Seeker and Servant: Reflections on Religious Leadership

ISBN-13: 9780787902292 / Angielski / Miękka / 1996 / 388 str.

Robert K. Greenleaf;Greenleaf;Fraker

Opis

This collection of original essays expands on visionary Robert K. Greenleaf's servant-leadership theme. It offers thought-provoking ideas on how religious institutions and individuals can serve in a more caring way by applying the ideas and ideals of Greenleaf's servant-leadership vision.

Recenzje

"Those of us lucky to have known Greenleaf knew him to be a graceful man and experienced his ideas as a call to leadership through serving. Seeker and Servant continues his creative mystery: it speaks not only about leadership but calls you to be a healing, leading influence in your society. This book is an invitation to become colleague in the liberation of the human spirit." ––Loren B. Mead, former director, Alban Institute, and author of Transforming Congregations for the Future

"Here is the complete Greenleaf. Even after decades of working closely with him, I discovered a richness of spirit and thought that I had not seen before." ––Robert Wood Lynn, instructor, Bangor Theological Seminary

Spis treści

Part One: Nurturing the Sprit: the Challenges of Religious Leadership
Religious Leaders as Seekers and Servants
The Servant as Nurturer of the Human Spirit
Spirituality as Leadership
The Servant as Gradualist
Types of Leaders
An Opportunity for a Powerful New Religious Influence
Part Two: Leaders as Inspirited Persons
The Collapse of Civilization: A Fantasy
Reflections on Spirit
Seeing Things Whole
Images of Great Spirits
Pope John XXIII: Nurturer of Spirits
Talking and Listening
Being Who You Are
Part Three: Seminary, Church, Foundation: Reflections on Religious Institutions
Fable
Religious Leadership for These Times
Theology: A Concern for the Conditions Under Which the Human Spirit Flowers
The Need for a Theology of Institutions
The Seminary as Institution
A New Role for Seminaries
Critical Thought and Seminary Leadership
The Trustee Chairperson: Nurturer of the Human Spirit
Toward a Gentle Revolution Ministry to the Strong
The Inner–City Church as Servant to Its Community
A Servant–Led Society
Part Four: Toward the Caring Community: Reflections on Seeking, Giving, and Receiving
The Search and the Seeker
On Being a Seeker in the Late Twentieth Century
Lost Knowledge
A Lifeline of Ideas
Our Indian Experience: What It Suggests About Giving
Giving and Receiving Gifts of Money
Is It More Blessed to Give Than to Receive?
Afterword

O autorze

ANNE T. FRAKER is a project associate with the Robert K. Greenleaf Archives. LARRY C. SPEARS is executive director of the Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant–Leadership and editor of Reflections on Leadership (1995).

Blurb

Visionary Robert K. Greenleaf′s remarkable career as a writer, consultant, and lecturer spanned more than fifty years. In addition to his other achievements –– including founding the Center for Applied Ethics, now known as the Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant–Leadership –– Greenleaf′s servant–leadership model has had a profound influence on contemporary spiritual leaders.

Jossey–Bass Publishers presents Seeker and Servant, a collection of original essays that expand on Greenleaf′s servant–leadership theme. This collection offers thought–provoking ideas on how religious institutions and individuals can serve in a more caring way by applying the ideas and ideals of Greenleaf′s servant–leadership vision –– a model in which Greenleaf describes true leaders as those who lead by serving others, empowering them to reach their full potential.

Seeker and Servant demonstrates the scope of Greenleaf′s influence on contemporary religious leadership. These insightful essays examine Greenleaf′s core belief that churches should be the most useful change agents in our society, and they explore how seminaries could play a vital role in energizing church leadership. The book details the importance of the development of personal spirituality and how an individual′s spirituality is related to becoming a servant–leader within a religious institution. The essays also offer reflections and recommendations on the issue of giving and receiving gifts of money and ask that the larger questions of giving –– rather than simply to whom and how much to give –– should be of paramount consideration. In the afterword, three colleagues who worked closely with Greenleaf share their recollections, which paint a very personal portrait of Greenleaf, the man, and a professional picture of Greenleaf, the institution watchman.