God Does Not Have Nine Faces: A Christian Appraisal of The Enneagram (Part II)

So, if you haven’t already read Part 1 of this post, you should click here.

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The Contention

For those of you who have and are still continuing on with me, consider all that you’ve just read. Look back on the progression of people responsible for bringing the enneagram to the West and popularizing it within evangelicalism: I would hope that you noticed that there have not been very many Christians involved in the process, especially for something ostensibly designed to bring us closer to God, truth, hope, wisdom and love.

To that end, I would like you to take a few minutes to watch the following video. It is a promotion for a book entitled The Sacred Enneagram by Christopher L. Heuretz (a man whose website identifies him as an ordained minister and “contemplative activist”.) The book is published by Zondervan, endorsed by Jen Hatmaker, and forwarded by everybody’s favorite, Richard Rohr. Take a look:

Notice anything?

Amongst the creepy, somewhat subliminal appearances of the enneagram figure, Heuretz is making some startling statements here:

“It was twenty years ago in the slums of Cambodia, that I first learned a teaching that brought clarity to this question [“Who are you?”] and its illusive answer. And that’s when the enneagram found me. And I have to say, more than any other tool, the enneagram actually helps us … to come to terms with what it looks like to find our way home.”

A few observations: first, if someone is learning some kind of new teaching in the slums of Cambodia, that teaching most likely has nothing to do with the Christian faith. Next, the enneagram found him? And last, are we really to believe that the enneagram is a more effective tool than even the Bible when it comes to “finding our way home?”

That’s not all. If you watched the entire video, you also heard statements about, “ego fixation,” “ego mythology,” “excavating essence,” and how the enneagram is not a tool for self-absorption, but “a sacred map for self liberation[sic].”

I would hope that it would be obvious to any biblically-minded observer that “self-liberation” is the antithesis of Christian gospel. “Self-liberation” is exactly what got us into the sinful mess we need to be rescued from in the first place and to be truly liberated the last place we should look for help is within ourselves.

I repeat again for emphasis: this book is being published by Zondervan. A company that claims on its website to be a “world leading Bible publisher and provider of Christian communications,” and that, “For more than 80 years, Zondervan has delivered transformational Christian experiences through its bestselling Bibles, books, curriculum, academic resources and digital products.” Apparently now, “transformational Christian experiences” include teachings from the Cambodian slums that seek to “nurture your spirituality” along a “journey of awakening” in order to teach you to “bring the best of your true self forward” so that you can “contribute to building the kind of world that we all want to live in.”

This is the New Age, my friends. Pure and simple. The New Age is the old occult and the enneagram is nothing but the latest manifestation of it, dressed up by the likes of Richard Rohr, Chris Heuertz and Ian Morgan Cron in barely discernible Christianese.

Some will surely object. Rohr and his peers claim that the Christian basis for the enneagram teachings go back to the 4th century and Evagrius Ponticus, the “desert monk.” Supposedly the man who gave rise to the Catholic church’s notion of seven deadly sins, Marcia Montenegro informs us that Ponticus…

“was influenced and inspired by the esoteric philosophy of Neo-Platonism, a deadly mixture of Gnosticism and Christianity. Ponticus was also a student of the heretical teachings of Origen of Alexandria. Ponticus himself was later condemned for his teachings in 400 and 533. Ponticus held that Jesus was not the incarnated Son of God, but rather a sinless "intellect" who assumed a body to show humanity the way back to its "original union" with God.”

So, even if the enneagram could be connected to the teachings of Evagrius Ponticus (and there are no historical references to validate such a claim), that would hardly make it a Christian device (much less “sacred,” as Heuretz and Zondervan would have you believe.) Even as far back as the 4th century, people were claiming the mantle of Christianity while denying its tenants.  It seems not much has changed in 1,600 years.

The Challenge
Besides the glaring and obvious occult origins of the enneagram, even more basic and fundamental questions arise when considering it. Throughout all of the research and study I’ve done to prepare this post, I have found zero answers to certain questions that I believe anyone interested in it, positively or negatively, ought to be asking.

Why are there nine numbers/personalities? Why not 14 or 26 or 5 or 198? Why nine? Aside from either the seemingly arbitrary desires of its creators or, if the creators themselves are to be taken at their word, what was taught to them by the spiritual entities from whom they received it, there seems to be no objective answer for why every single person in the world is one of just nine primary personality types. God apparently has nine faces just because He does and there are nine potentially fatal sin paradigms simply because somebody somewhere says so.

On the heels of that query comes the observation that there is zero scientific validation of any of the enneagram claims. There are no psychological or psychiatric case studies or research that would support any of the things taught at enneagram workshops or in enneagram books. Of course, its proponents often cite the fact that this is all ancient wisdom that predates modern psychological methods. Well and good. But, if it’s really true, it should be no problem to acquire scientific validation of at least its basic fundamental premises. Young earth creationists have managed to build a significant body of scientific research and data to support their claims, as out of the mainstream as they may appear to be. Why can’t the same be said for a supposedly dependable and time-tested system of wisdom claiming to be at least sixteen centuries old?

And lastly, how do evangelical proponents of the enneagram answer for its deep and undeniable connections to the occult? Granted, as we’ve already seen, people like Richard Rohr bring an ecumenical, universalist approach to their teachings and believe that mystic Sufi and esoteric Gnostic wisdom can be just as valid as anything found within the pages of the Bible. Part of being evangelical, however, includes the total and outright rejection of such claims, based upon the teaching of the Scriptures (Isaiah 45:5; Exodus 20:3; John 14:6; I Corinthians 1:20-25; just for starters). The liberal Christians’ claims that the enneagram has origins with the Desert Fathers might be considered, if it were not for the fact that the genuineness of the faith of the Desert Fathers is far from a certainty and, again, that the supposed historical connection is not much more than a claim, anyway.

