By: Kari on September 12, 2024
October 31, 2017, marked the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. The Reformation is said to have started when Martin Luther posted his famous 95 Theses in 1517.[1] I celebrated this milestone with my house church in Islamic Africa. It was an inspiring day as we reflected on the Reformers’ sacrifices. It was not lost…
By: Pam Lau on September 12, 2024
“It occurred to me that there were two sets of virtues, the resume virtues and the eulogy virtues. The resume virtues are the skills you bring to the marketplace. The eulogy virtues are the ones talked about at your funeral–whether you were kind, brave, honest or faithful. Were you capable of deep love?”-David Brooks, The Moral…
By: Todd E Henley on September 12, 2024
This week, I was taken back to 1984, my senior year of high school. I remember that spring studying various religions but the only one that stood out was Taoism, because I remember thinking, this is a nice way of living. Forty years later I am so glad I read Tao Te Ching by Lao…
By: Joel Zantingh on September 12, 2024
I work to inspire and equip followers of Jesus to embrace peace and reconciliation, but these important end goals can never be reduced to the absence of conflict — one must learn peacemaking and peace building as part of the non-violent path to resolving division, or avoiding war whenever possible, which is not always feasible.…
By: Graham English on September 12, 2024
How does one grow in Christlikeness in a world that makes it difficult for someone to do so? The Rule of St. Benedict was written by Benedict of Nursia, to help monks live in a monastic community as they sought to grow in Christlikeness together. Benedict became a monk at age 20, after being exposed…
By: Diane Tuttle on September 12, 2024
The Rule of Benedict dates back, approximately to the mid-600s AD. Today, it remains a constitution of sorts that men agree to follow when entering a Benedictine monastery. Although Benedict called the book, “a little rule for beginners,” it prescribed every aspect of the daily life for the community.[1] Benedict believed that by following the…
By: Shela Sullivan on September 12, 2024
This is a Syntopical book review based on a text that explores the importance of leadership. Nehemiah provides a classic and practical model of managerial leadership in spite of obstacles and challenges. He led God’s people in accomplishing the challenging goals set before them and his leadership style reaped the benefits of having the people…
By: Jenny Dooley on September 11, 2024
Have you ever heard of Arthashastra? I hadn’t until this week’s assignment. Led by my curiosity about what 300+ year old books on leadership might exist in Asia, I was delighted to find an ancient book from the sub-continent of India that predates much of what is considered classical treatises on leadership and statecraft from…
By: Glyn Barrett on September 11, 2024
Sun Tzu’s, The Art of War, believed to be written in 512 BC, is a long-standing exposition on leadership, asserting that the paramount objective in warfare is to ruin the adversary’s strategy.[1] This insight holds profound relevance, particularly within the context of the spiritual battles faced by Christians. My life coach recently reminded me that…
By: Debbie Owen on September 11, 2024
One of the primary reasons the concepts behind the Enneagram first resonated with me can be summed up in the words of Paul in Romans 7:18b-19: “For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the…
By: Kim Sanford on September 10, 2024
Today’s leadership lesson is brought to you by not one, but two, very old books. I enjoyed the challenge of this week’s assignment, perhaps a little too much. I went down a bit of a nerdy rabbit hole[1] and ended up skimming through four books before sitting down to write. I had to stop myself…
By: Adam Cheney on September 10, 2024
My bookshelf is full of modern books, and it is difficult to find a book older than thirty years. The challenge to find a book over three hundred years old was aided with a simple prompt in AI. The leadership book I chose to read was The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli. I chose it for…
By: Christy on September 10, 2024
The Art of War, by Sun Tzu is an ancient Chinese military writing, dating back to the 5th century BCE. The Art of War has been used by East Asians, Southeast Asians, French, and English for centuries and millennia and is highly regarded as one of the most influential strategy texts on warfare. [1] Before…
By: Scott Dickie on September 10, 2024
Although the book I read was published in 2016 (1), the content of the book was authored some 1900 years earlier (sometime between 98-140 AD) by Ignatius. Perhaps the most famous ‘Ignatius’ is Ignatius of Loyola, but Ignatius of Theophorus had an equally significant historical impact on Christianity—being widely recognized as one of the three…
By: Esther Edwards on September 9, 2024
Finding a book on leadership that has been in continuous print for over 300 years is not an easy feat. Having just purchased a myriad of books for the semester, I asked my husband if he could think of any “book of old.” He immediately mentioned the Foxe’s Book of Martyrs of which he had…
By: Mathieu Yuill on September 9, 2024
Syntopical Review of Meditations: “Be One” – Leadership Lessons from Marcus Aurelius “Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.” This quote from Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations[1] gets right to the point: instead of debating what makes a good leader, simply become one. In today’s world, where leadership advice is everywhere,…
By: Tim Clark on September 9, 2024
There has not been an assignment that has impacted me more than this one: To blog on a book written about leadership that’s over 300 years old. Here’s why it has been so impactful: 300+ year old history is full of books, but it was surprising to me to discover how difficult it was to…
By: Jeff Styer on September 9, 2024
Do you ever look around the world today and notice all of the various issues with which we must contend? Do you ever wonder if things are different today than compared to the past.; do leaders face the same issues? King Solomon stated that there is nothing new under the sun, does that hold true…
By: John Fehlen on September 9, 2024
The text I have chosen to review is Meditations, written between 170 and 180 AD by Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. Marcus Aurelius was a Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoic philosopher. Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy that was birthed and flourished in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. The Stoics believed that practicing…
By: Travis Vaughn on September 9, 2024
Intro Born in A.D. 121, Marcus Aurelius served as emperor of the Roman Empire from A.D. 161 until his death in A.D. 180. And according to CNN, the Stoic wisdom found in his Meditations is the very thing people need “to survive the anxiety of the 2024 election.”[1] I’ll get to that, but first some…
