The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery

Cron (Chasing Francis), an Episcopal priest, brings his witty, energetic voice to this collaboration with Stabile, a retreat director and expert on the Enneagram—a system of personality typology with roots in Christian and Islamic mysticism. The beauty of the Enneagram is its charity: the system clearly names the flaws as well as the virtues of each personality type. The Enneagram also counsels humility and acknowledges its own limits (“[The Enneagram] is not infallible or inerrant,” writes Cron and Stabile)—a welcome modesty in religious understanding today. As one of a number of ways of thinking about personality, it is a helpful spiritual analogue to Myers-Briggs typology. The authors counsel the use of the system, which includes nine distinct personality types, for self-knowledge: “The objective of it is self-understanding.” It is also a useful tool for ministers and managers and anyone who has to work with diverse personalities, which will make the book appropriate for seminary study. There isn’t much literature on the Enneagram, with little for curious evangelical Christians. Cron and Stabile’s approach is likely to appeal particularly to thoughtful younger Christians. (Oct.)