There are two styles of leadership at war in the world. On one side the mechanical leader casts a vision of heroic action aided by pragmatism, reason, technology, and power. On the other side the organic leader strives to bring forth creativity, defying convention, and relishing life in culture’s margins. This leadership battle is at the heart of our contemporary culture, but it is also an ancient battle. It is the reinvocation of two great heresies, one rooted in an attempt to reach for godlikeness, the other bowing before the sea monster of the chaotic deep. Today’s leader must answer many challenging questions including: What does it mean to lead in a cultural storm? How do I battle the darkness in my own heart? Is there such a thing as a perfect leader? Weaving a history of leadership through the Enlightenment, Romanticism, tumultuous 19th-century Paris, and eventually World War II, cultural commentator Mark Sayers brings history and theology together to warn of the dangers yet to come, calling us to choose a better way.
CHRISTIANITY TODAY'S PASTORAL/CHURCH LEADERSHIP BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017 “In my first seminary class, we were asked to introduce ourselves and say why we enrolled. I’ll never forget what one student said… ‘My denomination wants me to have an M.Div., but once they see I can grow a big church, I don't think they'll make me finish the program.’” The priorities of this future pastor were startling, but he’s not alone in them.In the years since that class, author and minister Skye Jethani has seen more and more pastors swallowed by the celebrity syndrome. Not long ago, ministers were among the most trusted and admired people in our culture. But not anymore. A 2013 study from Gallop revealed that Americans’ admiration for clergy has reached an all-time low. That, taken with reduced trust of institutional religion overall, makes it easy to see why ministers feel insecure about their calling. In response to this trend, some pastors have looked to emulate those who are praised by the culture—business leaders, entertainers, and social activists. This has led to a new understanding of what a minister should be. We’ve turned away from viewing our pastors as shepherds, and now expect them to be celebrities. Immeasurable will help ministers recognize the cultural forces shaping their view of the calling, and then reimagine what faithful church leaders can look like in the twenty-first century. Through short essays and reflections on the pastor’s soul and skills, this book will help prospective pastors explore their calling to ministry, and it will help veteran pastors reframe their vision for the work. Drawing on cultural dynamics, personal stories, and his own experience working in a church and with church leaders, Skye Jethani will address matters like ambition, anger, community, consumerism, fame, health, justice, platform, preaching, rest,simplicity, success, vision, and more. There are endless resources to help pastors do the practical work of ministry, but there are far fewer that speak to the pastor’s soul and spirit. Immeasurable provides affirmation and encouragement for church leaders faithfully serving God. It commends the true work of ministry—shepherding, teaching, encouraging—while redefining what we mean by success in ministry. It’s a book church leaders can return to again and again for insight and inspiration.
This theoretical and empirical study examines the relationship between the organisation of work, industrial relations, production spaces and the dynamics of capitalist investment. Jamie Gough explores the connections between labour process change, products, local economy and society, spaces and forms of competition, and firm's locational strategies. In a path-breaking analysis he shows that these are closely bound up with the business cycle and other rhythms of investment. Differences within the labour process are central to the argument. Gough explores the divisions between workers arising from these differences and from spatial flows of capital, and suggests strategies through which these divisions might be overcome.
First published in 1987, International Capitalism and Industrial Restructuring counters the idea that industrial restructuring is a relatively problem-free stage in the evolution to a post-industrial society. The editor argues that the permanent loss of eight million manufacturing jobs in the advanced industrial countries over the past ten years has had extremely serious effects on people, economies, and societies, and that it is a major cause of economic recession. The six million jobs gained in the newly industrializing countries pay low wages, expose workers to hazards, destroy local cultures, and fail in generating integrated development for the Third World. Many outstanding articles are included, drawn from a wide variety of radical journals, with introductions that set the scene and pose challenging questions. All students and researchers concerned with industrial restructuring in the capitalist world will find the book valuable as a radical critique of widespread current economic problems.
First published in 1988, this reissue presents a comprehensive overview of contemporary developments and research into the geography of the Third World, at a time when economies and societies there were changing at a much more rapid rate than their counterparts in the developing world. It covers the topic both systematically and by region, showing how the unique background of each region affects developments there.
In The Unbelievable Gospel pastor Jonathan Dodson diagnoses the evangelistic paralysis of the modern church, pinpointing the reasons people don’t share their faith today and offering a desperately needed solution. Showing readers how to utilize the rich gospel metaphors found in Scripture and how to communicate a gospel worth believing—one that speaks to the heart-felt needs of diverse individuals—Dodson connects the gospel to the real issues people face each day by speaking to both the head and the heart. Filled with stories that reveal the long road of relational evangelism and guidance on how to listen to others well, The Unbelievable Gospel is a much-needed resource that will benefit both individuals and churches. Included are study questions for training and group discussion.
Christians are called to model a way of life that challenges the status quo and infuses the world with hope and possibility. We are to be people who see possibility where others see failure, beauty where others see ugliness and freedom where others see chains. This is the Upside Down Kingdom, where the forgotten are noticed, the silenced are given back their voice and love is stronger than hate. By exploring the teaching of Jesus, as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, Malcolm Duncan in Flipped traces the key components of this new community, this life-giving way of living. He explores the five key discourses in Matthew and invites us to a radical new way of living and being centred around the reign and the rule of King Jesus. The message of Flipped: The Upside Down Kingdom is one that our churches need to hear - that God's Kingdom is unshakeable, local churches are its vanguard and Christians are its citizens. Flipped paints a vision of what is possible when ordinary people catch a glimpse of God's radical call to follow the Lord Jesus.
First Published in 2004. It seems such a long time ago, another age—yet it is a mere twenty-odd years since the original Models in Geography was published. It is an even shorter time since the first tentative steps were taken towards an alternative formulation of what might constitute a geographical perspective within the social sciences. What came to be called the political-economy perspective has progressed with remarkable speed and energy to generate its own framework of conceptualization and analysis, its own questions and debates. The papers in these two volumes are witness to the richness and range of the work which has developed over this relatively short period within the political economy approach. Moreover, from being a debate within an institutionally defined ‘discipline of geography’, to introducing into that discipline ideas and discussions from the wider fields of philosophy and social science and the humanities more generally, it has now flowered into a consistent part of enquiries that span the entire realm of social studies.
