Charisms and the Holy Spirit's Activity in the Body of Christ: An Exegetical-theological Study of 1 Corinthians 12,4-11 and Romans 12,6-8

The task of understanding Paul's theology of charisms presents one with a number of difficulties because not all the uses of the word charisma in the Pauline corpus offer the same perspective. This dissertation is dedicated to an exegetical-theological study of 1 Cor 12, 4-11 and Rom 12, 6-8, two important passages where the Apostle Paul develops most fully his idea of charisms in connection with his concept of the Church as the body of Christ. This work seeks to interpret exegetically those Pauline passages that deal with charisma in order to arrive at a sound interpretation of his teaching on spiritual gifts. The author pays particular attention to the role of the Holy Spirit in distributing these gifts to believers. Paul Kariuki Njiru,1963, after his secondary education he first entered St. Joseph's seminary and then St. Thomas Aquinas seminary, Nairobi. In 1991 he was awarded a Bachelor's degree in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Urbanian University. Ordained priest in 1993, he was awarded an S.T.L. (1999) and an S.T.D. (2002) in Biblical Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University.