Christianity Today (Ft Russell Moore) Advances False Claim That The Enneagram Has ‘Christian Roots’

(Woke Preacher TV) In a January 2022 episode of Christianity Today’s “The Russell Moore Show,” Moore asks author Ian Morgan Cron (the son of a motion picture executive / CIA agent) to assuage Christians’ fears of the “occultic” origins of the Enneagram. In response, Cron spreads misinformation about a 4th-century monk, Evagrius Ponticus, utilizing a “primitive version” of the Enneagram. He does not cite the origin of this false claim: Richard Rohr, famous for his heretical New Age book “The Universal Christ.”

—TRANSCRIPT HIGHLIGHTS—

RUSSELL MOORE: Let’s start by just talking about the Enneagram, because I know that there are some people in my tribe of evangelical Christianity who are really nervous about the Enneagram. And some of them will say, “Well, I’ve heard that it started in something occultic,” or they’ll say, “I heard that it started in a really mystical form of Catholicism, and is that really compatible with what I believe?” And so just explain to us, for people who are kind of curious, what is the Enneagram

IAN MORGAN CRON: Sure. The Enneagram is an ancient personality typing system that teaches there are nine basic personality styles in the world, one of which we gravitate toward and adopt in childhood just as a way to cope, to feel safe, to protect ourselves and to navigate the new world of relationships that we’re now encountering.

…

MOORE: You say ancient. Where does it come from?

CRON: So we believe that the Enneagram’s roots can be traced back to the desert mothers and fathers in the Christian tradition. There was a well-known monk named Evagrius Ponticus who actually was, in some ways, responsible for the seven deadly sins as we as we know them now, who began using a primitive form of the Enneagram in spiritual formation with young, novice monks. So it does have Christian roots. Now, it then branched off into all, as you know, out in the desert of Syria, fifteen, sixteen hundred years ago, I mean there, are all kinds of people wandering around, and so yes, it took circuitous routes. Nobody really wrote about the Enneagram until the ’70s. It was something that the Jesuits used in their spiritual formation program with young priests-to-be. But in the, maybe the late ’70s, early ’80s, it was first published about, because it had been used in Jesuit retreat centers and on retreats.

…

I try to assuage people’s anxieties about it. I tell them: “It’s the Enneagram, not the pentagram. Don’t panic, people! It’s all right.”

Editor’s Note. This whole post is an adaption and a repost of WPC’s YouTube video.

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