Spiritual gift
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Religious meaning
A charism (plural: charismata) in Greek means 'GIFT OF GRACE'. This is mentioned in Rom 12:6. It is a power whose source is the Holy Spirit. The nature of charism is spiritual ability, endowment and power, and the purpose of charism is service or ministry. It believed to be a freely given gift by the grace of God.
These gifts are given mainly to build the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:8). Some of these gifts are called Isaiahan Gifts. These are (i) Wisdom (ii) Understanding (iii) Knowledge (iv) Counsel (v) Fortitude (vi) Fear of the Lord (vii) Piety.
The Charismatic gifts are: (i) REVELATIONAL GIFTS- Word of Wisdom and knowledge, discernment of Spirits, (ii) SIGN GIFTS or POWER GIFTS: Faith, Gifts of Healing and Working of Miracles (iii) WORD GIFTS: Prophecy, Tongues, Teaching and Preaching.
These gifts are to be used mainly to minister to the people of God.
Social meaning
The word is also used in social psychology in secular circumstances, and takes the meaning of personal influence on other people individually or as a group.
Religious orders (generally Catholic sponsored orders) use the word to describe their spiritual orientation and any special characteristics of their mission or values that might be exhibited because of the vows that they have taken and the orientation of the order to which they belong. An example might be the works of a teaching order as compared with that of a missionary order or one devoted to care of the poor or the sick.
References
See also
- Charisma
- Charismatic (Christians)
- Spiritual gift
- Barakah (Islamic/Sufi term for the same concept)
- Charismatic authority