Abstract
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints provides a multitude of leadership opportunities to its members. Although many valuable leadership training resources are available, the Book of Mormon is surprisingly absent as a source material on leadership. Written by and about leaders in the ancient Americas, it seems like the Book of Mormon should contain important principles on how to lead within the context of building God’s kingdom that could be instructive. The Book of Mormon was not preserved to teach modern leadership styles, nor does its usefulness depend on how it does or does not connect to these leadership theories. However, an analysis of the leadership qualities and practices exhibited by leaders in the Book of Mormon could help leaders in the Church to use the Book of Mormon for inspiration and guidance.This paper analyzed the leadership decisions exhibited by Captain Moroni and identified remarkable similarities to transformational leadership and its four components. Nephi, on the other hand, showed a servant leader mentality. Both of these leaders achieved remarkable levels of success, consistent with the current literature on both styles of leadership.
Degree
MA
College and Department
Religious Education; Ancient Scripture
Rights
http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/
BYU ScholarsArchive Citation
Peterson, Christopher J., ""Our Leaders Were Mighty": Identifying Modern Leadership Philosophies in the Book of Mormon" (2019). Theses and Dissertations. 7581.
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/7581
Date Submitted
2019-07-01
Document Type
Thesis
Handle
http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etd10921
Keywords
Book of Mormon, Captain Moroni, Nephi, leadership, transformational leadership, servant leadership, followership
Language
english