So, I challenge my evangelical brothers and sisters: do you have satisfactory answers to these questions? Did it even occur to you to ask them before diving into and believing the claims of the enneagram teachers? What might you say in light of these challenges?

The Concession
But all of my critique does not come without a concession.

While I wholeheartedly believe that engagement with the enneagram is dangerous and distracting, I do not necessarily believe that its use is automatically sinful. People can (and often do) participate in things and practice behaviors out of ignorance. If someone was presented with the enneagram by someone they trusted and did not think to keep it at arm’s length, I stop well short of doubting that person’s faith or calling them out for sin.

It is certainly possible that working with the enneagram has detectable benefits. In fact, I can only assume as much, given its incredible popularity. If it didn’t at least appear to work, people wouldn’t be nearly as interested in or captivated by it.

So don’t hear me wrong: my desire with these posts is not to play judge and jury of anyone’s heart that may have spent time learning from the enneagram system. My desire is simply to inform, to challenge, and to warn.

But, I would also point out that plenty of things can positively affect people’s lives that are in no way holy, sacred, or Christian. Diets, therapy, meditation, medication, regular exercise, better sleep patterns, education, a new romantic relationship, or any number of other things can legitimately be said to have transformed the lives of untold numbers of people. But, a transformed person (what only the Gospel accomplishes through Christ) is a different thing than a transformed life (which can be accomplished any number of ways), and just because something works does not necessarily make that thing true.

Take yoga for example. The regular practice of yoga has been shown to reap all kinds of physical benefits in the lives of its practitioners. But does that fact alone automatically validate the entire truth system and worldview from which yoga emerged? Of course not.

The difference between something like yoga and the enneagram is that it is easier to separate the physical aspects of yoga exercise from the spiritual claims of yoga as a religious worldview. I myself have a DVD that removes any and all spiritual or religious overtones and language from the practice of yoga so that all you’re getting in the workouts is the exercise.

Can the same be said of the enneagram? Perhaps. To be honest, I don’t know for sure. And that is my concession. It seems like a much trickier and complicated endeavor, which is why I would (and do) warn any person I might encounter away from it. It seems dubious, for instance, to claim that the nine possibilities of this particular personality typing system can be truly separated from the occult idea that gave rise to them (namely, that God has nine faces).

That all being said, I have no doubt that serious, true, Bible-believing, God-fearing Christians have reaped real benefits from working with the enneagram. There may be real truth found within the system. I would simply contend that a gourmet steak and a pile of human feces both contain vitamins, minerals, protein, and other beneficial components if ingested. But knowing where they come from should probably determine which one you choose to eat.

The Conclusion
“All things are permissible,” Paul quoted to the Corinthians. “But not all things are helpful,” he added. (I Corinthians 10:23)

“Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them,” he also wrote, immediately after telling the Ephesians believers to, “Walk as children of light… and try to discern [or test] what is pleasing to the Lord.” (Ephesians 5:8-11)

Why? Because we shouldn’t allow anyone to, “deceive [us] with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.” (Ephesians 5:6-7, emphasis is mine)

We are free to do what the Bible does not prohibit. But is everything we are free to do actually beneficial or glorifying to the One who gave us that freedom? The Holy Spirit-inspired apostle Paul seemed not to think so. God has given His children the duty of testing what is pleasing to Him – the word for this is “discernment.” There are examples of it throughout the Scriptures. In Exodus, we are told that,

[T]he Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Prove yourselves by working a miracle,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent.’” So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts. – Exodus 7:8-11

Later, the Lord commanded His people,

If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him and keep His commandments and obey His voice, and you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him. - Deuteronomy 13:1-4

The idolatrous sorcerers in Pharaoh’s court were able to work a miracle. False prophets are at times able to accurately predict the future. God allows His people to be tested. And fidelity to the Lord Himself according to the objective standard of His Scriptures is the goal, even in the face of seemingly contrary evidence.

Remember, things are not necessarily true simply because they work. All it took to get men to the moon was Newtonian physics, despite the fact that Einstein’s Theory of Relativity had already come along to teach us that Newton wasn’t quite correct.

I would warn any and all Christians away from the enneagram on the basis of its popular proponents and teachers alone. The overwhelming majority of them do not even claim Christianity (and involve themselves directly with demons and the occult instead), and most of the ones that do claim the faith do so while making a mockery of its teachings. Just think of it: if someone you trusted came to you personally, offering you a book to supposedly help guide and deepen your Christian faith while being up-front and honest about its teachings having come directly from either drug-induced séances or ancient mystical monks that denied that divinity of Christ, would you take the book seriously? Would you not at least keep the book at arm’s length until you knew more about what was going on?

The popularity of the enneagram is persistent and growing not just because it appears to reap real benefits in the lives of the people who learn from it, but also because the true nature of its creation and emergence is shrouded by those who teach it. People embrace the enneagram because they trust the ones giving it to them. But the ones giving it to them are not being completely forthright about where it comes from.

If you have kept up through these posts, you are no longer ignorant about it. I hope and pray that you will choose wisely about what to do with what you know.

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Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. – I John 4:1

[T]est everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. – I Thessalonians 5:21

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, - I Timothy 4:1

Additional Resources:
Tell Me Who I Am, O Enneagram by Fr. Mitch Pacwa
Enneagram Seminar by Fr. Mitch Pacwa (video)
The Enneagram and Christianity, Like Oil and Water by Marcia Montenegro
The Enneagram GPS: Gnostic Past to Self by Marcia Montenegro
Analysis of Richard Rohr's Center for Action and Contemplation by Stephanie Block
Why I Don't Flow with Richard Rohr by Fred Sanders
The Enneagram Connected to Astrology by E. Alan Meece