Greetings from Sunny Southern <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:state> (at least it is this afternoon...)
A colleague of mine from <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Azusa</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">Pacific</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype></st1:place> is putting together a panel for this year's International Leadership Association, which will be meeting in Los Angeles in early November 2008. For those who are not familiar, the ILA is a smaller conference than the AOM and a great place to present leadership focused papers. His panel is on "Leadership and the Global Religions" and there is currently still room for others to participate. Below is from the "works in progress" announcement
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Leadership and the Global Religions
Religious beliefs carry implications for the purposes and practices of leadership. Religious rituals involve priests, imams, pastors, gurus, rabbis, shamans, and teachers whose job is to facilitate the religious community's devotional practices. But it is the history and myths of founders that have captured the imaginations of those who follow and it is their early doctrines that form the guiding principles for succeeding generations of leaders. In the current clash of civilizations, the global faiths would need to better understand each other. The goal is not the creation of a synthesized religion. The goal is to engage in dialogue. While the religions are unlikely to release their own internal sense of superiority, they can still seek to respectively listen to one another. Such respectful listening begins when leaders set the pace. Understanding the nature of leadership, then, from the perspective of each religion and its founder, is a valuable starting point. The distinctives of religious leadership can help others the motivations, values, objectives, as well as short-comings, of those who lead in the name of their faith. This call is for papers that would offer the best thinking regarding the ideals of religious leadership. A panel will allow each presenter to share a paper followed by conversation amongst presenters and audience. I have a paper emerging on "Christian Leadership" and eager for further collaboration!
Paul Kaak, Azusa Pacific University
Email: pkaak@apu.edu
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Here is the link to all the works in progress and the ILA web site:
http://www.ila-net.org/Conferences/inprogressabstracts.htm
Paul is looking for some diversity of religious views here, so if you are interested in being a part of this panel, please contact him directly at the e-mail above. The deadline is soon so please act quickly if interested.
Regards,
Frank Markow