Parallel Lives of Spiritual Leaders
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12726/tjp.8.5Keywords:
Leadership, Spiritual Leaders, Spirituality, Philosophy, EnglishAbstract
Leadership studies refer to the discipline which seeks to understand how leaders emerge; traits, behaviors, and processes of effective leaders; and the interactions among leaders, followers, and their contexts. Leadership scholars have studied a wide variety of religious leaders through research on well-known figures (e.g. Jesus Christ). For example, The Journal of Religious Leadership publishes scholarly articles on leadership practices of specific religions such as the Quakers, Lutherans, Roman Catholics, and many others. Gurus, monks, priests, rabbis, and ulema are all recognized as religious leaders. While religious leaders have received a lot of attention in leadership studies, the role of spiritual leader in mystical traditions in largely ignored. Perhaps the emphasis on spiritual aspirants' direct experience of the divine shadows the role of leaders in these traditions. In this paper, I suggest that spiritual leaders serve as role models and symbols; they provide practical approaches and guidance that empower aspirants in their quests.
References
Baker, Susan D. "Followership: The Theoretical Foundation of a Contemporary Construct." Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies (2007), 50-60.
Bandura, Albert. On the Psychosocial Impact and Mechanisms of Spiritual Modeling. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion (2003), 167-174.
Belzebuub. Searching Within; A Nince Week Course. 2001. Mystic Web. November 2004 . Direct Quotes from Ramakrishna. October 2010. <http://www.vedanta.org/rko/ramakrishna/rk_quotes.html>.
French, John R. P. and Bertram Raven. The Bases of Social Power. Studies in Social Power. Ed. Dorwin Cartwright. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Ann Arbor, 1959, 150.
Gardner, William L. and John R. JrSchermerhorn. Performance Gains through Positive Organizational Behavior and Authentic Leadership. Organizational Dynamics 33.3 (2004), 270-281.
Greenleaf, Robert. Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness. paulist Press, 2002.
Hesse, Hermann. The Journey to the East. New York: Picador, 1956.
Hickey, Tom. Active vs Passive Meditation, 1999. October 2010 <http://www.kheper.net/topics/meditation/active_vs_passive.htm>.
House, R. J. Path-goal theory of leadership: Lessons, legacy, and a reformulated theory. Leadership Quarterly (1996), 323-352.
Northouse, Peter. Leardership: Theory and Practice. 4th Edition. Sage Publications, 2006.
Oman, Doug, Tim Flinder and Carl E. Thoreson. Integrating Spiritual Modeling into Education: A College Course for Stress Management and Spiritual Growth. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion (2008), 79-207.
Oman, Doug and Carl E. Thoresen. Spiritual Modeling: A Key to Spiritual Modeling. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion (2003), 167-174.
Rumi. Mystical Poems of Rumi: First Selection, Poems 1-200. Trans. A. J. Arberry. Chicago: THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS,1968.
Silberman, Israela. Spiritual Role Modeling: The Teaching of Meaning Systems: Comment, International Journal for the Pscyhology of Religion (2003), 175-195.
Suzuki, Daisetz Teitaro. The Training of the Zen Buddhist Monk. Cosimo Books, 2007.
Wood, Gabrielle. Privatizing Enlightenment in the Re-Emergence of Religion. Journal of Dharma (2009), 430-444.
Yukl Gary. Leadership in Organization. Pearson. 2010.
Zaccaro, Stephen J., Cary Kemp and Paige Bader. "Leader Traits and Attributes." Antonakis, John, Anna T. Cianciolo and Robert J. Sternberg. The Nature of Leadership. Sage Publications, 2004. 101-124.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2012 Gabrielle M Wood, PhD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
