Running Head: BIBLICAL FOUNDATIONS OF LEADERSHIP 1
Biblical Foundations of Leadership
Tricia Williams
CLED 700
January 29, 2018
Dr. Allen England
BIBLICAL FOUNDATIONS OF LEADERSHIP 2
Biblical Theology: Authority of Scripture -Understanding Leadership
Augsburg, David. (2015). Dissident Discipleship: A Spirituality of Self-Surrender, Love of God,
and Love of Neighbor.
Augsburg describes what that would look like as he describes eight practices of dissident
disciples (such as concrete service and habitual humility,) practices which take
discipleship seriously. This article presents an inquiry into how the understanding of
Kegan and Lahey's immunity to change process can be enhanced through examining it in
relation to two other theoretical lenses, the work of David Bohm and the Arbinger
Institute. This is taken as an exemplar of the conception of awareness-based practices for
leadership development which is introduced as the larger focus of the article. A brief
review of literature in relevant fields is presented to situate the present work. A set of
methodological considerations is described along with the process for the analysis of
textual extracts from the three sources. This is followed by a description of ten themes
emerging from this analysis. These themes are examined for interconnections and key
insights. The discussion centers around two elements. First is the wisdom of self
transcendence in relation to the immunity to change process. Second is how the emerging
view of awareness can contribute to understanding leadership development. Concluding
reflections summarize the findings and identify limitations of the inquiry.
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Badgat, R. J. (2017). A voice from the margins: Investigating the rationale on the quest for
female ordination. Verbum Et Ecclesia, 37(1), 1-8.
Discussions surrounding women's ordination reached a peak with the 60th General
Conference Session (GCS 2015) of the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Church. A report
compiled by a section of delegates from the East-Central Africa Division - Biblical
Research Committee indicated that this continent was not yet ready to ordain women as
pastors. Considering the report, this article aims to investigate the rationale of such a
stark decision. Firstly, the report shows that African Adventist women theologians were
omitted from the discussions a lack of good will from the church leadership towards the
females as most of the membership. Secondly, the decision against ordination of women
is suspect and biblically inconclusive.
Carroll, Jackson. (2018). God’s Potters: Pastoral Leadership and the Shaping of Congregations.
Grand Rapids: William Eerdmans Publishing, 296 pp.
Leadership in the ministry of the church has been a debatable subject in terms of ability,
merit, gender and so on. More so now as the question of leadership in the church has
been engendered by women motivated by equality, dignity and integrity. This article
endeavors to set the matter in perspective taking cues from the biblical, traditional,
cultural and historical roots. In the past, various views on Women in Ministry or Women
in Leadership in the church have been grouped under the Complementary camp and the
Egalitarian camp. There have been many discussions and contributions by scholars from
both camps. In this article, I propose an 'Interdependent View on Women in Leadership.'
This view argues that husband is the leader of the family, and this hierarchy is
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transcultural. In the church, women can teach, preach, and be ordained, if they have the
calling, character, and corresponding spiritual gifts recognized by the church. The same
principle applies to male ministers. The idea of interdependence between male and
female is drawn from 1 Corinthians 11:11, "In the Lord, however, woman is not
independent of man, nor is man independent of woman" (NIV). Rather than striving for a
consensus between the Complementary and Egalitarian positions, it may be better to have
more views on Women in Leadership, so that discussions on the topic can go beyond the
diametrical exchanges between the two camps, into a multitude of thoughts and ideas that
can enrich each other's understanding. Even though different scholars, pastors, churches,
and Christian organizations may have different views on Women in Leadership, we can
still respect each other's conviction and labor together or separately for the gospel, when
we have the Great Commandment and the Great Commission in focus in our Christian
ministry.
Gardner, Howard. (2013). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences, New York:
Basic Books, 466 pp.
Even in cases in which key texts of the New Testament have been debated as to their
significance for or against the Petrine primacy, reliance is usually grounded in the
interpretations of those texts by the church fathers. Only in rare instances do we find
critical exegetical analyses based on the contextual witness of the biblical texts
themselves in the manner of international biblical scholarship. And even in such cases
one can detect an inclination toward what is perceived to be the normative interpretation
of the church fathers. The New Testament writings, in part because of numerous
controversies within the early Christian communities, attest to an immense urgency
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toward unity. The concept of God's messianic people, the powerful images of the church
as the body of Christ and the temple of the Holy Spirit, as well as the corporate
significance of the acts of baptism and the Lord's Supper all express an intrinsic
theological drive toward unity.
