Prayer and Temperament (by Chester P Michael)

(Amazon UK link)

It’s nearly thirteen years since I acquired and read ‘Prayer and Temperament’. I knew nothing about the author, Chester P Michael then, except that he was a Roman Catholic priest. Apparently he died in 2014, at the age of 97. So when this book was published, in 1991, he must have been 75 - which surprises me, as the writing feels like that of a much younger person.

The main theme of the book relates to Myers-Briggs theory, and particularly Keirseyan Temperament theory: that we have different ways of relating to people, of learning, and of making decisions. While the Myers-Briggs theory gives sixteen possible ‘types’ indicating our main preferences, Keirsey’s theory groups us into just four temperaments, each one including four of the Myers-Briggs types.

I’ve found both systems of understanding people helpful, in seeing how even within the same family or culture people can have different values, and see the world - and other folk - in surprisingly varied ways. It took me a while to accept that my temperament is not that of the reliable, hard-working and down-to-earth ‘Guardian’, but the more future-oriented, diplomatic ‘Idealist’.

The premise of this book, based on some extensive research, is that each temperament has a preferred, more natural way of relating to God, and of reading the Bible and praying. Unfortunately the author gives rather lengthy and non-intuitive names to the four concepts he outlines, and I kept forgetting which was which. The book is quite well-organised, with appendices and well-labelled chapters, which was useful as I had to keep flipping back to find out what was being referred to, and to the appendices to check other information.

I had expected to read straight through, but in fact that isn’t possible with this book: after each chapter on a particular form of prayer there are extensive suggestions, but I wasn’t going to do one per day or it would have taken me over two months to finish the book. It took me longer than I thought it would anyway, as some of the writing is quite heavy, and while I thought the ideas very thought-provoking, I often had to stop after just a page or two to get my head around what was said.

It’s certainly true, for me, that the easiest form of connecting with the Bible and with God is to see passages of Scripture as relevant to me and those I care for - and this, according to the author, comes most easily to those with the NF temperament. The NT (Rationalist) temperament, unsurprisingly, is likely to find it easiest to study extensively, to look at the context of a passage, and the meaning of individual words, and to delve into what might be meant.

For the SJ (Guardian) folk, it’s apparently most natural to imagine oneself as part of the scenes described, to become, in essence, an observer and to hear and feel the situations and scenarios described in the Bible. I’ve often heard people discussing this, or ‘walking’ a group through a passage, adding descriptions and thoughts to stimulate the imagination - but it’s remarkably difficult for me to do this. Since a large number of people in the church have the SJ temperament, it’s perhaps not surprising that this is popular with so many.

People with the SP (Artisan) temperament, the authors claim, are more likely to be struck by the practical parts of the Bible, and to practice their faith and prayer while working or ministering to other people, or involved in some kind of sensory activity.

However the author doesn’t leave it with those stereotypes, but encourages everyone to try out other methods - to activate, as he put it, the transcendent dimensions of each of the functions, including those which are tertiary or inferior, rather than just our two most accessible ones. I found some of this quite heavy-going; I’m sure there’s value in the ideas, but I couldn’t hold everything in my head at once. The somewhat long-winded descriptions and lengthy phrases didn’t help.

It’s certainly a valuable book, with a great deal of insight and sense, but perhaps would be most easily understood by those who are naturally more academic than I am, or possibly by those of the NT temperament. But I think I found it more helpful this time than I did thirteen years ago; I expect I’ll come back to it again in another decade or so.

Recommended if you’re interested in different ways of praying, and are familiar with either the Myers-Briggs or Keirseyan theories. While the author does give brief descriptions of them all, I don’t think they would be helpful to anyone who did not know about these personality theories, and had no idea what their own temperament might be.

But it’s not an easy read, and definitely not a book to sit down and read straight through.

Review copyright 2021 Sue's Book Reviews