ABSTRACT

In the New Testament, it is reported that when Jesus went into the wilderness to prepare for his mission as a prophet, Satan approached him. Outlining one possible version of the future, Satan offered him a loaf of bread: he could secure him against the threat of hunger. Failing that, he then suggested Jesus provokes God into a miraculous intervention: if he threw himself off the pinnacle of the temple in Jerusalem, God would have to send his angels to save him. The canning factory manager can be forgiven if he dreams of endless lines of perfectly formed pears. Even managers standing at the boundaries of their organizations understandably are looking for the familiar: new sources of fruit or oil, new markets, but the new should be as much as possible like the old. It should be reliable, predictable. Principals are looking for good teachers and seeking out stable and smoothly functioning relationships with families in the community.