Markson, Margaret. (2016). Leaders Who Last; Sustaining Yourself and Your Ministry. New
York: Seabury Books
In looking at the wisdom literature and the Psalms, Webber ding finds that leadership is
more than leaders at work to accomplish something but "a means of knowing God," even
entering the ecosystem of God's larger purpose. and Petersen points out that while the
prophets decried the spiritual and social conditions of God's people, the Day of the Lord
would bring a stunning paradoxical reversal that included social justice denied by corrupt
elders. the New testament chapters are equally rich. Nehemiah, women in the Old
testament, Jesus, Peter, Paul, and Barnabas. all of these chapters are full of insights for
Christian leaders, but Jo Ann Davidson's stands out as the only one that highlights
some of the amazing contributions of women leaders: courage and vision casting through
song (Deborah), leadership as learning for a royal seeker for wisdom (Queen of Sheba),
speaking truth to power based on scriptural authority (Huldah the prophetess), and the
sense of timing and death-defying courage of Esther.
Martin, Roger. (2010). The Opposable Mind. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Leadership in the Christian community for Paul is a function that is at the service of the
community, and this leadership is exercised as servants of Christ and importantly here, as
stewards of God's mysteries. The mysteries of which Christian leaders are stewards Paul
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has already named earlier in his letter as the hidden wisdom of God (1 Cor 2:7). This
once hidden wisdom is nothing less than the gospel that is, the revelation of God's
salvation that is Jesus Christ. Christian leaders are to hold carefully the good news given
expression in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Also, for Paul, this form of
stewardship is qualified with the characteristic of trustworthiness.
McNeal, Reggie. (2015). The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church. San
Francisco: John Wiley and Sons.
This one really hits us between the eyes with how what questions we ask. Specifically,
he deals with: The Collapse of the Church Culture, the shift from Church Growth to
Kingdom Growth, The New Reformation - Releasing God's People for Service, The
Return to Spiritual Formation, The Shift from Planning to Preparation, and The Rise of
Apostolic Leadership. We often think of Christian leadership in terms of servant
leadership and the related concept of stewardship. If viewed from a limited understanding
of what it means to be stewards and servants, these ideas can easily be reduced to a
simplistic formula of how to behave and what to say around other persons. This is all well
and good until you place the Christian in the middle of leading an organization. We must
face the brutal fact that at this point the question of what it means to be servants and
stewards becomes a little murky and at times complicated. It raises the thorny issue of the
nature of true integrity.
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Rexburg, K. (2015). The Missional Leader: Equipping Your Church to Reach a Changing World.
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
A very good assessment of the need for a change in the way pastors serve as
congregational leaders in the 21st century. From its inception in the Enlightenment to this
day, modern Hebrew poetry conveys a deep connection to the Bible that manifests itself
in a variety of ways. An in-depth understanding of this connection--including its various
expressions in content and language, its causes, its purposes, and its manifestations in all
the literary genres, in each generation and for each individual writer would require
extensive research that could profitably occupy many scholars. Nonetheless, even with
the limited research that I have conducted, focusing on the place of the Bible in Hebrew
poetry from the generation of national renaissance to the present time, the substantial
anthology of poems that I am preparing for this purpose demonstrate clearly that modern
Hebrew poetry constantly returns to the Bible, and that the Bible's oft-lamented decline in
stature in Israeli society is nowhere to be seen.
Snagging, K. (2018). The Power of Asset Mapping. The Alban Institute.
A tool (like Appreciative Inquiry) for helping the organization surface the full range of its
assets and then combine those assets in creative ways that lead to a strategic plan. From
its inception in the Enlightenment to this day, modern Hebrew poetry conveys a deep
connection to the Bible that manifests itself in a variety of ways. An in depth
understanding of this connection including its various expressions in content and
language, its causes, its purposes, and its manifestations in all the literary genres, in each
generation and for each individual writer would require extensive research that could
BIBLICAL FOUNDATIONS OF LEADERSHIP 8
profitably occupy many scholars. Nonetheless, even with the limited research that I have
conducted, focusing on the place of the Bible in Hebrew poetry from the generation of
national renaissance to the present time, the substantial anthology of poems that I am
preparing for this purpose demonstrate clearly that modern Hebrew poetry constantly
returns to the Bible, and that the Bible's oft-lamented decline in stature in Israeli society
is nowhere to be seen.
