I Was An Enneagram Teacher–Here’s Why I Left
Photo by Min An on Pexels
“[This] is the most difficult dilemma for thoughtful, serious human beings: ‘What will you do with what you know?’”1
The Enneagram is one of the most popular personality systems being used today. The word comes from the Greek word, ennea, meaning “nine” and gram meaning “figure or shape.” The shape of the Enneagram has nine points, representing the nine personality types of humanity.
The idea is that everyone has a core personality type (or number) that is contained in the Enneagram. You can use the Enneagram to identify your core type, understand how you relate to others, and find areas of growth. Advanced users move beyond their core type into other related types.
My Shift
After being certified in the Enneagram for five years and teaching it in corporate and Christian settings, I’ve decided to leave it behind. Throughout these years, I was heavily involved in learning, teaching, socializing, and applying the Enneagram.
As a business coach and professional trainer, the Enneagram was a core part of my business. I created online content, led group workshops, and coached people. I led a conference session for the International Enneagram Institute and was invited to the board of an Enneagram association.
This departure from the Enneagram is a response to deeper study and consideration of the origin, message, and application of the Enneagram. Plus, I’m now employed full-time with a company and not financially dependent on work from the Enneagram, which has helped me to examine the issue more objectively without money as a tether.
As I’ve studied further, I’ve become convinced that the Enneagram is incompatible with orthodox Christian doctrine and inappropriate for use in the workplace. Further, because Enneagram philosophy has its own view of sin, salvation, divine guidance, and nature of man, it is a false gospel that opposes the gospel of Jesus Christ as revealed in the Bible.
Personality Assessment and the Workplace
The main application of the Enneagram today is as a personality assessment and typology. However, used as a personality tool, the Enneagram has no scientific validity or reliability. In a study of 36 different personality typologies, it was rated as least credible and most discredited among all of the typologies.2 The Enneagram is used as determinative, which means it has the power to "define, qualify or direct."
People are making major life decisions and relating to others based on Enneagram type. An example is a married couple who after 20 years of marriage sought a marriage counselor who administered the Enneagram, and after becoming convinced they were the wrong types for each other, they got divorced.3
Despite its ineptness as a personality tool, workplaces are adopting the Enneagram into their professional development practices and encouraging coworkers to relate to each other based on their Enneagram types. For example, recently a global retail company contacted me to provide Enneagram training for its leaders (I declined).
Drew Houston, co-founder of billion dollar technology company Dropbox says, “Over the last few years, I’ve found myself looking at all of my important relationships through the Enneagram lens…I wish I had discovered it much earlier.”4
The use of an unvalidated, New Age spirituality-based tool (as we'll see) in a public, corporate environment is not only concerning but inappropriate.
Hiding in Plain Sight
Well-meaning Christian publishers, teachers, and leaders are disseminating Enneagram theology into the Church, where it is distracting, confusing, and even consuming people in the name of self-exploration, transformation, and sanctification.
For some, the Enneagram is replacing the role of the Bible and Holy Spirit in Christian spiritual development, interfering with Christian community, and taking the focus when the word of Christ would be richly spoken.
Some individuals have tried to “christianize” the Enneagram, but that’s like putting lipstick on a pig–no matter how many Christian words you use, you can’t change what it is nor can you keep asking God to bless its use as common grace.
The Enneagram is a Gnostic worldview combined with occultic beliefs and practices whose original teachers adhere to non-biblical teachings.
These teachers have passed down the Enneagram under the myth of it being “ancient,” “sacred,” and even “Christian,” which has created a sense of credibility and acceptance in the Church. In turn, Christian leaders have endorsed, approved, or stayed silent, which has perpetuated its use. Now we have an occultic movement in the Church, hiding in plain sight.
Here are ten reasons I believe the Enneagram is incompatible with Christianity:
1. The Enneagram is said to have ancient, sacred, and even Christian origins, but there’s no evidence of that. This myth of antiquity has been repeated in Christian literature and created a false sense of credibility and acceptance.
