Biblical Servant Leadership: An Exploration of Leadership for the Contemporary Context

Chapter 1 - The Foundation of Servant Leadership Theory

Abstract: The ideas and concepts for servant leadership have been around for centuries in different forms. Even when Aristotle and later Aquinas discussed leadership they pondered the concepts of virtues as an important component of human life and leadership. Other philosophers such as Plato discussed leadership but with some different ideas that became mainstream ideas for ruling and power. This focus on power carried the day in leadership thinking with concepts of leadership like in Machiavelli's "The Prince" that endorsed a power center to leadership. Nevertheless in the 1970's in the midst of a hotbed of leadership theory development Robert Greenleaf proposed an idea at first about the servant being the leader. This idea grew into a concept of leadership in the writings of Greenleaf that was developed and popularized in the writings of Greenleaf and later several other authors like Larry Spears. Then in the 21st century there was an explosion of literature in many areas of leadership theory and thinking. Some of these areas included virtues and even spirituality as an important component of leadership and leadership development. In this context there emerged several new ideas concerning servant leadership. Some of the foundational ideas came from Winston and Patterson. Winston gave us some new terminology for this constuct in using the word agapao for the leadership idea of love. Then Patterson developed a virtue based model for servant leadership that built upon the ideas of Greenleaf but expanded it. In her model the virtues of leadership are the central issue however; it is done in such a way that it facilitates the ability to research this theory of leadership. As a result there has been several other authors who have entered this field of research for Servant Leadership doing research in different cultures and contexts. Many scholars have worked on developing a model of servant leadership recently. In this endeavor there are some researchers who have begun to look at the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures for guidance in this search for a more developed theory of leadership. This study expands this research in looking to the Scriptures for divine perspective on Servant Leadership and other implications for leadership that can be applied in the multiple contexts of the 21st century, to the church, government, military, nonprofits, education and the world of business. The question is whether the Scriptures endorse, critique or expand the concept of servant leadership. Further the deeper question is whether the Scriptures provide a model of leadership other than servant leadership or that builds beyond this model of leadership.

A. Servant Leadership According to Greenleaf

B. Servant Leadership in 21st Century Literature

C. Servant Leadership According to Patterson and Winston

D. Servant Leadership Research

E. The Next Steps in Leadership

Chapter 2 - Servant Leadership in Context

Abstract: Servant leadership has been developed and applied in the midst of a very hot economic climate and in the context of an abundance of new leadership research in general. As a result there are many new ideas to which to