Sexton, P. (2012). Cracking Your Congregation’s Code. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Outlines a process for congregational renewal that involves identifying the core values of
the congregation and establishing objectives based upon those values. The lessons from
his leadership that are applicable to modern corporate leaders are identified and related to
management development and education settings. Using Moses' journey toward and
during his leadership, a model for present-day leadership is proposed. Examples are given
to anchor this model in biblical texts and reference it to modern leadership thoughts,
spirituality and practical wisdom. While the leadership of Moses is known and widely
discussed within Jewish learning, it has not yet found a wider, secular audience.
However, Moses' leadership characteristics present an opportunity to reflect on how
creative tensions between different leadership traits could be reconciled and an ethical
model of leadership could be applied.
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Biblical Theology: Authority of Scripture
Baxter, K. (2018). Christianity for the Rest of Us; How the Neighborhood Church is
Transforming the Faith. San Francisco, CA: Harper.
Christ and the authority of Scripture, as critical as they are, do not provide a complete
development or conception of divine authority in themselves. Without the authority of the
Spirit these other authorities cannot be "felt" or realized on a practical level. Baxter
provides examples in church history specifically those periods marked by tendencies
toward intellectualism or formalism to illustrate the resulting deficiencies that followed
the church's neglect of the Spirit. The final effect is that the church is authority that is, her
display of Christ's authority and Scripture's authority in the world often goes unnoticed in
the surrounding culture.
Emerson, Michael and Smith, Christian. Divided by Faith, Evangelical Religion and the
Problem of Race in America. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Presents research showing how Americans continue to perpetuate a racialized society, one
in which race defines and separates how we live and suggests some possible approaches
toward a different society. It is important to note that claims of inerrancy are directed
toward what Scripture affirms and asserts rather than information that is merely
accurately reported. The Bible does correctly record false statements by ungodly people
(the comforters of Job) and even the words of Satan (Genesis 3:1–5). The biblical writers
also on occasion quote from noncanonical and no inspired writings, which would show
the truthfulness of that quoted but not extend authoritativeness to the source (Jude’s use
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of the Assumption of Moses and the Book of Enoch). Likewise, every act recorded in
Scripture is not thereby to be considered in keeping with God’s divine order.
Gale, R. (2018). Conflicts of law: Reconsidering the influence of religion on law in
Massachusetts bay. Numen, 43(2), 139.
The purpose of all of this is called exegesis, which simply means reading “out of the
original.” We are trying to find in the scripture what the Spirit has placed there, with the
human failings, including our own, as much as possible, pulled away. We are only
looking for what is there, however challenging and surprising that may be. Our study may
take us some distance from where we originally thought it would lead, however. The
opposite of exegesis is a dreadful thing, but we are all guilty of it sometimes. It is called
eisegesis, and it means reading “into the original.” We do this when we know what God
thinks about something (because we think so ourselves!), and we look for Bible passages
to support that view. Christians have performed astonishing acts of Biblical contortion
when we stoop to eisegesis.
Kirtman, M. (2017). Adolf Schlatter on scripture as galenite: Remedy for a hypertensive debate?
Scottish Journal of Theology, 69(1), 81-94.
It is important to note that claims of inerrancy are directed toward what Scripture affirms
and asserts rather than information that is merely accurately reported. The Bible does
correctly record false statements by ungodly people (the comforters of Job) and even the
words of Satan (Genesis 3:1–5). The biblical writers also on occasion quote from
noncanonical and non-inspired writings, which would show the truthfulness of that
quoted but not extend authoritativeness to the source (Jude’s use of the Assumption of
BIBLICAL FOUNDATIONS OF LEADERSHIP 11
Moses and the Book of Enoch). Likewise, every act recorded in Scripture is not thereby
to be considered in keeping with God’s divine order.
Leach, P. (2018). Authority of Scripture and Leadership Developments. San Francisco: Jossey-
Bass.
As modern authors often do, the biblical writers used the language of appearance to
describe their world. That is, they wrote from their perspective and not in technical terms.
So, for example, they could talk (as moderns still do) about the sun “rising” or “setting”
and be fully truthful. About miracles, the writers tell us what they saw and experienced
without trying to explain the mystery in scientific terms. So, for example, the miracle of
the crossing of the Red Sea is reported matter-of-factly, “the Lord drove the sea back with
a strong east wind and turned it into dry land” (Exodus 14:21–31). Other Old and New
Testament miracles were likewise reported just as they were observed. The writers report
the mighty acts of God which they experienced and attribute those acts to His gracious
intervention. Their goal in writing is to call their readers to the same faith they
exemplified in their mighty God.
