Jesus the incapable manager

The recent issue of Neue Wege - Beiträge zu Religion und Sozialismus* - right, the socialist ideal is not dead - features an interview Ina Praetorius did with Alphonse-Marie Bitulu from Kinshasa, who wrote a book entitled "Jésus, le mauvais gestionnaire" - Jesus, the incapable manager. The title and approach intrigue me. It points to a discrepancy of an ever more managed church and christian or religious service which at the same time often seems to drown in dilettantism and mismanagement. But the myth that good (today meaning results-based) management automatically yields good results grows steadily and threatens to suffocate true vision, creativity and authentic care for each other.

By the way, Bitulu wrote the book in the late Mobutu years, that's quite a while ago. He tells Praetorius that he was pressured to put a question mark behind the title, or change it. Bitulu has written other books, none of which were published because he does not have the means...

* Neue Wege Nr 9, 2009