By: Nicole Richardson on February 3, 2022
There is a widespread myth that sharks must continually swim or they will suffocate to death. In truth there are only about two dozen species[1]—including the Great White, the Whale Shark, and the Hammerhead shark—that have a need to be on the move. They have what is known as “obligate ram ventilators,” meaning they…
By: Jonathan Lee on February 3, 2022
The author of Evangelicalism in Modern Britain, David Bebbington, delivers a comprehensive historical account of the evangelical movement in British cultural settings from the 1730s to the 1980s. This historical research book highlights the impact of the Evangelical movements on the developments of many evangelical denominations. Bebbington’s research focuses on the impact of evangelicalism on society…
By: Jonathan Lee on February 3, 2022
Edwin H. Friedman, in his book A Failure of Nerve, examines the connections between rapid solutions in an age of anxiety to well-differentiated leadership. According to his lifetime research and experience in social psychology, he concluded that a well-differentiated leadership would bring progress and healing to any broken relationships, families, company, and society. According to…
By: Michael Simmons on February 3, 2022
According to author, researcher, and historian David Bebbington, an Evangelical is marked by four distinct characteristics, which form a quadrilateral: conversion, activism, biblicism and crucicentrism (Focus on the cross and atonement).[1] Conversionism, that is conversion of souls unto Christ, could be the single value from which evangelicalism was derived. Bebbington writes, “Conversions were the goal…
By: Troy Rappold on February 3, 2022
In Bebbington’s book, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain, he attempts to sketch with a broad stroke, the considerable influence that the evangelical movement has had in Britain from the 1730’s to the 1980’s. It is a comprehensive history, explaining the early beginnings and then demonstrating how the movement has diverged into so many different expressions of…
By: Henry Gwani on February 3, 2022
Focusing on major developments and key players of a significant religious movement within a leading world nation, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain is an excellent historical analysis of the growth of Evangelicalism in Britain from the early 18th century to the late 20th century. Bebbington wisely begins by discussing conversionism, activism, Biblicism, and crucicentrism as the…
By: Roy Gruber on February 3, 2022
“We need to become a New Testament church!” My predecessor recounted the numerous times he heard that statement during his tenure. I like the response he consistently gave, “Which New Testament church do you want to become? Corinth with all its issues? Philippi with its infighting? A church in Galatia with a quick turn away…
By: Andy Hale on February 2, 2022
I will trade you my Tim Keller, Andy Stanley, Tony Evans, John McArthur, and Franklin Graham cards for your John Wesley, George Whitfield, John Newton, and William Wilberforce’s rookie cards. Okay, you can have my Jonathan Edwards All American card too. While the term Evangelical has become synonymous with Conservatism, Republicanism, Fundamentalism, and Hobby Lobby…
By: Eric Basye on February 2, 2022
The author of Evangelicalism in Modern Britain, David Beddington, provides an excellent historical account of the evangelical movement from the 1730s to the 1980s. The four marks of evangelicalism provide the framework for his summary, which are: “conversionism, the belief that lives need to be changed; activism, the expression of the gospel in effort; biblicism,…
By: Kayli Hillebrand on February 1, 2022
The readings this week were centered around the birth and progression of Evangelicalism and its relationship to capitalism. D.W. Bebbington’s historical Evangelicalism in Modern Britain provided a broad context of the formation and expansion of Evangelicalism throughout Britain. A history professor by trade in both Scotland and in the U.S., Bebbington articulates what an Evangelical…
By: Mary Kamau on January 30, 2022
Leadership is probably the discipline that has attracted the highest number of authors and it amazes me the rate at which new ideas and techniques for increased productivity, are identified and touted as the latest or ‘the must have’ for success in leadership. It’s also true that every leader is on the look out for…
By: Henry Gwani on January 28, 2022
Perhaps few books on leadership compare with Edwin Friedman’s Failure of Nerve, a critical examination of contemporary American leadership against the background 15th and 16th century European leadership. Using Europe’s transition from a millennium of uneventful ordinariness to a glorious era of innovation, art, exploration, discovery and expansion[1], Friedman argues that, today like in the…
By: Elmarie Parker on January 28, 2022
In the fall, I focused on Edwin H. Friedman’s arguments regarding empathy and the ways in which empathy disempowers personal responsibility, thus contributing to toxic, reactive, chronic anxiety. As I summarized then, in A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix, Friedman develops his argument for why it is a leader’s…
By: Nicole Richardson on January 27, 2022
Meaning-making or map-making is my over arching understanding of this doctorate journey. What does my map of leadership look like and how do I make meaning of it? I sometimes wish I could physically open that popup relief map and walk into it to get a street level perspective. This is one of those times.…
By: Troy Rappold on January 27, 2022
In re-reading Friedman’s book, A Failure of Nerve, my attention became directed on chapter two. The title is, A Society in Regression and it discusses at length how our American culture is unraveling. “A society cannot evolve, no matter how much freedom is guaranteed, when the citizenry is more focused on one another than on…
By: Roy Gruber on January 27, 2022
One of my favorite parts of a trying story from the Old Testament comes from Job and his friends. Job’s companions get so much wrong in the story. They offer shallow answers to bottomless pain. They espouse theological misunderstandings that only add to Job’s misery. They offer platitudes when there are no answers. What the…
By: Denise Johnson on January 26, 2022
The sunny weather this week has created many opportunities to be outdoors and take walks in nature. On one such adventure I came across the above quote. It was not until my second glance at the sign that I realized the choice of preposition, with. It was at this point that I thought that Muir…
By: Michael Simmons on January 26, 2022
Individuality vs. Togetherness This blog post focuses on what Friedman calls fallacies of self by charting leadership philosophies on a spectrum between autocracy and individuality. Friedman begins with a fictitious dialog between the earliest known organisms known to creation: the eukaryotes and the prokaryotes. The eukaryotes are are multicellular, adaptive and likely dopaminergic; they value individuality and…
By: Eric Basye on January 26, 2022
The late Edwin Friedman delivers powerful leadership principles in his book, A Failure of Nerve. Through his work as a rabbi, family therapist, and leadership consultant, Friedman identifies “that the climate of contemporary America has become so chronically anxious that our society has gone into an emotional regression that is toxic to well-defined leadership.”[1] Incorporating…
By: Kayli Hillebrand on January 26, 2022
Through a second and deeper pass at Friedman’s A Failure of Nerve, I found myself focused on how self-differentiation manifests in the context of realistic issues that leaders face today. As a quick recap, Friedman’s work is classified within the social science field of psychology and is aimed at empowering leaders of today to embrace…