Mullen, N. (2018). "By the working of the holy spirit": The crisis of authority in the Christian
churches. Anglican Theological Review, 88(1), 5-24.
For centuries, as history dictates, it seems the only authority Christians have known has
been that of the physical, utilizing armies and physical weapons of war, as well as
political structures to execute this carnal authority. The early church understood and
exercised the authority of the believer, and even then, their authority seemed to be
exercised in part. With the ending of early church history, the beginning of a religious
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history and a type of dark ages began for the church (although there has always been
isolated outpourings of true spiritual revelation). Political and legalistic power began
within the church.
Perry, S. (2018). Scripture, time, and authority among early disciples of Christ. Church
History, 85(4), 762-783.
An author’s selection and ordering of events by theme (and not merely by chronology)
does not necessitate that the author is being dishonest. We can observe, for example, that
the four Gospels are each largely chronological, but none claims to be exactly
chronological. They each begin in the beginning albeit different beginnings, depending
upon their different purposes. And they each end at the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Nevertheless, none claims that each individual story is told in exact chronological order,
and we should not expect it. In fact, the thematic ordering in the Gospels is well noted.
One famous example is found in comparing the accounts of Jesus being tempted (Matt
4:1–11 and Luke 4:1–13). While both report the same three temptation stories, they place
the three in differing orders. Using the more sequential connecting words “then” and
“again” (tote and Palin), Matthew lists the three temptations in the order: bread making
temple jumping Satan worshipping. Luke, however, lists the temptations in a different
order: bread making Satan worshipping temple jumping. But there is no contradiction
here when we notice that, with an apparent desire to end the list with a climatic emphasis
on the temple in Jerusalem (a thematic concern for Luke), Luke uses the no sequencing
words “and” and “but” (kai and de) to connect the three items. All this to say, we must
not wrongly insist that thematic accounts are intended to be chronological.
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The authority of scripture: Normative or incidental? (2015). Theology Today, 49(3), 376.
The Christian faith stands out as a divine revelation from God and not as a human
speculation about God. Christianity affirms that God has revealed himself to human
beings. This God is knowable. Thus, we see that the authority of Scripture is derived
from its origin, God. Scripture, as the Word of God, becomes a central element in
understanding biblical inspiration. After all, inspiration really boils down to the claim that
God having originated the Word, he spoke it via human authors, and that this Word bears
the veracity and constancy in accordance with what He wanted written in it. Thus, a
healthy theological understanding of the doctrine of biblical inspiration should espouse
the notion of the co-authorship of the Bible. The human experiences recorded in the Bible
reflect human literary skills, depicting a human theoretical or cultural framework from
which they were able to rationalize, analyses, and interpret those experiences and make
meaning out of them under the influence of the Spirit of God. We admit and deliberately
acknowledge that the human stories or experiences recorded in the Bible reflect a
specific, limited cultural perspective of its human agents, and yet not restricted to that one
culture.
Wolver, E. (2018). Field Guide to Historical Considerations. Louisville: Westminster-John
Knox Press.
The age of rationalism leveled its attack against the application of inspiration to the
minutia, that is, the small details, of the Bible. In the spirit of the Renaissance, linguistic
and textual studies flourished. The rationalistic approach suggested that if errors could be
demonstrated to exist in the text of the Scriptures, the whole doctrine of inspiration would
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crumble. This kind of thinking ignited a rash of claims that the Bible was full of errors,
its critics hoping thereby to destroy the whole doctrine of inspiration. The response to the
charges that the Scriptures are filled with error is first to appeal to the claims of Scripture
itself as has been done in this paper. If we accept that the Scriptures are the Word of God,
as clearly stated in the biblical text, that Word must take precedence over our
rationalizations. The Scriptures are inerrant because they are inspired of God not inspired
because they are inerrant. The first approach is biblical and leads to a correct view of
inspiration and infallibility; the second approach is rationalistic and opens the door to
human speculations.
Zander, C. (2017). Do We Have to Believe That? Canon and Extra-Canonical Sources
Belief. Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 50(1), 79-136,138,277.
The common study of the sources of authority show that the church cannot exist without,
beyond, or above authority. The church sustains the authority of God. And here comes the
clash with the secular world. Discovering that sources of authority are inseparable from
earthly life, Christians must learn how to bridge this clash without either rejecting the
secular world or adjusting their principles to those alien to the Christian faith. The task is
not easy. Studying various sources of authority of the Christian faith ecumenically helps
Christians with this difficult task of bringing Christian virtues into the secular world or
giving a common witness.
