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Biblical Leadership: Theology for the Everyday Leader
Biblical Leadership takes the best of evangelical scholarship to make the leadership lessons of Scripture tangible for today's readers. All contributors are biblical scholars who not only think seriously about the texts covered in their individual chapters, but have committed their lives to teaching and living the truths therein.
This volume walks through the sections of the Bible, gleaning insights from each biblical writer. Every chapter analyzes the original setting of the writing, extrapolates the leadership principles in the text, and provides advice on applying that theology of leadership. Presented in everyday language understandable to both professionals and practitioners, these lessons will equip current and upcoming leaders to make a Christlike impact.
This volume walks through the sections of the Bible, gleaning insights from each biblical writer. Every chapter analyzes the original setting of the writing, extrapolates the leadership principles in the text, and provides advice on applying that theology of leadership. Presented in everyday language understandable to both professionals and practitioners, these lessons will equip current and upcoming leaders to make a Christlike impact.
- GenresLeadership
544 pages, Hardcover
Published November 28, 2017
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March 18, 2018
Summary: An effort, book by book, to compile the a biblical theology of leadership, written by a team of scholars specializing in study of these texts.
When one surveys Christian publications on the subject of leadership, many seem drawn more from the world of business or the military, with what seems to be a veneer of biblical texts that support, or at least sound like the principles being enunciated. This begs the question of whether there is anything distinctive about biblical leadership? Is the leadership of God's people in any way different because of the character of God, and the work of Christ, as they have been disclosed to us in scripture?
The editors and the contributors to this text would affirm this, and that the place for us to start, in developing our theology and practice of leadership, is the data of scripture, gathered from Genesis to Revelation. And that is what this work sets out to do. It is not organized by leadership principles or practices, but rather by the organization of the Bible. The contributors were selected for their scholarship on the particular portion of scripture on which they were asked to write.
Both Old and New Testament sections begin with "concept studies" considering the words and concepts used around the concept of "leadership" in the Hebrew and Greek text. Then, subsequent chapters explore books (for example Judges) or sections of scripture (the Penteteuch, the Synoptics). Occasionally, chapters would zoom in on a particular text, and I thought these were among the gems in the volume. Two examples of these were a study of "The 'Shepherd' as a Biblical Metaphor: Leadership in Psalm 23" by Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. and Stanley E. Porter's article on "Conflict Resolution: Leadership and the Jerusalem Council." The principles Porter derives from this study are gold:
1. Confront a Problem Early
2. Solicit Widespread Opinion
3. Welcome Diversity of Opinion
4. Render a Clear Decision
5. Impose the Minimum, not the Maximum
6. Seek Scriptural Guidance and Confirmation
This both preaches and practices well! William D. Mounce does something similar in his commentary on the leadership passages within the Pastoral Epistles.
Most of the chapters focus on particular books. A challenge with this approach is reading into the text what is not there or what was intended. Different scholars noted this and took the approach of recognizing the main theme or purpose of the book, and relating observations about leadership, God's or people's, good or bad, to those themes. One place where this was done especially well, I thought was Mark Allen and Dickson Ngama's essay on Daniel that observed the theme of power of Yahweh running through the book followed by seven important leadership lessons. Another example was Edwin M. Yamauchi's study of leadership in Nehemiah that begins with situating the book in the canon, and in its historical setting, and then observes in successive chapters the character of Nehemiah's leadership as:
1. A man of responsibility
2. A man of prayer
3. A man who was rightly motivated (by God's glory)
4. A man of vision
5. A man of action and cooperation
6. A man of compassion
7. A man who triumphed over opposition
Perhaps one of the most important essays that explored the heart of Christian leadership was W. Hall Harris III's on "Leading Through Weakness, Vulnerability, and Self-Sacrifice: Leadership in the Gospel of John." This and other essays engaged the notion of servant leadership, not contesting it but showing the call of servant leaders to suffer, become vulnerable, and in various ways, die, while yet leading, bringing a Christ-centered focus to this concept, and a call to leadership formed by the glory of the cross.
There is so much more in this collection than space permits comment upon. The intent of the authors is not primarily to offer preaching or teaching material, although there is much here that could well be adapted for these purposes. There aim, and that of the editors is more foundational, that pastors and other ministry leaders are formed in their own theology and practice of leadership through the biblical material rather than "best practices" from business.
A few basic themes I observed running through were that leadership is rooted in the character and leadership of God, needs to be shaped by the work of Christ, informed by the teaching of scripture, is characterized by faithfulness to Christ in all matters of life, is not solitary but communal, both in working with teams and developing leaders, and lived at the nexus of being a servant and a shepherd of the people of God.
That gives me a personal rubric to assess my own leadership, which I found myself doing throughout the pages of this treasure trove of leadership insight. I would commend this to anyone who cares both about their own practice of leadership and the development of new generations of leadership for the people of God.
