MBS Newsletter
The Soul of a Leader: The Bible and Leadership in America
From the Massachusetts Bay Colony's Governor Endicott and the Puritan vision of "the city on a hill" to the founding fathers of the United States, through Abraham Lincoln, and up to Martin Luther King, Jr., George W. Bush, John McCain, and Barack Obama, American leaders have used the Bible, both to nurture their own souls and to speak to public issues. In contemporary America, why do conservative public leaders use the Bible more than progressives do, both personally and politically, and how is that phenomenon changing? Why are progressive pastors and other progressive Christian leaders shy about using the Bible devotionally and to address public issues? How can progressive leaders reclaim the Bible, both to nurture their own souls and to call the American people to a higher vision?
About Margaret Benefiel
Margaret Benefiel, Ph.D., teaches at Andover Newton Theological School and at the Millltown Institute in Dublin, Ireland. CEO of ExecutiveSoul.com, Dr. Benefiel also serves as Chair of the Academy of Management's Management, Spirituality, and Religion Group. She is the author of Soul At Work (Seabury Books, 2005) and The Soul of a Leader (Crossroad, 2008), and has also written for The Leadership Quarterly, Management Communication Quarterly, Managerial Finance, Journal of Organizational Change Management, Organization, Personal Excellence, Presence, Studies in Spirituality, The Way, and Faith at Work. She is a member of Beacon Hill Friends Meeting in Boston and lives in Boston with her husband. She enjoys hiking, reading novels, and scuba diving in her free time.