69 Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Prophetic Leadership Steve Stanley, Ph.D. Dr. Steve Stanley (Leadership Studies, '25) currently serves as Senior Program Professional at TAPFIN-ManpowerGroup Solutions in Aubrey, Texas. Dietrich Bonhoeffer remains in the Christian zeitgeist as an enigmatic leader whose life was cut short due to his continued opposition to the Nazi regime. His leadership has been studied through the lenses of various leadership paradigms, revealing his distinctive and dynamic leadership practice. American theologian Paul Lehman claimed Bonhoeffer was “the prophet of new Christianity” following the German pastor’s death.1 The idea of his prophetic leadership has echoed through the halls of Christendom since his death, amplifying his voice beyond 20th Century Germany. Yet, a cohesive definition of prophetic leadership has since been lacking in the literature against which Bonhoeffer can be reviewed. My recent dissertation sought not only to claim Bonhoeffer’s prophetic leadership, but to articulate a definition of prophetic leadership based upon Walter Brueggemann’s Prophetic Imagination.2 It is the claim of both that dissertation and this article that Bonhoeffer’s leadership is best understood through the lens of prophetic leadership as articulated by Brueggemann. Brueggemann and Prophetic Imagination Walter Brueggemann published Prophetic Imagination in 1978 and has revisited the text many times since.3 This text is a celebrated work on the task of the biblical prophets viewed through a socio-political lens. Prophetic Imagination focuses upon how the biblical prophets engaged with society and with the rulers of their day. From this perspective, Prophetic Imagination has much overlap with leadership studies, positioning the biblical prophets into unique leadership roles distinct from other leaders in the Bible. While Brueggemann’s task was broader than
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