You are the Messiah and I should know: Why Leadership is a Myth

by Justin Lewis-Anthony

Every human endeavour, from a primary school to the government, needs leadership. The Church believes itself to have a clear understanding of what constitutes Christian leadership, but advocates of leadership have been unable to give a clear, concise and universally accepted definition of the term. Justin Lewis-Anthony argues that our understanding of both secular ('managerial') and religious ('missional') leadership has been fatally compromised by the unconscious functioning of 'mythic' leadership, presented through the medium of the dominant culture of our own day, popular Hollywood film. We describe our leaders as if they should be collaborative, enabling, saints and/or expect them to show our enemies who is boss. We search for the 'great man' who will rescue us from all our problems through redemptive violence - within the Church, we talk about Jesus Christ but we expect John Wayne. This book shows how leadership is, at best, a 'contested concept' and at worst a dangerous, violent and totalitarian heresy.

320 pages, Paperback

First published April 11, 2013

Reviews

[Jonathan Rodebaugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This books was not necessarily what i expected, and although that is the case, i still find myself drawn to complete it. The funny part is that in the end it may be exactly what i expected, just a different route to get there. Either way i am enjoying my read and expanding my vocabulary. This book started out very technical with scholarly overtones. Early Lewis-Anthony appears to quote some "theologians" that i find less than integrous to orthodoxy. After the initial chapter or so, the book takes a very technical route that I found hard to follow unless i gave it my full on attention. Any distraction caused me to go back to the beginning and start over. Lewis-Anthony discusses the various leadership models and the mythos that surrounds them. Understanding these section is simultaneously tedious and necessary to the rest of the book. Near the halfway point, Lewis-Anthony dives into his thesis; that the mythos of leadership is not only naturally undefinable (what is leadership?), but is the "MacGuffin" of 20th century western thought. This started with Hollywood putting forth this idea in its earliest films. Nazi Germany took this concept and ran with it. Leadership, or the "Furherprinzip" was bolstered from third reich propaganda films to the masses of 1930's and 40's Germany. These films depicted Hitler as the unquestioned leader and Germany followed hook, line and sinker. Hollywood in turn, moved forward in a similar fashion. Lewis-Anthony puts forward several correlations between Nazi Propaganda films George Lucas and his Star Wars trilogy. He then analyzes the leadership mythos put forward in Frances Ford Coppala's Patton, Kubrick's Spartacus and Full Metal Jacket and Monty Python's Life of Brian. So far so good and very interesting. I am excited to finish this one...Updates to come upon completion.

[David Herbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very interesting take on leadership questioning the church's obsession with leadership. Leadership principles need scrutinising for their cultural influences - particularly westernised/Western models. His argument is worth following into the clearing he finds in films such as "The Way" and "of Gods and Men".