____________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
When one surveys Christian publications on the subject of leadership, many seem drawn more from the world of business or the military, with what seems to be a veneer of biblical texts that support, or at least sound like the principles being enunciated. This begs the question of whether there is anything distinctive about biblical leadership? Is the leadership of God's people in any way different because of the character of God, and the work of Christ, as they have been disclosed to us in scripture?
The editors and the contributors to this text would affirm this, and that the place for us to start, in developing our theology and practice of leadership, is the data of scripture, gathered from Genesis to Revelation. And that is what this work sets out to do. It is not organized by leadership principles or practices, but rather by the organization of the Bible. The contributors were selected for their scholarship on the particular portion of scripture on which they were asked to write.
Both Old and New Testament sections begin with "concept studies" considering the words and concepts used around the concept of "leadership" in the Hebrew and Greek text. Then, subsequent chapters explore books (for example Judges) or sections of scripture (the Penteteuch, the Synoptics). Occasionally, chapters would zoom in on a particular text, and I thought these were among the gems in the volume. Two examples of these were a study of "The 'Shepherd' as a Biblical Metaphor: Leadership in Psalm 23" by Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. and Stanley E. Porter's article on "Conflict Resolution: Leadership and the Jerusalem Council." The principles Porter derives from this study are gold:
1. Confront a Problem Early
2. Solicit Widespread Opinion
3. Welcome Diversity of Opinion
4. Render a Clear Decision
5. Impose the Minimum, not the Maximum
6. Seek Scriptural Guidance and Confirmation
This both preaches and practices well! William D. Mounce does something similar in his commentary on the leadership passages within the Pastoral Epistles.
Most of the chapters focus on particular books. A challenge with this approach is reading into the text what is not there or what was intended. Different scholars noted this and took the approach of recognizing the main theme or purpose of the book, and relating observations about leadership, God's or people's, good or bad, to those themes. One place where this was done especially well, I thought was Mark Allen and Dickson Ngama's essay on Daniel that observed the theme of power of Yahweh running through the book followed by seven important leadership lessons. Another example was Edwin M. Yamauchi's study of leadership in Nehemiah that begins with situating the book in the canon, and in its historical setting, and then observes in successive chapters the character of Nehemiah's leadership as:
1. A man of responsibility
2. A man of prayer
3. A man who was rightly motivated (by God's glory)
4. A man of vision
5. A man of action and cooperation
6. A man of compassion
7. A man who triumphed over opposition
Perhaps one of the most important essays that explored the heart of Christian leadership was W. Hall Harris III's on "Leading Through Weakness, Vulnerability, and Self-Sacrifice: Leadership in the Gospel of John." This and other essays engaged the notion of servant leadership, not contesting it but showing the call of servant leaders to suffer, become vulnerable, and in various ways, die, while yet leading, bringing a Christ-centered focus to this concept, and a call to leadership formed by the glory of the cross.
There is so much more in this collection than space permits comment upon. The intent of the authors is not primarily to offer preaching or teaching material, although there is much here that could well be adapted for these purposes. There aim, and that of the editors is more foundational, that pastors and other ministry leaders are formed in their own theology and practice of leadership through the biblical material rather than "best practices" from business.
A few basic themes I observed running through were that leadership is rooted in the character and leadership of God, needs to be shaped by the work of Christ, informed by the teaching of scripture, is characterized by faithfulness to Christ in all matters of life, is not solitary but communal, both in working with teams and developing leaders, and lived at the nexus of being a servant and a shepherd of the people of God.
That gives me a personal rubric to assess my own leadership, which I found myself doing throughout the pages of this treasure trove of leadership insight. I would commend this to anyone who cares both about their own practice of leadership and the development of new generations of leadership for the people of God.
____________________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
May 3, 2020
I read this book as a textbook but it was more enjoyable than I expected it to be. Forrest and Roden gathered together a series of scholars and each one contributed from their area of expertise. While the various contributors gave each chapter a distinct voice, each was excellent in both their theological exegesis and their practical application.
The book divides into two sections. There are nineteen chapters from the Old Testament and fourteen from the New. Both sections start out with a word and concept study on how leadership is presented in their Testaments. Then each chapter will take a book (like Nehemiah or Revelation), a section of books (like the Pentateuch or the Pastoral Epistles), or occasionally just one significant chapter (like Psalm 23 or Acts 15) and break down what that selected text has to teach us about leadership.
In many ways, this is far better than most of the leadership books out there. For the most part, they all seem the same with the "Christian" ones perhaps adding a verse or two to gloss over the primarily secular business principles that predominate the field. Most books try to lay down how a person should lead and then look for a verse or two to back it up. This book instead lays down what the Bible says first and only then ties in what that might mean for a leader. This is a much better approach and though it might not be easy reading for most, it is definitely something every leader should get their hands on.
