The Leadership of Nehemiah Biblical Leadership through the Lens of Leadership Studies: Critical Analysis & New Models

This thesis drives to find connecting points between leadership studies and biblical studies by providing understanding of the two disciplines and where each discipline benefits and complements the other. As an experimental example, the leadership of Nehemiah within the modern biblical text offers a testing ground to witness the use of leadership studies as a lens to analyze biblical leadership. The thesis first provides an overview of leadership studies to create a foundation to analyze the leadership of Nehemiah using leadership theory. Specifically, six different leadership theories are analyzed that will be used to describe the leadership of Nehemiah. This includes path-goal leadership theory, transformational leadership theory, charismatic leadership theory, authentic leadership theory, servant leadership theory, and adaptive leadership theory. Within each theory, three models of that theory are evaluated and used to analyze Nehemiah’s leadership. The focus of this thesis is the creation of a pioneering leadership commentary on the text of Nehemiah. This themed commentary divides the text of Nehemiah into individual contexts of leadership so that each leadership act of Nehemiah can be individually analyzed, and separate styles of leadership can be discerned and discussed. Each context will be evaluated using the models of leadership studies found in the six leadership theories selected. Finally, it is concluded that Nehemiah adapted his leadership style to each leadership context presented to him. Depending on the situational needs, Nehemiah altered his leadership style to gain success within the context and within his leadership overall. However, the text does not solely express Nehemiah’s successes, but also identifies his challenges and his failures. This allows modern readers to evaluate Nehemiah’s strengths and failures to apply Nehemiah’s leadership to modern leadership situations. Overall, this thesis provides new methods of analyzing the biblical text to begin a deeper conversation between biblical studies and leadership studies and provides a starting point to future projects that incorporate the two disciplines.