''Frontiers in Spiritual Leadership breaks new ground by masterfully combining the topics of spirituality and leadership. Through historical and contemporary exemplars and social psychology, the authors create a contemporary understanding of what spiritual leadership is and why it is relevant to our modern world.'' -Crystal Park, Professor of Psychology, University of Connecticut, USA, Co-Editor of the Handbook of the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality "Allison, Kocher, and Goethals have succeeded in gathering an all-star team of scholars representing diverse disciplinary perspectives to bring focus to spiritual leadership and its noble, life-giving qualities. Frontiers in Spiritual Leadership is an inspired volume that forges new ground and offers much-needed hope and direction at a critically important time." -Bryan Dik, Associate Professor of Psychology, Colorado State University, USA, Co-Editor of Purpose and Meaning in the Workplace and Psychology of Religion and Workplace Spirituality "Allison, Kocher, and Goethals'' Frontiers in Spiritual Leadership is an original and truly interdisciplinary study of spiritual leadership and its impact on the lives of individuals and communities.'' -Michael Harvey, Professor of Business Management, Washington College, USA, Co-Editor of Leadership Studies: The Dialogue of Disciplines "Allison, Kocher, and Goethals have blazed a new trail that promises to become a busy highway for those who seek to understand leadership.'' -John Chandler, President, 1973-1985, Williams College, USA Michael Harvey, University of ArizonaIn The Better Angels of Our Nature, editors Allison, Kocher, and Goethals apply a careful scholarly eye to a topic that has attracted considerable attention in recent years, ''spiritual leadership.'' Three factors suggest that this well-conceived book will be positively received by scholars: (1) the scholarly reputation of the chapter authors (who include the editors); (2) the projected plan of the book--the first part historical, the second contemporary; and (3) the wide range of cases and exemplars of spiritual leadership.
Recent Western work on ''spiritual leadership'' must decide whether to define and conceptualize this term narrowly (often in explicitly religious, usually Christian terms) or broadly. Happily, in my view, the proposed book will explore the term broadly, from a wide range of viewpoints. Thus the emphasis will be on ''spiritual leadership'' as an engagement by leaders with the interior life of followers and others engaged by leaders--as the editors note in their prospectus, with spirit as ''the force within a person that is believed to give the body life, energy, and power.''There will certainly be a tension among the various chapters in how significantly, if at all, this call to spirit is an explicitly religious call--a tension suggested and indeed explicitly invoked by the authors in their choice of title, from Lincoln''s first inaugural. In some chapters, the focus will be on religious figures (female leaders in the early Christian church, St. Augustine, the work of the University of Richmond''s Chaplain over three decades). In others, the focus will be more broadly cast, on topics with significant ethical and spiritual implication and impact, such as education, political reconciliation, and income inequality. The editors have certainly designed this collaborative project with attention to the value of exploring this tension in the nature of ''spirit'' and spiritual leadership, between the sacred and the secular.
To render this tension explicit, the book''s thoughtful design includes, as a concluding chapter, an exploration of ''values, spirituality, and leadership by a leading authority in ethics, Richard Morrill; this final piece promises to be one of the book''s most important contributions, and to the extent that it draws on and integrates the previous chapters, it may give this volume a coherence and enduring impact in the field. It is to be welcomed that the book includes scholarship from fields as diverse as psychology, religious studies, history, literature, law, political science, and ethics. That the contributing scholars all teach at the University of Richmond gives the book a unity of design and credible engagement with leadership education as ''soulcraft,'' to use an old term from George F. Will. The book, in its careful design, is not just a collection of diverse scholarly pieces, but a unified exploration of leadership as the articulation within a group of ''life-affirming aims,'' and the engagement and empowerment of group members to fulfill those aims.In sum, Allison, Kocher, and Goethals'' The Better Angels of Our Nature promises an original and truly interdisciplinary study of spiritual leadership and its impact on the lives of individuals and communities, both at critical historic junctures in the past, and amidst the challenges of today.John W. Chandler, Williams College, USAAs indicated by their attention to such themes as ''charisma,'' ''altruism,'' ''selflessness,'' and ''transformational leadership,'' some leadership scholars have long intuited and intimated a link between leadership and spirituality.
In a new study, The Better Angels of Our Natures: Frontiers in Spiritual Leadership, twelve scholars from a variety of disciplines have undertaken an audacious quest to demonstrate this link. By analyzing the profound and far-reaching impact of such towering figures as Abraham Lincoln and St. Augustine, as well as less prominent leaders who motivated and energized their followers, this book describes the processes by which leaders and followers, acting symbiotically, bring about deep change. The authors of this study have blazed a new trail that promises to become a busy highway for those who seek to understand leadership.