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Biblical Theology for Ethical Leadership pp 75–99Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Creation: Human Beings and Leadership

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Part of the book series: Christian Faith Perspectives in Leadership and Business ((CFPLB))

Abstract

Ethical leadership is strengthened when we know that leadership itself is the mandate for human beings, are self-aware that human beings are influencers, and are cautious about centralized power. To be a human being is to be leading being, made for purposes of leadership in light of God’s activity of creating and ordering. Human beings are communal beings—men and women together reflect the image of God and bear the mission of God to extend Eden and must learn to lead in partnership even while exerting leadership over other persons to their benefit.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This claim could be considered in its own right, and has been, from the time of Aristotle and more recently with Alasdair MacIntyre (2007) After Virtue , Stanley Hauerwas (1991) Community of Character , and James K.A. Smith (2016) You are What You Love .

  2. 2.

    For a thorough and traditional exploration, see Douglas MacGregor (1960) The Human Side of Enterprise. For a brief overview, NetMBA (2010–2012) http://www.netmba.com/mgmt/ob/motivation/mcgregor/.

  3. 3.

    To show that a complementing theology is at work in the text , Genesis 2 uses different words for God compared to Genesis 1. Whereas in Genesis 1 the word elohim was used for God , in Genesis 2 it is Yahweh elohim.

  4. 4.

    Sandra Richter, The Epic of Eden, describes Genesis 2’s creation account likely as “ancient, ancient material, that had been treasured for generations prior to its incorporation into the book we now know as Genesis” (2008, 94).

  5. 5.

    For a helpful chart on these and other differences between creation accounts, see Richter, Epic of Eden (2008, 94).

  6. 6.

    Walter Brueggemann has a delightful commentary on Genesis as part of the Interpretation series. For more on humankind as God ’s image, see Brueggemann, Genesis (1986, 32). I have drawn on Brueggemann for this paragraph.

  7. 7.

    See Beale (2004), Chapter 2, especially pages 66–80 for the following material with greater depth and analysis. For more on the missional nature of the Garden of Eden in a more popular book, see G.K. Beale and Mitchell Kim, God Dwells Among Us: Expanding Eden to the Ends of the Earth (2014).

  8. 8.

    This leads to the Christian understanding of eschatology , which we will explore in Chapter 7.

  9. 9.

    N.T. Wright says, “[T]he royal vocation [of humanity] means reflecting God ’s wisdom and justice into the world,” The Day the Revolution Began (2016, 79).

  10. 10.

    Though not a position defended by scholars, it can be a position held by political commentators and used to direct environmental policy. For example, Ann Coulter writes in an article from 2000, that human beings, by God ’s directive, “rape the planet” (October 12).

  11. 11.

    Dan Migliore writes that the task of having dominion is “to guardianship and responsible stewardship. To be a steward is to be a partner with God in caring for the world God has created” (2014, 152).

  12. 12.

    In contrast to the healthy leadership of humanity, “sin…takes the form of domination and servility, self-exaltation and self-destruction” (Migliore 2014, 156).

  13. 13.

    For more of a response, see N.T. Wright, The Day the Revolution Began (2016, 79–80).

  14. 14.

    See James Collins, Good to Great (2001), and level five leaders. Level five leaders blend strength in will and humility in character .

  15. 15.

    I don’t know the exact context, but it was attributed to Pastor Steve DeNeff, Pastor of College Wesleyan Church , and an excellent preacher and highly regarded pastor in The Wesleyan Church .

  16. 16.

    In a brief email devotional, Bishop Robert Barron lists healer as the first of three roles of the priest , followed by fighter and evangelizer, “Feasts of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael,” September 29, 2017. Barron is not speaking of priests in the context of the Old Testament, but Roman Catholic priests of today. The triad of royal (fighter), priest (healer), and prophet (evangelizer) remains, however.

  17. 17.

    For more on making good of the world, see Andy Crouch, Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling (2013).

  18. 18.

    Oliver O’Donovan uses the example of easing suffering by providing homeless shelters without addressing economic injustices in the online lecture, “Utility, Prudence, and Care” (2013).

  19. 19.

    Biblical examples abound, including prophets Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Elijah, and others.

  20. 20.

    For a psychological theology of listening that indicates the power of listening to help humanize the other, see Frank Lake, Clinical Theology , vols. 1 and 2, especially pages 66–100 (2005). For a connection between listening , healing, and words, see my “Listening , Narrative , and Atonement” (2008).

  21. 21.

    For more on how limits are gifts, see Pete Scazzero, The Emotionally Healthy Church : A Strategy for Discipleship that Actually Changes Lives, Chapter 8 (2013). More on this will be said in Chapter 5 in light of martyrdom and the death of Jesus .

  22. 22.

    I appreciate the help of my colleague Dr. John Drury on this previous paragraph in our discussions on the doctrine of the Trinity. It should be noted that language is culturally oriented and that God has revealed Godself in cultures. We need neither defend the language God has used to reveal Godself, nor deny that it emerges from specific cultures. Instead, this language ought to give guides and helps to know how new language from different cultures may contribute to knowing God without denying God ’s initial revelation.

  23. 23.

    Dan Migliore writes, “It expresses self-transcending life in relationship with others—with the ‘wholly other’ we call God , and with all those different ‘others’ who need our help and whose help we also need in order to be human creatures God intends us to be” (2014, 145). I have leaned heavily on this quotation, but modified it for leadership context.

  24. 24.

    Robert Barron calls this “non-competitive transcendence” in his e-book How to Discern God ’s Will for Your Life (2016, 15).

  25. 25.

    David Gortner writes, “Effective leaders encourage and cultivate creativity in others, setting it within a wider scope of the trajectory where an organization will focus its energy” (2009, 135). Because leadership has limits, not all activities that might be good human activities can be led by every leader. Organizations have limits, too. Organizations and their leaders need to have humility in finding what role they can play that pursues the common good while partnering with other organizations with complementary roles.

  26. 26.

    Understanding human beings as leaders of creation deals a significant blow to any movement toward eugenics or assisted suicide. But some might respond by saying, “What of those incapacitated to lead? Those who are unable even to care for a plant or animal and who lack the potential to develop the ability?” Remember that human beings are relational beings and that relationship is reciprocal. By treating other human beings with dignity and honor, there is a maintenance and expansion of the human community —both for the caring and the cared for. Indeed, the human without guile to use and manipulate another human might be more human, though less outwardly capable of management or project productivity than the one gifted and skilled to lead other human beings.

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  1. Indiana Wesleyan University, Marion, IN, USA

    Aaron Perry

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Correspondence to Aaron Perry .

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Perry, A. (2018). Creation: Human Beings and Leadership. In: Biblical Theology for Ethical Leadership. Christian Faith Perspectives in Leadership and Business. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75043-9_5

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