Leadership as a call to service
The Life and Works of Hildegard of Bingen
Christine Cameron
Paperback, 226 Pages
Modotti Press
ISBN: 9781925138870
Published October 2015
The book you are about to read provides a new paradigm for understanding the ministry of a twelfth-century cloistered Benedictine nun, St Hildegard of Bingen, the fourth woman doctor of the Church in light of twenty-first century servant leadership. Christine Cameron reveals to us the role of the servant leader as defined by Larry C. Spears (1998). She demonstrates how St Hildegard embodies each of the ten characteristics presented by Spears: listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualisation, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people, and building community. By examining the saint’s life and writings, Cameron places Hildegard in the company of twenty-first century religious, educational and corporate leaders who shape and guide our own journeys. She then compares St Hildegard’s servant leadership to that of the other three women doctors of the Church: St Teresa of Ávila, St Catherine of Siena and St Thérèse of Lisieux, whose theological teachings were deemed to have lasting value for all time, not just for the times in which they lived.
- From the Foreword, Linn Maxwell Keller
Christine Cameron is a sessional lecturer with the Australian Catholic University. Christine has served in administrative positions in Catholic primary schools in New South Wales Australia as Principal, Assistant Principal and as Religious Education Co-ordinator. This book complements Christine’s 2012 book Leadership as a call to service The lives and Works of Teresa of Ávila, Catherine of Siena and Thérèse of Lisieux. Both books are based on Christine’s successful PhD research ‘Women Doctors of the Catholic Church: A Study in servant Leadership’.
