{"id":24547,"date":"2019-10-24T14:20:34","date_gmt":"2019-10-24T21:20:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=24547"},"modified":"2019-10-24T14:20:34","modified_gmt":"2019-10-24T21:20:34","slug":"the-rabbit-hole-of-anger-and-power-and-beth-moore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/the-rabbit-hole-of-anger-and-power-and-beth-moore\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rabbit Hole of Anger and Power (and Beth Moore)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kets de Vries has put together a variety of cautionary essays in Down the Rabbit Hole of Leadership<\/em>. It was helpful to remember his admission that he has been greatly affected by dystopian literature.[1]<\/a> He writes about the dark side of leadership and yet still maintains a sense of hope. Perhaps his goal is that if we consider long enough the destructive potential of leadership that we may actually end up choosing differently. It reminded me of Tourish\u2019s The Dark Side of Transformational Leadership <\/em>and his objective to \u201cchallenge its (transformational leadership) fundamental premises in a significant way and scrutinize its contradictions.\u201d[2]<\/a> I will follow Tourish and Kets de Vries down their path of scrutiny.<\/p>\n

Some may be aware of what transpired recently in American evangelical circles between Pastor John MacArthur and Bible teacher Beth Moore. I will not go into details but suffice it to say, it has been ugly and painful, with MacArthur telling the audience at his conference that Beth Moore needs to “go home”, among other things. I have refrained from making any social media comments and have attempted restraint with time spent down this \u201crabbit hole\u201d. I offer a few simple thoughts and questions here on two themes I have observed from this incident.<\/p>\n

Anger<\/p>\n

There is a good deal of anger on both sides of this controversy. It has made me wonder about the connection between extremities and anger. Do they always go together? When does anger become destructive? I wonder about what Paul admonished \u201cin your anger, do not sin\u201d[3]<\/a> and what that looks like in this situation. We all experience anger. And when it touches on issues of dignity and discrimination, there is an appropriate righteous anger. And we still cannot ignore the call to \u201cnot sin\u201d in this. How do we stay pure, all while experiencing anger at injustice? Surely this is a work of grace and really difficult.<\/p>\n

What practices would Christian leaders need to create space for this work of grace without disengaging from injustices?<\/p>\n

Power<\/p>\n

Kets de Vries is helpful in his chapter \u201cAre You Addicted to Power?\u201d. He offers a list of questions to help an honest leader determine their relationship with power:<\/p>\n