{"id":14166,"date":"2017-10-05T10:58:42","date_gmt":"2017-10-05T17:58:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=14166"},"modified":"2017-10-05T11:55:48","modified_gmt":"2017-10-05T18:55:48","slug":"frankopan-a-leader-in-his-own-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/frankopan-a-leader-in-his-own-right\/","title":{"rendered":"Frankopan: A Leader in His Own Right"},"content":{"rendered":"

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One cannot do justice, in a four-day reading period, to a book so influential and impactful, not to mention that it is 600 plus pages. Besides, I am not an historian, and so a review of his methodology would be less than accurate. However, I do wish to bring a modicum of connection to The Silk Roads<\/em> and the topic of leadership with the thought that not only is Peter Frankopan an established and respected academic and historian, he is also a leader his own right. Frankopan shows leadership ala Dupree in that he challenges the conventional wisdom, he articulates a clear vision, and he opened the door for a practical path forward. (1)<\/p>\n

Frankopan challenges conventional wisdom via specific analysis and his central thesis. Of the many examples in which he challenges conventional wisdom via his analysis, one example that comes to mind is his approach to the impact of the Black Plague on Europe. Conventional wisdom suggests that the Black Plague decelerated the growth of Europe; Frankopan argues for the opposite. The Black Plague accelerated the growth of Europe and was, in fact, the foundation for the Europe\u2019s industrial revolution. In Frankopan\u2019s analysis, Europe in the post-plague era was forced to rethink and rebuild in a way that laid the foundation for the coming industrial age. (2)<\/p>\n

This small example is a sub-point to his primary challenge to conventional wisdom; that is, the \u201c\u2026bridge between east and west is the very crossroads of civilization.\u201d (3) Frankopan argues that the center of the world’s development was not Europe but Central Asia, effectively shifting the\u00a0center of development from west to east. This is Frankopan\u2019s principal challenge to conventional wisdom and what places him as a de facto leader and a brave academic.<\/p>\n

To challenge conventional wisdom one must first see the world in a way others do not. To illustrate, Frankopan relates a childhood memory of a world map that hung on his bedroom wall. The map challenged his view of the world leading to questions of why some areas seem\u00a0to be overlooked or under-represented on the map. (4)<\/p>\n

His illustration reminded me of an experience I had when I visited an elementary school in the Czech Republic. I stared at the map on the wall for some time before I began to realize why it looked so different from the other maps that I had seen. Europe and not the \u201cAmericas\u201d was in the center of the map. Since then, I have noticed that almost every region of the world has the map adjusted accordingly. It\u00a0is not a value-judgment issue but a world-view issue in which we all tend to place ourselves and culture at the center of the world. In this way, Frankopan leads by asking us to see the world in a new way.<\/p>\n

In addition to challenging conventional wisdom, Frankopan clearly articulates a vision that motivates and challenges the reader to consider and decide. Frankopan\u2019s vision is both well developed and eloquently stated. In fact, it is so plainly said that it is easily condensed into one sentence\u2014the east and not the west was the center of the developing world…period. Of course, he goes on to elaborate his thesis in detail providing illustrations that help make the vision clearer.<\/p>\n

For example, he uses the metaphor of the human body\u2019s nervous system to describe the Silk Road.\u00a0 The Silk Road was the neural connection where business practices were formed and carried out, where various faiths met and often clashed, where languages formed, and relationships developed. It was both the highway of information and the place of formation and change. (5)<\/p>\n

In another example, he continues the map motif referring to a map that hung in the Great Council Hall of the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena, Italy. The map illustrated Italy\u2019s desire for expanding influence via lines emanating from Siena throughout the world\u2014not unlike the flight map in the magazine one reads while on an airplane. The map illustrated Europe\u2019s desire to connect with the east and the importance of the Silk Road in making those connections.(6)<\/p>\n

Finally, Frankopan has opened the door for a practical path forward, in particular, by being one of the influencers who has challenged the missiological world to take a new look at the impact the Silk Road had on the spread of the Gospel. This new look has initiated a renewed effort to see the Silk Road as, once again, a pathway for the spread of the Gospel. At first glance, the missiological influence of The Silk Roads<\/em> seems to be outside of Frankopan\u2019s rationale for his writing. But on second look it is precisely the reason.\u00a0 Frankopan states, \u201cMy hope is that I can embolden others to study peoples and places that have been ignored by scholars for generations by opening up new questions and new areas of research.\u201d (7)<\/p>\n

Frankopan has his detractors, but not many. And those who disagree, disagree on the finer points for example that he uses facts that are not well established or that he has left out essential events or misinterpreted more significant events. (8) \u00a0Possibly all valid points, but the more significant point for the context of the LPG program is that Frankopan leads the way by challenging conventional wisdom, articulating a clear vision and then opened the door for a practical path forward. Frankopan is a leader in his own right!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Max Depree. Leadership is an Art<\/i>. New York, NY: Crown Business, 2004, 11-21.<\/li>\n
  2. Peter\u00a0Frankopan.\u00a0The Silk Roads: A New History of the World<\/i>. Kindle ed. New York: Knof, 2016, Loc. 4468.<\/li>\n
  3. Ibid., Loc. 186.<\/li>\n
  4. Ibid., Loc. 166.<\/li>\n
  5. Ibid., Loc. 195.<\/li>\n
  6. Ibid., Loc. 4249.<\/li>\n
  7. Ibid., Loc. 279.<\/li>\n
  8. Thomas, Mark. \u201cBook Review: The Silk Roads, By Peter Frankopan.\u201d http:\/\/www.smh.com.au\/entertainment\/books\/book-review-the-silk-roads-by-peter-frankopan-20151109-gku485.html (accessed Oct 5, 2017); Frank Anthony. \u201cThe Silk Roads By Peter Frankopan Review \u2014 a Frustrating Trail.\u201d https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/books\/2015\/sep\/29\/silk-roads-peter-frankopan-review (accessed Oct 5, 2017).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    One cannot do justice, in a four-day reading period, to a book so influential and impactful, not to mention that it is 600 plus pages. Besides, I am not an historian, and so a review of his methodology would be less than accurate. However, I do wish to bring a modicum of connection to The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[762],"class_list":["post-14166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-frankopan","cohort-lgp7"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14166"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14166\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14179,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14166\/revisions\/14179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}