The book divides into two sections. There are nineteen chapters from the Old Testament and fourteen from the New. Both sections start out with a word and concept study on how leadership is presented in their Testaments. Then each chapter will take a book (like Nehemiah or Revelation), a section of books (like the Pentateuch or the Pastoral Epistles), or occasionally just one significant chapter (like Psalm 23 or Acts 15) and break down what that selected text has to teach us about leadership.
In many ways, this is far better than most of the leadership books out there. For the most part, they all seem the same with the "Christian" ones perhaps adding a verse or two to gloss over the primarily secular business principles that predominate the field. Most books try to lay down how a person should lead and then look for a verse or two to back it up. This book instead lays down what the Bible says first and only then ties in what that might mean for a leader. This is a much better approach and though it might not be easy reading for most, it is definitely something every leader should get their hands on.
July 23, 2018
As we get to today’s book, Biblical Leadership, it’s important to start with an understanding of what the discipline of “Biblical Theology” is. While the source of all the theology we do as Christians should be the Bible, “Biblical Theology” is the specific study of what the Bible has to say in certain sections about a theological topic.
To that end, Biblical Leadership, edited by Benjamin K. Forrest and Chet Roden, is a Biblical Theology text regarding leadership. This is a compiled work from Kregel Academic, with various contributors focusing on different portions of the Biblical text. For example, Joseph Hellerman, author of Embracing Shared Ministry and the EGGNT volume on Philippians, handles the chapter on Pauline theology. As with any multi-author work, some of the authors are more ‘favorites’ than others. Other authors include Andreas Kostenberger, now of Midwestern Seminary and Walter Kaiser of Gordon-Conwell. Forrest and Roden are both at Liberty University, so it is no surprise that several contributions come from their co-workers. (I’m currently trying to shepherd a group project, I’d give a toe to be able to walk into the next office and ask a co-author where his chapter is.)
Now, on to the content: let’s start in the middle. Chapter 20 presents a study in the various words of the Greek New Testament that are used to illustrate leadership. It’s a valuable starting point, even being in the middle of the book, because it links the whole of the text. Further, it helps centralize the study in the text of Scripture. I’ve seen it said that the Bible only speaks around the idea of leadership, but Robert Wayne Stacy’s chapter here is a great counterpoint to that thought.
Each of the Biblical sections are useful, though I found William Osborne’s chapter on the divided monarchy a step above. He had one of the more challenging areas of history to wrestle with, and managed to not have it feel forced or artificial. I also enjoyed Hellerman’s work on Pauline theology, but that may be my predisposition for his viewpoint.
Benjamin Merkle’s chapter on titles and roles in the Early Church is helpful both for leadership and history. He takes note of those who led officially, led unofficially, and those who held authority beyond the local congregation. When dealing with apostles and prophets, he focused on the clear Biblical material without commenting on whether these titles endured past the New Testament.
In all, this a good resource for learning how leadership can seen across the Biblical texts. Rather than starting with leadership principles, it starts with the text and then shows what concepts are there. Stylistically, it is more academic in tone so it will take a bit of attention to the details. It is well worth the effort, but don’t expect to find too many cliches and poster board sayings here.This is for those who want to think deeply about the matter.;
And if my own liking of this book wasn’t enough, the first endorsement blurb is from J. Daniel Hays, Dean of the Pruet School of Christian Studies at Ouachita Baptist University. Dr. Hays doesn’t endorse lightly—take it from someone who has had him not grade lightly!—and I will give his endorsement a hearty agreement.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for the review. Kregel Academic provided the book, and I’m greatly addicted to their work.
To that end, Biblical Leadership, edited by Benjamin K. Forrest and Chet Roden, is a Biblical Theology text regarding leadership. This is a compiled work from Kregel Academic, with various contributors focusing on different portions of the Biblical text. For example, Joseph Hellerman, author of Embracing Shared Ministry and the EGGNT volume on Philippians, handles the chapter on Pauline theology. As with any multi-author work, some of the authors are more ‘favorites’ than others. Other authors include Andreas Kostenberger, now of Midwestern Seminary and Walter Kaiser of Gordon-Conwell. Forrest and Roden are both at Liberty University, so it is no surprise that several contributions come from their co-workers. (I’m currently trying to shepherd a group project, I’d give a toe to be able to walk into the next office and ask a co-author where his chapter is.)
Now, on to the content: let’s start in the middle. Chapter 20 presents a study in the various words of the Greek New Testament that are used to illustrate leadership. It’s a valuable starting point, even being in the middle of the book, because it links the whole of the text. Further, it helps centralize the study in the text of Scripture. I’ve seen it said that the Bible only speaks around the idea of leadership, but Robert Wayne Stacy’s chapter here is a great counterpoint to that thought.
