The Enneagram is a secular personality typing and self-awareness system that claims to provide insight into one’s “true self” and spiritual freedom. However, its origins in Gnostic principles and teachings are incompatible with Christianity, and any suggestion otherwise is ill-conceived and potentially harmful to one’s faith.
Some self-proclaimed Christian leaders may promote the Enneagram, but this system is not grounded in Christian principles and relies on a spiritual worldview that is fundamentally different than that of Christianity. This can cause confusion and lead individuals to question their faith.
Furthermore, the Enneagram’s emphasis on self-discovery and self-improvement contradicts the Christian doctrine of humility, which teaches that spiritual growth comes from a relationship with God, not from one’s own abilities. Relying on the Enneagram can divert individuals away from God’s grace and encourage self-reliance.
The Enneagram’s complex categories go far beyond what the Bible teaches about human nature, which can lead to confusion and misunderstanding. The Bible already provides a clear understanding of human nature, and any attempt to supplement it with man-made theories or systems is unnecessary and potentially dangerous.
It sounds as though this is something that Christian leaders shouldn’t be promoting, yet, Russell Moore is joining several of these Pagans to promote the Enneagram as a “gospel” thing at an upcoming event called The Gospel for Enneagram. Among them is a woman named Suzanne Stabile who is touted as the “Enneagram Godmother.”
Susan Stabile, a “professor of theology” at St. Catherine University, a Roman Catholic university steeped in paganism and Eastern mystic ideologies, is, according to her website bio, “an experienced spiritual director and retreat leader trained in the Ignatian tradition,” who “offers retreats and other programs of spiritual formation in parishes, retreat houses and other venues around the country.” She regularly interviews with mystics, including MysticMag and she “blogs at Mirror of Justice, a group blog devoted to the development of Catholic Legal Theory.”
Others include Beth and Jeff McCord from Enneagram Coach, who tout themselves as some of the industry’s leading experts whose sole line of work involves making the Enneagram biblical.
And there’s Sean Palmer, an “Enneagram Theorist,” according to his website, and who wrote a book promoting the use of the Enneagram for pastors and teachers.
The Enneagram is so bad that even Jackie Hill Perry denounced it and repented for previously promoting it after she had been using it for several years. Yet, this is who the former most influential leader of the Southern Baptist Convention is partnering with to promote the Enneagram and who, to this day, still has major sway among a large portion of the denomination.
