The Enneagram, a personality typing system that allocates people into types numbered one through nine, has pexploded in popularity with Christian publishers in the last decade. In 2016, Enneagram teachers Suzanne Stabile and Ian Chron released The Road Back to You, which sold more than 1 million copies worldwide and paved the way for more Christian Enneagram titles. Two authors are building on this popularity with books that present self-awareness through the Enneagram as a starting point for reaching a deeper spirituality according to their personality type.

The Enneagram sorts people into one of the nine personality types with distinct positive and negative traits as determined by how they answer questions about motivations, decision-making, problem-solving, and interpersonal relationships. And Hunter Mobley, former pastor, Enneagram teacher, and author Letting Go, Finding You: Uncover Your Truest Self Through the Enneagram and Contemplation (Broadleaf, May 13) argues that, “at our core, we are the opposite of what our Enneagram number represents.” Mobley believes each number’s “passion” is that person's outward self, while their “virtue” represents their inner, or true self. “The virtues and the passions are just two sides of the same coin,” Mobley says.

“I think a lot of readers will have this aha moment that maybe I’ve been understanding my true self wrong,” says Broadleaf acquisitions editor Lisa Kloskin, who is an Enneagram 2, like Mobley. According to him, this means their “passion” is pride, and their “virtue” is humility. Often called “The Helper” or “The Giver,” Mobley notes that 2s like to view themselves as “saviors,” but struggle to accept help from others. Yet within each Enneagram 2, Mobley argues, is a person who can have more humility than any other number. But to access it, he says, “We have to move from the posture of taking on to a posture of letting go,” he says.

Leaning in to letting go

Mobley says he realized that letting go was the key to spiritual transformation when he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2020. Forced to accept his body’s newfound limitations, Mobley was thrown into an “experiment in humility.” Though he initially found it “humiliating,” Mobley learned that through acceptance and “letting go” he was able to slow down and accept help from others, ultimately connecting him with his virtue.

Though not every reader will be faced with a life-altering event that directly challenges their number’s “passion,” Mobley believes everyone can achieve the same transformation he did by “taking a journey inward.” The path his book offers centers around “contemplation,” which he describes as the “contrast to an active spiritual approach.”

Instead of engaging in “consumer spirituality,” which Mobley describes as akin to “five-step” spiritual practices focused on active changes, he promotes slowing down and connecting with one’s inner self. He recommends “centering prayer” as one of the first steps on a contemplative spiritual path, suggesting taking five minutes a day to empty the mind of thought—similar to meditation, but with the intention set beforehand to be open to God’s presence.

Mobley says his book “is not trying to lead readers to any one faith or spiritual journey.” Rather, he hopes readers of all spiritual backgrounds learn that “combining the Enneagram with a contemplative spiritual practice can bring about the greatest transformation.” Kloskin says she believes readers will find solace in Mobley’s assertion that the key to spiritual growth lies within us. “That’s such a gift this book can give,” she says.

Pastor and Enneagram coach Tyler Zach has self-published The Gospel for Enneagram. It is a series of nine books (out now), each devoted to one Enneagram number. Zach describes each type by its positive and negative characteristics. For example, The Gospel for Enthusiasts: A 40-Day Devotional for Fun, Optimistic Adventurers: (Enneagram Type 7) says that while they are energetic and optimistic by nature they are often overextended and scattered. His book suggests ways "to help you hear from God and encourage you as you make the world a more exciting place with your imagination, spontaneity, and enthusiasm.”