SoulTypes


	SoulTypes Matching Your Personality and Spiritual Path Author: Sandra Krebs Hirsh and Jane A.G. Kise

Instead of curling up in the recliner, you might want to sit at a desk. SoulTypes is text for careful study, not for leisure reading.

The two authors of SoulTypes are recognized experts in the field of personality typing. Sandra Krebs Hirsh is a recognized international authority on the Myers-Briggs type profiles and Jane A.G. Kise specializes in team building, strategic planning and psychological type research. Both have written or coauthored dozens of books and both have received awards for their work.

Together the concept of types has been refined and concentrates on the dynamics involved in how you approach and respond to theologies and pursuing a particular spiritual path.

Although the authors are professed Christians, their work was not limited by religion or beliefs. Hirsh and Kise delved into mapping personality typing and how it relates to a person’s perspective and path involving spiritual activity, practice or study. The expression they use is “soul work.” Because the authors’ research encompassed all personality types; spirituality, is used as a broad term including non-Christian realms.

To begin with it is easy to identify whether you are an extrovert or an introvert. But, you have to diagnose much more to recognize how your particular personality matches your spiritual path. You may exhibit a particular type but certain life experiences determine how you express yourself. There can be a more beneficial way for you to handle issues than what actually comes naturally to you.

SoulTypes is precisely organized but still can be a challenge to read without concentration. Do not skip reading the preface. Understanding the authors’ rationale makes the book more understandable. After the introduction, it might be helpful to make a list of concerns you have regarding your level of service, style of worship and manner for prayer. Then, when you discover your personality type and its respective chapters in the book, you have some objectives. If reading SoulTypes for other reasons, i.e. resource for counseling, your focus may be more on appreciating all sixteen of the function preferences.

Quotes from people in each category of personality types expose how their preferences have affected them. There are activities in later chapters for you to apply practical applications. SoulTypes would be a good companion book for a study regarding choosing a role of service and intensifying your worship and prayer experiences.

Using current popular phrases, the goal for the reader may be to discover the purpose driven lifestyle or realize their significance. This book can show you how preference functions can support and encourage your spiritual pathway. Reflecting on the first half of your life’s spiritual journey and looking ahead to finding sufficient meaning to the second half can be a guide for personal development. SoulTypes in an interesting examination, but get a highlighter or take notes as you take this journey.

Review contributed by: Scarlett Smith. She is a member of Mt. Paran North Church of God and the Christian Writers’ Guild, both in Atlanta, GA. Scarlett received a 2001 Amy Award for a non-fiction article in the Atlanta Journal/Constitution.