A Good Society Revisited.
As you may have noticed, my latest posts have been inspired by Robert Greenleaf’s writings collected in the book THE POWER OF SERVANT LEADERSHIP . While working my way through the essay “The Servant as Religious Leader” on the bus the other day, I came across another reference to Greenleaf’s great description on what “good society” consists of. (See my January 17, 2008 post for the prior reference to Greenleaf’s “good society”.) Greenleaf expands on what constitutes a good society in this essay.
"Among many facets of a “good” society that might be achieved with finite resources are: the opportunity for as many people as possible to engage in useful and remunerative work — with the feeling of belonging and being a part of a constructive effort where they are; children get good preparation for a life of service; strong young people are encouraged and prepared for religious leadership; health is encouraged and the environment is protected; the needy, the aged, and the disabled are cared for."
Earlier in the essay, Greenleaf points out his ideas on what constitutes religious leadership: “(in its root meaning of religio — to bind or rebind) is the quality of the consequences of her or his leadership. Does it have a healing or civilizing influence? Does it nurture the servant motive in people, favor their growth as persons, and help them distinguish those who serve from those who destroy?”
Now that is a society I would hope we all would like to belong to. In last weeks Earth Day post, I wrote about merging Greenleaf’s “best test” with Leopold’s “land ethic”. What is interesting is that Greenleaf’s “good society” as created by religious leadership may have the power to do just that.
So are we following the nurturers or the destroyers?
"Among many facets of a “good” society that might be achieved with finite resources are: the opportunity for as many people as possible to engage in useful and remunerative work — with the feeling of belonging and being a part of a constructive effort where they are; children get good preparation for a life of service; strong young people are encouraged and prepared for religious leadership; health is encouraged and the environment is protected; the needy, the aged, and the disabled are cared for."
Earlier in the essay, Greenleaf points out his ideas on what constitutes religious leadership: “(in its root meaning of religio — to bind or rebind) is the quality of the consequences of her or his leadership. Does it have a healing or civilizing influence? Does it nurture the servant motive in people, favor their growth as persons, and help them distinguish those who serve from those who destroy?”
Now that is a society I would hope we all would like to belong to. In last weeks Earth Day post, I wrote about merging Greenleaf’s “best test” with Leopold’s “land ethic”. What is interesting is that Greenleaf’s “good society” as created by religious leadership may have the power to do just that.
So are we following the nurturers or the destroyers?
posted by Tom Jablonski at 9:13 PM
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