Despite the myth of antiquity, the Enneagram movement can be traced to G.I. Gurdjieff in the early 1900’s. Gurdijeff was a spiritual teacher who believed the entire cosmos could fit inside the shape of the Enneagram, which could be used to awaken to a higher consciousness and attain divinity.
He also believed there is a “Law of Three,” which says there are three ways to transfer your mortal identity to the immortal: the way of the fakir (body), the way of the monk (emotions), and the way of the yogi (mind).5
This Law of Three appears in modern Enneagram theory as the three “centers of intelligence” (head, heart, and gut). Regarding the myth of the Christian origin, Richard Rohr, who is responsible for bringing the Enneagram into the Church, even writes in his book, “The Enneagram is a mysterious model of the psyche that is not originally Christian.”6
2. The Enneagram entered the Church after New Age thinkers applied Gurdijeff’s teachings to personality, and passed the Enneagram of Personality to Catholic priests.
Gurdjieff’s teachings were adopted by Oscar Ichazo, who ran an occult school. He taught the Enneagram to New Age psychiatrist Claudio Naranjo, who taught it at Escalen, a New Age think tank. Naranjo added the nine personality types, called “EnneaTypes,” both from personal observations as a psychiatrist and from “mostly automatic writing.”7
Roman Catholic priest Bob Ochs took it from Escalen to the Roman Catholic Church, where priest Richard Rohr learned it and began teaching it to others through books, lectures, and workshops. Rohr became the premier Enneagram teacher, whose seminal book, The Enneagram: A Christian Perspective, started to position the Enneagram as a Christian tool.
3. Many of Richard Rohr’s beliefs run contrary to orthodox Christian doctrine including the person and work of Christ, the nature of sin, the nature of God and man, salvation, the authority and infallibility of Scripture, and others.
Rohr is a panentheist, which means he believes God is in everything.8 He is a perennialist, which means he believes there is one Divine Reality at the center of all religions.9 Rohr also believes that Jesus and Christ are different; the universal Christ is the cosmic Christ who is in everything and Jesus was the man who embodied the principles of the universal Christ perfectly.
According to Rohr, the high point of history was the incarnation, not the Cross, when the universal Christ came to earth and redeemed everything so that nothing needs to be redeemed anymore.
Rohr doesn’t believe in the need for each person to be saved from his sins.10 Rohr believes the Bible by itself isn’t authoritative enough and what must be added to the Bible’s authority is the “authority” of personal experience.11 Rohr’s very own church, the Roman Catholic Church, has not endorsed the Enneagram because of the non-Christian spirituality it promotes.12
4. Despite his heretical beliefs and practices, Richard Rohr personally taught the most popular Christian authors whose books were published by Christian publishers and disseminated into the Church, reinforcing the myth that the Enneagram is Christian.
The two most popular “Christian” Enneagram books are, The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery by Ian Cron and Suzanne Stabile and The Sacred Enneagram by Christopher L. Heuertz. The Road Back to You promotes itself as “The book that started a million Enneagram journeys!”13
Cron and Stabile are personal students of Rohr’s, and in the book’s acknowledgements, Stabile says, “Father Richard Rohr invited me into the study of his ancient wisdom, so whatever my teaching has become is easily traced back to him.”14
But of the theology of The Road Back to You, Pastor Kevin DeYoung writes, “The Enneagram presents an approach to spirituality that is alien to, and often at odds with, the language and contours of Scripture.”15 The Road Back to You was published by Christian publisher Intervarsity Press.