Each of the Biblical sections are useful, though I found William Osborne’s chapter on the divided monarchy a step above. He had one of the more challenging areas of history to wrestle with, and managed to not have it feel forced or artificial. I also enjoyed Hellerman’s work on Pauline theology, but that may be my predisposition for his viewpoint.
Benjamin Merkle’s chapter on titles and roles in the Early Church is helpful both for leadership and history. He takes note of those who led officially, led unofficially, and those who held authority beyond the local congregation. When dealing with apostles and prophets, he focused on the clear Biblical material without commenting on whether these titles endured past the New Testament.
In all, this a good resource for learning how leadership can seen across the Biblical texts. Rather than starting with leadership principles, it starts with the text and then shows what concepts are there. Stylistically, it is more academic in tone so it will take a bit of attention to the details. It is well worth the effort, but don’t expect to find too many cliches and poster board sayings here.This is for those who want to think deeply about the matter.;
And if my own liking of this book wasn’t enough, the first endorsement blurb is from J. Daniel Hays, Dean of the Pruet School of Christian Studies at Ouachita Baptist University. Dr. Hays doesn’t endorse lightly—take it from someone who has had him not grade lightly!—and I will give his endorsement a hearty agreement.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for the review. Kregel Academic provided the book, and I’m greatly addicted to their work.
December 15, 2018
This was a surprisingly great book. I expected it to be long and drawn out with a lot of "Stretching". However, it turned out to be very well written/edited and was enlightening. I intend to use it as a template for long term leadership development and training. Excellent material.
June 22, 2019
I loved this book! I wanted to savor this book and meditate on it for hours. This will be a book I read multiple times as my leadership journey continues. The Biblical depth of each known and unknown leader was wonderful.
December 11, 2021
Exceptional read on biblically-based leadership principles and reflections on servant leadership
March 15, 2023
Read this for a leadership class in seminary. This was a really good resource. I was very encouraged by the amount of thoughtful work that went into each chapter.
May 2, 2023
Wonderful review of biblical leadership!
November 13, 2024
Great content! Hard to follow at times, but will be a great reference in the future!
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April 19, 2018Being this a book about biblical leadership, you can wait a thorough analysis of texts in key passages, but this is nos the case: you will find the progress of the concept of “leadership” along the history and along the biblical history. It is an exegetical (and not eisegetical) study of the term in almost every book of the Scripture.
When studying a concept and when you want to find the application of it to the human realm it is easy to write a theory, but difficult to bring it to reality. And again, this is not the case. The focus is from the Scripture to life and offering resources and ways of applying the Word to our task as leaders.
The authors divide the book in two main sections: Old Testament and New Testament, and developed in thirty-three chapters. Every chapter is full of biblical text and words analysis, rooting every idea and thesis in the very Scriptures.
It is a must-have book in every pastor’s bookshelf, worthy to be studied in seminaries and considered in every pastors board. Also every leader will find a useful tool to study which is his/her role as such.
Abundant notes, graphics, word studies, easy-to-follow arguments and bibliography make of this book a unique tool for lay pastors, students and teachers who can adopt it as textbook for their classes.
Some topics you will find on it: the leader as servant, the leader as shepherd, the leader as a dependent man, the leader as model, as a vulnerable person, as a conflict mediator, as an example to others in the Christian community, as a loving and mature person, as a disciple and also a man who makes disciples. A great number of topics to be studied and applied, an opportunity to change and being changed as leaders.
Thanks to Benjamin Forrest and Cher Roden for such a book.
This book has been sent to me free of charge by Kregel Publications in exchange of an honest and unbiased review.
When studying a concept and when you want to find the application of it to the human realm it is easy to write a theory, but difficult to bring it to reality. And again, this is not the case. The focus is from the Scripture to life and offering resources and ways of applying the Word to our task as leaders.
The authors divide the book in two main sections: Old Testament and New Testament, and developed in thirty-three chapters. Every chapter is full of biblical text and words analysis, rooting every idea and thesis in the very Scriptures.
It is a must-have book in every pastor’s bookshelf, worthy to be studied in seminaries and considered in every pastors board. Also every leader will find a useful tool to study which is his/her role as such.
Abundant notes, graphics, word studies, easy-to-follow arguments and bibliography make of this book a unique tool for lay pastors, students and teachers who can adopt it as textbook for their classes.
Some topics you will find on it: the leader as servant, the leader as shepherd, the leader as a dependent man, the leader as model, as a vulnerable person, as a conflict mediator, as an example to others in the Christian community, as a loving and mature person, as a disciple and also a man who makes disciples. A great number of topics to be studied and applied, an opportunity to change and being changed as leaders.
Thanks to Benjamin Forrest and Cher Roden for such a book.
This book has been sent to me free of charge by Kregel Publications in exchange of an honest and unbiased review.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews