Abstract:
Inspired by Goffman and Mead Social Interactionism theory and Ghanaian traditional
leadership model, this article interprets Mark 7:24–30 as text that re-imagines alternative
leadership practice. The study suggest that social interactionism theory tenants of ritual
making, people processing, characterisation, frame making and dramaturgy provide a
alternative heuristic tools to understand Jesus’ view of leadership. Seemingly and for Jesus,
leadership is a product of social interaction derived from the manner one interacts with various
people. This study proposes that the Ghanaian Akan traditional notion of leadership based on
social interaction provides analogical model that complements social interactionism theory in
interpreting Jesus’ leadership practices. Therefore, the study explains social interactionism
theory and then illustrated it through Akan leadership model analogue. The story of the
Syrophoenician woman in Mark 7:24–30 gives the social interaction, people processing,
characterisation, frame making and dramaturgy that informs Jesus’ leadership model to be
modelled by the Church.
