WILL WE BECOME A SCANDAL TO THOSE WHO LOOK TO US AS LEADERS, OR WILL WE CHOOSE TO IMITATE THE SCANDALOUS WAY OF CHRIST?
The fall of high-profile leaders has sadly become an epidemic, and although books and podcasts have sought to uncover the problem, they often fail to identify the root cause. In The Scandal of Leadership, JR Woodward offers a deeper diagnosis, outlining a more comprehensive understanding of power abuses in the church and the critical role of imitation. Drawing from Scripture and the scholarship of Walter Wink, René Girard, and William Stringfellow, as well as from positive examples of leaders such as Óscar Romero, this book offers a robust theology of the Powers–of Satan, the demonic, and the principalities and powers explored in the Bible. By unmasking the Powers of domination, Woodward seeks to help missional leaders practice a self-emptying spirituality that reshapes their desires and forms them into Christlike servants who join God’s mission in the world.
Mục lục
List of Figures and Tables
Foreword by David Fitch
Preface
Introduction
SECTION ONE: THE CHALLENGE OF MISSIONAL LEADERSHIP
1 A Deeper Diagnosis of Why Leaders Fall
2 The Need for Missional Leadership
3 Domineering Leadership in the First-Century Church
SECTION TWO: MISSIONAL LEADERSHIP AND THE POWERS
4 Comprehending the Powers
5 Interpreting the Powers
SECTION THREE: MISSIONAL LEADERSHIP AND IMITATION
6 Mimetic Theory
7 The Power of Imitation
SECTION FOUR: MISSIONAL LEADERSHIP AND SUBVERSION
8 The Work of the Powers
9 The Subversion and Resistance of the Powers
SECTION FIVE: MISSIONAL LEADERSHIP WORTHY OF IMITATION
10 Toward a Theological Remedy
11 A New Way of Being and Belonging
12 The Scandal of Imitating Christ
Conclusion
Afterword by Amos Young
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
About the Author