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need_to_read's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
5.0
drbobcornwall's review against another edition
5.0
We live at a time when many of our leaders, including the President of the United States are not known for their moral leadership. People are becoming increasingly skeptical about our human institutions from churches to the government. How might we turn the corner and engage the world in ways that are transformitive? Who will lead us?
David Gushee and Colin Holtz have concluded that one important way of moving forward in making the world a better place is to look at people who have demonstrated moral leadership. In fact, David Gushee has been teaching a class focused on this very topic for many years. He is joined by Col Holtz who is a strategist focusing on the intersection of church and world. Together they have chosen fourteen lives to study and offer to us as not only moral exemplars, but as individuals who demonstrated in their lives moral leadership.
Leaders come in many forms, not all of which leads to good outcomes. Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin were leaders, but they certainly were not moral leaders. Leaders, Gushee and Holtz tell us, unite people around a common purpose or cause. Again, not all causes are good causes. The leaders selected to highlight here exhibit three things: moral impact, moral character, and moral purpose. Because moral leadership is not always easy to define, exploring the lives of moral leaders may be a more productive way forward. As one discovers in the course of the book, these leaders are not without their faults. Many of them found it difficult to maintain family life (while some simply chose to forgo family). Some had a dark side they struggled with. Thus, we turn to the stories of lives lived in the pursuit of moral visions, for as the authors note, "we grow not by memorizing principles by by hearing stories. We imagine ourselves in circumstances and ask how we would respond" (p. 9).
The fourteen people chosen to highlight in this book begin with William Wilberforce, an English politician and evangelical Anglican who in the late 18th and early 19th century almost single handily pursued the cause of abolishing the slave trade, and moving forward in time to Malala Yousafzai, a still young Muslim woman from Pakistan who was nearly killed because of her unyielding advocacy for educating women. Most of the figures are Christian, but there is a Muslim (Malala Yousafzai), a Jew (Elie Wiesel), and a Hindu (Mohandas Gandhi, along with at least one skeptic (Abraham Lincoln). There are politicians and religious leaders, as well as people like Florence Nightingale, who elevated the cause of nursing and Harriet Tubman, who pursued the cause of abolition. There are three recently named saints -- Oscar Romero, John Paul II, and Mother Teresa. There is an opponent of lynching in Ida B. Wells-Barnett, and one who resisted Hitler (Dietrich Bonhoeffer) and one who resisted apartheid (Nelson Mandela). Both Bonhoeffer and Mandela were imprisoned, though Bonhoeffer was hanged, while Mandela became the founding figure and first president of post-apartheid South Africa.
Gushee and Holtz introduce us to each figure, providing historical context, telling us something of the early and private life of each person, noting their vocation, pointing out their legacy and criticism offered of each (noting that these are human beings), finally, before offering a few discussion questions, they point out the leadership lessons exhibited by each figure. Each of these components builds off the prior element, so that one can see how the life of each person led to their becoming a moral leader, and why that leadership might inform our own time and place.
This is a compelling book, perhaps due in large part to the compelling nature of each story. Many of these figures are well known to many, people like Lincoln and Gandhi, but there maybe parts of their lives that are unknown to us. We may learn that some leaders, like Gandhi, have a dark side that we never new of before, raising the question of whether the good outweighs the bad. The reader must decide if one or another figure is the most helpful witness to the move toward moral leadership.
Having made David Gushee's acquaintance in recent years and having read and reviewed most of his recent books, I have developed a high respect for him and his work. This book is another of those excellent books worth taking time to read. Because this book uses stories of figures, most of who no longer live, as touch points for our conversation, it is perhaps a better read for more people. Again, as the authors note, we learn ethics best by hearing stories. While the intended audience is probably primarily Christian, the authors have not limited their subjects to Christians. That is a good thing!
David Gushee and Colin Holtz have concluded that one important way of moving forward in making the world a better place is to look at people who have demonstrated moral leadership. In fact, David Gushee has been teaching a class focused on this very topic for many years. He is joined by Col Holtz who is a strategist focusing on the intersection of church and world. Together they have chosen fourteen lives to study and offer to us as not only moral exemplars, but as individuals who demonstrated in their lives moral leadership.
Leaders come in many forms, not all of which leads to good outcomes. Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin were leaders, but they certainly were not moral leaders. Leaders, Gushee and Holtz tell us, unite people around a common purpose or cause. Again, not all causes are good causes. The leaders selected to highlight here exhibit three things: moral impact, moral character, and moral purpose. Because moral leadership is not always easy to define, exploring the lives of moral leaders may be a more productive way forward. As one discovers in the course of the book, these leaders are not without their faults. Many of them found it difficult to maintain family life (while some simply chose to forgo family). Some had a dark side they struggled with. Thus, we turn to the stories of lives lived in the pursuit of moral visions, for as the authors note, "we grow not by memorizing principles by by hearing stories. We imagine ourselves in circumstances and ask how we would respond" (p. 9).
The fourteen people chosen to highlight in this book begin with William Wilberforce, an English politician and evangelical Anglican who in the late 18th and early 19th century almost single handily pursued the cause of abolishing the slave trade, and moving forward in time to Malala Yousafzai, a still young Muslim woman from Pakistan who was nearly killed because of her unyielding advocacy for educating women. Most of the figures are Christian, but there is a Muslim (Malala Yousafzai), a Jew (Elie Wiesel), and a Hindu (Mohandas Gandhi, along with at least one skeptic (Abraham Lincoln). There are politicians and religious leaders, as well as people like Florence Nightingale, who elevated the cause of nursing and Harriet Tubman, who pursued the cause of abolition. There are three recently named saints -- Oscar Romero, John Paul II, and Mother Teresa. There is an opponent of lynching in Ida B. Wells-Barnett, and one who resisted Hitler (Dietrich Bonhoeffer) and one who resisted apartheid (Nelson Mandela). Both Bonhoeffer and Mandela were imprisoned, though Bonhoeffer was hanged, while Mandela became the founding figure and first president of post-apartheid South Africa.
Gushee and Holtz introduce us to each figure, providing historical context, telling us something of the early and private life of each person, noting their vocation, pointing out their legacy and criticism offered of each (noting that these are human beings), finally, before offering a few discussion questions, they point out the leadership lessons exhibited by each figure. Each of these components builds off the prior element, so that one can see how the life of each person led to their becoming a moral leader, and why that leadership might inform our own time and place.
This is a compelling book, perhaps due in large part to the compelling nature of each story. Many of these figures are well known to many, people like Lincoln and Gandhi, but there maybe parts of their lives that are unknown to us. We may learn that some leaders, like Gandhi, have a dark side that we never new of before, raising the question of whether the good outweighs the bad. The reader must decide if one or another figure is the most helpful witness to the move toward moral leadership.
Having made David Gushee's acquaintance in recent years and having read and reviewed most of his recent books, I have developed a high respect for him and his work. This book is another of those excellent books worth taking time to read. Because this book uses stories of figures, most of who no longer live, as touch points for our conversation, it is perhaps a better read for more people. Again, as the authors note, we learn ethics best by hearing stories. While the intended audience is probably primarily Christian, the authors have not limited their subjects to Christians. That is a good thing!
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