Learning relationships: Church of England curates and training incumbents applying the SIFT approach to the Road to Emmaus

Abstract

This study invited curates and training incumbents attending a 3-day residential programme to function as a hermeneutical community engaging conversation between the Lucan post-resurrection narrative concerning the Road to Emmaus and the learning relationship in which they were engaged. Building on the SIFT approach to biblical hermeneutics the participants were invited to work in type-alike groups, structured first on the basis of the perceiving process (sensing and intuition) and second on the basis of the judging process (thinking and feeling). This approach facilitated rich and varied insights into the Emmaus Road narrative and into the theme of learning relationships.

Searching for the Lost Sheep (Matthew 18: 10–14): Do Sensing Types and Intuitive Types Find Different Things?

“…The first conclusion concerns the science of biblical hermeneutics. The evidence generated from this new study supports and adds to the growing body of knowledge, as summarised in the recent reviews by Francis and ap Siôn (2017), by Francis and Smith (2017), and by Francis and Ross (2018) that supports the theory advanced by Francis and Village (2008) concerning the significance of the psychological type preferences of the reader in shaping biblical interpretation. In other words, there is real dialogue between the reader and the text in shaping biblical hermeneutics.…”

“…Psychological type theory, as originally formulated by Jung (1971) has been developed, extended and operationalised in a series of type indicators or type scales, including the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (Myers & McCaulley, 1985), the Keirsey Temperament Sorter (Keirsey & Bates, 1978), and the Francis Psychological Type Scales (Francis, 2005). Psychological type profiling generated by this family of instruments has been employed to constitute hermeneutical communities comprising strong sensing types, strong intuitive types, strong feeling types and strong thinking types in order to explore how typealike groups may accentuate the visibility of type preferences in the interpretation of scripture (see Francis & ap Siôn, 2017;Francis & Smith, 2017;Francis & Ross, 2018).…”

“…The importance of psychological preferences in shaping reader interpretation of scripture has been sharpened by Francis and Village (2008) who draw on psychological type theory (Jung, 1971) to differentiate between the psychological process of perceiving (in this case how the text of scripture is perceived) and the psychological process of judging (in this case how the text of scripture is evaluated). The theory formulated by Francis and Village (2008) has been illustrated and supported by a series of empirical studies that have listened to the voices of different psychological types reading the same passage of scripture (for example, see Francis & ap Siôn, 2017;Francis & Smith, 2017;Francis & Ross, 2018).…”