scholarly journals Empirical Theology and Biblical Hermeneutics: Exploring Lessons for Discipleship from the Road to Emmaus (Luke 24: 13-35)

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie J Francis ◽  
Tania ap Siôn
Keyword(s):  
Type Theory ◽  
Empirical Investigation ◽  
Psychological Type ◽  
Biblical Studies ◽  
Annual Conference ◽  
Biblical Hermeneutics ◽  
The Road ◽  
Scientific Approach ◽  
Empirical Theology

This study engages the scientific approach of empirical theology with the investigation and evaluation of the reader perspective approach to biblical hermeneutics rooted in psychological type theory. By engaging participants attending the 2015 annual conference of the Institution for Socio-Biblical Studies, this empirical investigation tests whether individual psychological type preferences influence how academically-trained scholars within the field of biblical studies read, interpret and proclaim scripture. Eleven participants were invited in type-alike groups to engage in a conversation between the Lucan post-resurrection narrative concerning the Road to Emmaus journey and encounter and the contemporary theme of discipleship. The data clearly demonstrated how the distinctive voices of sensing, intuition, feeling, and thinking emerged from the ways in which academically-trained biblical scholars managed the exercise.

scholarly journals Five loaves and two fishes: An empirical study in psychological type and biblical hermeneutics among Anglican preachers

2010 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie J. Francis
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Empirical Study ◽  
Type Theory ◽  
Psychological Type ◽  
Biblical Hermeneutics ◽  
Empirical Observation ◽  
Doctrine Of Creation ◽  
Liturgical Preaching

The sensing, intuition, feeling and thinking (SIFT) method of biblical hermeneutics and liturgical preaching has its roots in three fields: a theology of individual differences situated within the doctrine of creation, an application of Jungian psychological-type theory and empirical observation. The present study tested the empirical foundations for this method by examining the psychological-type profile of two groups of Anglican preachers (24 licensed readers in England and 22 licensed clergy in Northern Ireland) and by examining the content of their preaching according to their dominant psychological-type preferences. These data provided further support for the psychological principles underpinning the SIFT method of biblical hermeneutics and liturgical preaching.

scholarly journals Exploring Psalm 139 through the Jungian lenses of sensing, intuition, feeling and thinking

2018 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie J. Francis ◽  
Greg Smith ◽  
Alec S. Corio
Keyword(s):  
Type Theory ◽  
Psychological Type ◽  
Sacred Text ◽  
Biblical Hermeneutics ◽  
Liturgical Preaching

Psalm 139 provides both great opportunities and huge challenges for the preacher. It is a Psalm crafted in four parts: part two is an imaginative and poetic affirmation of God’s omnipresence that engages the Jungian perceiving process; part four is a fierce and uncompromising diatribe against God’s enemies that engages the Jungian judging process. Interpretations of these two sections of the Psalm are explored among a sample of 30 Anglican deacons and priests serving as curates who were invited to work in small hermeneutical communities, structured according to psychological type theory and designed to test the sensing, intuition, feeling and thinking (SIFT) approach to biblical hermeneutics and liturgical preaching. The findings from the hermeneutical communities demonstrated that the poetic power of part two was perceived quite differently by sensing types and by intuitive types. The judgement against God’s enemies in part four was evaluated quite differently by feeling types and by thinking types. The implications of these different readings of sacred text are discussed in relation both to hermeneutical theory and to homiletic practice.

scholarly journals Reading and proclaiming the Advent call of John the Baptist: An empirical enquiry employing the SIFT method

2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie J. Francis ◽  
Greg Smith
Keyword(s):  
Type Theory ◽  
Church Of England ◽  
Psychological Type ◽  
Myers Briggs Type Indicator ◽  
Biblical Hermeneutics ◽  
John The Baptist ◽  
Type Indicator ◽  
Clergy Training ◽  
The One ◽  
The Church

Drawing on Jungian psychological type theory, the SIFT method of biblical hermeneutics and liturgical preaching suggests that the reading and proclaiming of scripture reflects the psychological type preferences of the reader and preacher. This thesis is examined among a sample of clergy (training incumbents and curates) serving in the one Diocese of the Church of England (N = 22). After completing the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, the clergy worked in groups (designed to cluster individuals who shared similar psychological type characteristics) to reflect on and to discuss the Advent call of John the Baptist. The Marcan account was chosen for the exercise exploring the perceiving functions (sensing and intuition) in light of its rich narrative. The Lucan account was chosen for the exercise exploring the judging functions (thinking and feeling) in light of the challenges offered by the passage. In accordance with the theory, the data confirmed characteristic differences between the approaches of sensing types and intuitive types, and between the approaches of thinking types and feeling types.

scholarly journals Interpreting and responding to the Johannine feeding narrative: An empirical study in the SIFT hermeneutical method amongst Anglican ministry training candidates

2012 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie J. Francis
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Study ◽  
Type Theory ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Psychological Type ◽  
Biblical Hermeneutics ◽  
Ministry Training ◽  
Working Groups ◽  
Liturgical Preaching

Drawing on Jungian psychological type theory, the SIFT method of biblical hermeneutics and liturgical preaching maintains that different psychological type preferences are associated with distinctive readings of scripture. In the present study this theory was tested amongst two groups of ministry training candidates (a total of 26 participants) who were located within working groups according to their psychological type preferences, and invited to reflect on the Johannine feeding narrative (Jn 6:4−22), and to document their discussion. Analysis of these data provided empirical support for the theory underpinning the SIFT method.

scholarly journals Preaching on the revised common lectionary for the feast of Christ the King: Joy for intuitive thinking types, nightmare for sensing feeling types?

