Stones That the Builders Rejected

Six eminent black scholars, women and men, examine the black church's distinctive socio-cultural location and long history of producing quality leadership despite inadequate material and social resources. They build on the hypothesis that it is precisely this distinctiveness that makes the black church tradition a prime candidate for offering direction for the development of leaders for today's national and global communities. While using distinct methodological approaches for understanding ethical leadership, all of the contributors express the need to return to some of the powerful resources of the past as a way of rethinking appropriate forms and styles of leadership in the lives of African Americans and the nation at large.