A. (ed.). Philosophers and Kings: Studies in Leadership. Braziller. pp. 10–16.
    • Stutje, Jan Willem (2012). Charismatic Leadership and Social Movements: The Revolutionary Power of Ordinary Men and Women. ISBN 978-0-85745-329-7.
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[인문의 길] 인문학공동체에서 불교학교를 연 까닭은

[인문의 길] 인문학공동체에서 불교학교를 연 까닭은

[인문의 길] 인문학공동체에서 불교학교를 연 까닭은
입력2022.09.01

인문학 공동체에서 하는 공부는 이른바 문사철과 외국어가 주류입니다. 그러나 막상 공동체를 시작하고 보니 하고 싶은 것들이 많아졌습니다. 피아노 연주, 작곡, 드로잉, 연극, 집짓기, 풀과 나무, 목공, 심지어 수학이나 과학 공부 모임도 꾸리고 싶었습니다. 한 지붕 아래에서 그리스도교와 불교를 깊이 공부하는 것도 그 가운데 하나였습니다.


김종락 대안연구공동체 대표결국 신학자를 모셔 희랍어 히브리어 성서 읽기를 하는 한편 스님을 모셔 도심 속의 불교강원을 개설했지요. 성직자나 수행자의 전유물처럼 여겨지는 것들을 우리도 공부해보자는 것이었습니다. 특히 불교강원에는 당시 조계종 불학연구소 소장이던 원철 스님을 비롯해 화엄학림 학장을 지냈던 법인 스님 등 쟁쟁한 스님들이 참여하면서 적잖은 사람들이 모여들었습니다.

큰 꿈을 안고 닻을 올렸으나 문제가 없지 않았습니다. 지속성이었습니다. 유명 스님들은 생각보다 바빴고 직장인이 긴 공부를 이어가는 것 또한 예상외로 어려웠습니다. 처음 강의를 맡았던 스님들이 종단의 주요 소임을 맡으면서 교수진이 바뀌자 참여자들도 빠른 속도로 흩어졌습니다. 대책이 필요했습니다.

이런 가운데 만난 분이 명법 스님이었습니다. 해인사 국일암에서 출가한 수행자이자 운문승가대학 명성 스님에게 전강을 받은 학승, 서울대에서 학위를 받은 학자였지요. 서울대, 홍익대, 동국대에서 미학과 불교를 강의하며 전통과 현대의 소통을 꾀하고 21세기 불교의 새 역할을 모색하고 있었으니 공동체 선생으로 더할 나위 없었습니다. <유마경>을 시작으로 <미란다왕문경> <중론> <금강경> <능엄경> 등의 경전 강의를 이어갔습니다. 스님 강의의 특징은 수행을 병행하는 것이었습니다. 책을 읽고 강의를 들으며 토론하는 공부가 머리를 채우는 것이었다면 수행은 삶을 변화시키는 공부였습니다.

그래도 아쉬움은 있었습니다. 경전 공부에 매달리다 보니 나무는 보되 숲을 보기가 어려웠지요. 고심 끝에 현대어로 쓰이거나 번역된 책으로 불교 전반을 빠르고 체계적으로 공부하는 2년 과정의 ‘명법 스님 불교학교’를 열었습니다. 초기불교에서 대승불교로 이어지는 불교사를 통사적으로 공부하면서 불교의 다양한 수행과 실천, 이론의 발달 과정을 읽고 사유하고 토론하는 학교였습니다.

이 학교에서 중요한 것은 책상머리 이론이 아니었습니다. 국내외에서 생성된 다양한 텍스트를 접하며 스스로 사유하고 토론하고 실천하는 노력이었습니다. 목적이 이렇다 보니 스님 한 분이 강의와 학문 지도, 수행 모두를 담당하는 융합적·통전적·전인격적 공부 방식이 큰 장점으로 부각되었습니다. 1인 학교는 또한 초기불교, 중관, 유식, 천태, 화엄, 선, 티베트 불교 등등을 각각의 전통이나 이론에 따라 분리시켜 이해하는, 불교학의 분과성을 극복하기에 좋은 방법이기도 했습니다.

그사이, 서울에 머물던 스님은 화엄탑사 구미 불교대학으로, 해인사 국일암으로 수행처를 옮겼지요. 하지만 강의는 놓지 않았습니다. 매주 금요일 상경해 밤늦게까지 강의한 뒤 이튿날 산사로 복귀하는 강행군을 이어갔습니다. 이 와중에 닥친 코로나19는 큰 위기였지만 또한 기회이기도 했습니다. 코로나19로 인해 일반화한 온라인 강의 덕에 스님은 산사에서, 참여자는 집에서 공부하는 것이 가능해졌습니다. 국내외 각지의 사람들이 매일 새벽 온라인으로 만나 동안거, 하안거를 진행한 것은 이전에는 상상도 못하던 일이었습니다.

공동체의 공부가 대개 그렇듯이 이 학교의 목적은 단순히 더 많은 지식을 축적하는 것이 아닙니다. 더 나은 삶이 무엇이며 어떻게 살아야 하는지에 대한 다양한 방법들을 읽고 토론하고 성찰하는 것입니다. 성찰은 실천까지 포함합니다. 결국 이 학교의 목적은 ‘지금, 여기’ 우리의 마음과 몸을 변화시키는 것입니다. 더 나은 삶, 더 좋은 세계를 만드는 일에 나서는 겁니다.

여름이 지나고 있습니다. 명법 스님과 몇몇 분들에게 이번 가을은 제2기 불교학교를 새로 시작하며 마음을 다지는 계절이기도 합니다.


김종락 대안연구공동체 대표


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