On Developing a Deeper Understanding of Authentic Leadership: Interpreting Matthew 3:11 - 5:48 Using Intertexture Analysis and Social and Cultural Texture Analysis

Abstract This inductive, qualitative research study explore the construct of authentic leadership within the context of organizational leadership as demonstrated within the Matthew 3:11 – 5:48 pericope. Using the Matthew 3:11 – 5:48 pericope as a foundation for authentic leadership, this study seeks to answer the following research question: How does the pericope within the Christian sacred text that describes Jesus' baptism, temptations, subsequent start of ministry, and initial teachings as found in Matthew 3:11 – 5:48 contribute to our current understanding of how organizational outcomes are affected by leader morality when applied from within the intrapersonal, interpersonal, developmental, and pragmatic perspectives of authentic leadership? This research followed the exegetical foundation as described by Robbins (1996a, 1996b), and focused primarily on the frameworks associated with intertexture analysis and social and cultural texture analysis. Nine themes emerged from the data, suggesting the authenticity of Jesus was further enhanced through the intrapersonal perspective, the interpersonal perspective, the developmental perspective, and the pragmatic perspective. Specifically, the nine themes identified the following aspects of authentic leadership: (a) use of traditions, regulations, and pre-existing laws, (b) recitation of traditions, regulations, and pre-existing laws, (c) reconfiguration of traditions, regulations, and pre-existing laws, (d) use of reference, allusion, and echo to build authenticity as a leader, (e) use of social knowledge and its use in establishing authenticity, (f) use of reformist discourse to emphasize different authentic leadership approaches, (g) the concept of ascribed honor and its importance to authentic leaders, (h) the concept of challenge-response and its use in authentic leadership, and (i) the concept of purity and its role in authentic leadership. A discussion about the research findings and their implications to the contemporary organizational leadership context is included. This research also addresses the limitations of this study, as well as provides guidelines pertaining to possible future research related to the topic of authentic leadership studied from within a Christian worldview