2021 ◽  
Vol 77 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie J. Francis ◽  
Greg Smith ◽  
Jonathan Evans
Keyword(s):  
Type Theory ◽  
Biblical Interpretation ◽  
Psychological Type ◽  
Psychological Profile ◽  
Biblical Text ◽  
Biblical Hermeneutics ◽  
Intuitive Thinking ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Rich Data ◽  
Empirical Methodology

This qualitative study was positioned within an emerging scientific field concerned with the interaction between biblical text and the psychological profile of the preacher. The theoretical framework was provided by the sensing, intuition, feeling and thinking (SIFT) approach to biblical hermeneutics, an approach rooted in reader-perspective hermeneutical theory and in Jungian psychological type theory that explores the distinctive readings of sensing perception and intuitive perception, and the distinctive readings of thinking evaluation and feeling evaluation. The empirical methodology was provided by developing a research tradition concerned with applying the SIFT approach to biblical text. In the present study, a group of 17 Anglican clergy were invited to work in psychological type-alike groups to explore two of the biblical passages identified by Year B of the Revised Common Lectionary for the Feast of Christ the King. Dividing into three workshops, according to their preferences for sensing and intuition, the clergy explored Psalm 93. Dividing into three workshops, according to their preferences for thinking and feeling, the clergy explored John 18:33–37. The rich data gathered from these workshops supported the hypothesis that biblical interpretation and preaching may be shaped by the reader’s psychological type preference and suggested that the passages of scripture proposed for the Feast of Christ the King may be a joy for intuitive thinking types, but a nightmare for sensing feeling types.Contribution: Situated within the reader perspective approach to biblical hermeneutics, the SIFT method is concerned with identifying the influence of the psychological type of the reader in shaping the interpretation of text. Employing this method, the present study contributes to the fields of homiletics and hermeneutics by demonstrating how some readers (sensing types) may struggle more than others (intuitive types) to interpret the scripture readings proposed by the lectionary for the Feast of Christ the King.

scholarly journals Jesus, psychological type and conflict: A study in biblical hermeneutics applying the reader perspective and SIFT approach to Mark 11:11–21

2016 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie J. Francis ◽  
Tania Ap Siôn
Keyword(s):  
Reference Point ◽  
Type Theory ◽  
Psychological Type ◽  
Biblical Hermeneutics ◽  
Psychological Types ◽  
Fig Tree ◽  
The Temple ◽  
Liturgical Preaching

The Marcan account of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, cursing the fig tree and overturning the tables of the money changers in the temple provides a classic scriptural reference point for a Christian discussion of conflict. Drawing on psychological type theory and on the reader perspective proposed by the SIFT (sensing, intuition, feeling and thinking) approach to biblical hermeneutics and liturgical preaching, this study tests the theory that different psychological types will interpret this classic passage differently. Data collected in two residential programmes concerned with Christianity and conflict from type-aware participants confirmed characteristic differences between the approaches of sensing types and intuitive types and between the approaches of thinking types and feeling types.

scholarly journals Reading and proclaiming the Birth Narratives from Luke and Matthew: A study in empirical theology amongst curates and their training incumbents employing the SIFT method

2013 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie J. Francis ◽  
Greg Smith
Keyword(s):  
Church Of England ◽  
Psychological Type ◽  
Myers Briggs Type Indicator ◽  
Biblical Hermeneutics ◽  
Type Indicator ◽  
Two Samples ◽  
Empirical Theology ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Birth Narratives ◽  
The Church

Drawing on Jungian psychological type theory, the SIFT method of biblical hermeneutics and liturgical preaching suggests that the reading and proclaiming of scripture reflects the psychological type preferences of the reader and preacher. This thesis is examined amongst two samples of curates and training incumbents (N = 23, 27), serving in one Diocese of the Church of England, who completed the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Firstly, the narrative of the shepherds from Luke was discussed by groups organised according to scores on the perceiving process. In accordance with the theory, sensing types focused on details in the passage, but could reach no consensus on the larger picture, and intuitive types quickly identified an imaginative, integrative theme, but showed little interest in the details. Secondly, the narrative of the massacre of the infants from Matthew was discussed by groups organised according to scores on the judging process. In accordance with theory, the thinking types identified and analysed the big themes raised by the passage (political power, theodicy, obedience), whilst the feeling types placed much more emphasis on the impact that the passage may have on members of the congregation mourning the death of their child or grandchild.

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