Book Review

As the forward to this book admits, leadership books abound. Christian leadership books abound. So what makes this book unique? What does it add to the already crowded field of leadership literature?
Several things caught my attention. First, it is a theology of biblical leadership. The essays in this book focus upon what various portions of scripture have to say about leadership. Each essay focuses on a book or section of the Bible. Some chapters are very specific (e.g. Ch. 18 - A Model Leader: Leadership in Nehemiah); others are more broad (e.g. Ch. 20 - A Concept Study: Leadership in New Testament Greek). In the forward, Ronald Hawkins says, “More dangerous and disconcerting is the realization that all too frequently books on leadership that become very popular advance views on leadership that are totally antithetical to the clear teachings of scripture.” The books seeks to steer clear of that error.
Second, I appreciate the sound theologians who were recruited to contribute to this work. Names like Tremper Longman, Stanley Porter, Bill Mounce, Andreas Kostenberger, Benjamin Merkle and others jump off the page.
Finally, this book is geared toward pastors and ministry leaders but is not inaccessible to the layman as the chapters are relatively brief and the Greek and Hebrew are transliterated.
If you are looking for a popular-level book to breeze through as you’re dozing off at night, this is not that book. But if you’d like to dig deeper into what the scriptures say about leadership, this is a solid volume to turn to.

Note: This book was provided free of charge by the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review.