Charisms and Cultural Innovation in the History of the Church

Abstract

Charisms are interventions of the Spirit in the history of the Church. Situated between the Christ event and new beginning of the eschaton, they guarantee what is new in the gospel. At the same time as throwing light upon the mystery of God, they generate a new capacity to read the needs of the Church and of civic society, and with that they offer appropriate responses which in turn demonstrate their innovative value for society and culture. The present article seeks to explore this by looking at four historic transitions: from the world of Rome to the mediaeval world with Benedict of Nursia; from manorial life to freedom of movement with Dominic of Guzman and Francis of Assisi; from ancient to renaissance culture with Ignatius of Loyola; from agrarian to industrial society with the great constellations of charisms in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.