Chrisma

[Artimi]

(as per Compact Oxford English Dictionary 2005 Edition)

 

chrisma:

Noun:

1 attractiveness or charm that can inspire admiration or enthusiasm in other people

2 a special gift given by God

charismatic:

adjective:

1 haveing a charm that can inspire admiration in other people

2 relating to a Christian movement that empasizes special gifts from God, such a healing of the sick

 

Reading these definitions was an eye opener.

 

When referring to a leader's chrisma or charismatic attributes in this modern world, the second definition in each case seems lacking.

 

Therefore we are left with 'charm'.

 

from the same dictionary

 

Charm:

noun:

1 The power or quality of delighting or fascination others.

2. a small ornament worn on a nceklaceor bracelet

3. an object, act, or saying believed to have magical power.

verb:

1 delight greatly

2. use one's charm in order to influence someone

 

Does a leader elected/appointed (whatever) because of his charisma have feet of clay.

Edited February 21, 2009 by Artimi

[Ursus]

chrisma:

Noun:

1 attractiveness or charm that can inspire admiration or enthusiasm in other people

2 a special gift given by God

charismatic:

adjective:

1 haveing a charm that can inspire admiration in other people

 

All of which certainly describes Charisma.

[Nephele]

chrisma:

Noun:

1 attractiveness or charm that can inspire admiration or enthusiasm in other people

2 a special gift given by God

charismatic:

adjective:

1 haveing a charm that can inspire admiration in other people

 

All of which certainly describes Charisma.

 

Ooo, Charisma Carpenter.

 

And, as another aside, "Charisma" is a popular name choice of ecdysiasts.

 

-- Nephele

[caesar novus]

Does a leader elected/appointed (whatever) because of his charisma have feet of clay.

Yes, for example the most charismatic John Kennedy seems to have been a pretty bad president. Some say even his main accomplishment in winning the Cuban missile crises was a actually a loss because his concession to USSR that the US would forever work to prevent Castro's overthrow by any third party, which would have likely been attempted umpteen times by now.

 

The most ambitious theory of charisma yet - a theory that helps explain all the other theories - was described last year in the book "It," by Joseph Roach, professor of English and theater studies at Yale. What people are responding to in charismatics, Roach writes, "is the power of apparently effortless embodiment of contradictory qualities simultaneously: strength and vulnerability, innocence and experience, and singularity and typicality among them."

Touching on the religious issues raised by your dictionary, some of the charismatic US presidents may have been chosen for their perceived religiosity as much as for charm. Put aside those on the right, which tend to be religious and charmless. On the left, the candidate pool tends more towards charm and agnosticism. The strange thing is that successful candidates on the left seem to be favored for their plausible religious connections. Even if it is not one favored by the majority, like JFK's catholicism, and Obama's loony church of racism. Bill Clinton was another standout from the candidate pool of the left in having Baptist associations (don't ask then why not Hillary, having the charm of fingernails scraping a blackboard).

Edited February 24, 2009 by caesar novus