Who We Are Is How We Pray: Matching Personality and Spirituality

by Charles Keating

Draws on the 16 personality types identified in the Myers-Briggs personality profile, matches each to a suitable form and style of spirituality, and shows why prayer is different for each.

Genres: Spirituality, Christian

168 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1987

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is about how different Myers-Briggs personality types approach prayer and spiritual practices. There is a one-chapter introduction to Myers-Briggs, followed by another quick chapter (the book calls it a "sampler") on Catholic spirituality. The meat of the book is an examination of prayer and spirituality through each of the eight M-B preferences: introversion/extroversion, sensing/intuitive, thinking/feeling, and judging/perceiving. The last chapters wrap everything up and give some examples of prayers based on MBTI types.

I enjoyed the basic premise of the book, but it fell well short of my expectations. For starters, this book is dominated by a Catholic viewpoint, so if you're not Catholic, you miss a lot. Also, the author tends to get off topic relatively easily; in the chapter on introversion, for example, there are suddenly paragraphs devoted to the S/N and T/F spectrums, with no ties to the main thrust of the chapter. The chapters have lots of storytelling but little broad application. Finally, some of the author's M-B theory is either outdated or just wrong.

A better version of this book would bring the reader up to date with current MBTI thought, be more broadly applicable across all of Christian practice, and would have more concrete application for the reader.

[James Oliver · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book that leads me to want to read up on other spiritual authors.

[Lori Neff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting look at Myers-Briggs and prayer.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

11/2016 This 1987 book explores the Myers Briggs personality indicators to spiritual or worship preferences of Christians, mainly Catholics. Very works oriented theology. Author suggests people work in preference areas and stretch in non-preference areas to become spiritual, practice prayer, and work toward holiness. If people reach a certain holiness with this work, God will meet them and help them further gain holiness. Apart from the Catholic theology, this book prompted much thought about my own prayer life and worship experiences as an intuitive thinking in a world of a majority of sensing feelers.