Another one of Rohr’s students, Christopher L. Heuertz, dedicates his popular book, The Sacred Enneagram to Rohr: “I dedicate this work to my teachers…Richard. I honor you.” In turn, Rohr endorsed the book by naming their close relationship: “Chris Heuertz, my dear friend and confidante....”16 In the book, Heuretz writes, “The Enneagram may be the most effective tool for personal liberation.”17
His approach elevates the Enneagram above the Bible for personal transformation, which he has stated in an interview with Religion News Service:
“I sort of wonder if the evolved evangelical is getting a little worn out from the same old literal Bible study interpretations of stuff…I wonder if some evangelicals have gotten bored with what their tradition offers, and therefore, they find a deeper and more contemplative system like the Enneagram appealing.”18 The Sacred Enneagram was published by Christian publisher Zondervan.
5. The center of the Enneagram is the self; the center of Christianity is Jesus Christ. The Enneagram fuels the age-old problem of self-centeredness, while Jesus came to set us free from the obsession with self. No tool that puts self at the center can be Christian.
In the Enneagram, the goal is personal awakening to the best version of yourself. “At its most basic level, the Enneagram magnifies self over God. It promotes a dangerous shift in focus away from discovering the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man…the Enneagram leads people to embrace a subjective man-made solution of self-discovery instead of God-discovery.”19
This pursuit echoes the age-old problem of self-centeredness. Ever since the Garden of Eden, man has struggled with elevating himself over God. Over time, different belief systems have reinforced this tendency, and the Enneagram is one of them. But Jesus Christ came to remove the preoccupation with self and reveal a far better glory, which is himself. If the entire cosmos is said to fit within the Enneagram, Jesus is far beyond it.
Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, creator of heaven and earth. By him all things were created, in him all things hold together, and beneath him all things bow.20 Why should we who were reborn in Christ return to our old ways? Why should we trade a better glory for a lesser one? We don’t need more of ourselves, we need more of Christ.
Dr. Michael Reeves writes, “Among the old Puritans, for example, you can scarcely find a writer who did not write–or a preacher who did not preach–something called The Unsearchable Riches of Christ, Christ Set Forth, The Glory of Christ or the like. Yet today, what sells? What puts the smile on the bookseller’s face? The book that is about the reader. People want to read about themselves.”21
This is why the Enneagram is so popular but let us focus instead on Christ.
6. In the Enneagram, sanctification comes by increasing your self-knowledge, and sin is not loving yourself. These beliefs oppose orthodox Christian doctrine and disqualify the Enneagram as a Christian tool. Without doing their due diligence, Christian leaders are passing the Enneagram onto their followers.
The Enneagram posits that ultimate growth and transformation (sanctification) comes by becoming your True Self by identifying your Enneagram number, putting down the bad parts of you and putting on the good parts of you. But Christian doctrine says to “look to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith”22 and to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ.”23
Being conformed to Christ, not conforming to the best version of yourself, and Christ revealing himself to you, not your number revealing itself to you, are the means of sanctification.
Many Christian leaders are unwittingly spreading this occultic movement to their followers, and followers are trusting the endorsement, approval, or silence of their leaders on this matter. For example, I initially heard about the Enneagram on a social media post.
At first, I resisted the Enneagram because it seemed strange. But then senior leaders from our church’s national network told me that I really needed to check it out. They were using it for leadership development, personal growth, and community building.
Their wives had an Enneagram book club, they were mentoring young leaders around it, and the Enneagram book had become one of their favorite books. I respected their opinion and scholarship in other areas, so I ignored my hesitation, trusted their endorsement as authority figures, and plunged deep.
7. The Enneagram is an occultic movement that is hiding in plain sight in the Church under the cover of the Christian Enneagram.
Marcia Montenegro was a New Ager and professional astrologer for 20 years before she became a Christian. When the Enneagram began entering the Church, she was shocked because as she writes:
“The clear origin and purpose of the Enneagram is to initiate a Gnostic spiritual awakening to one’s alleged true divine Self, which is in itself an occult initiation. This is the claim and goal of virtually all occult and New Age teachings. The purpose of such initiation is a shift in consciousness, a change in the way one views reality — God, the world, others, and self.”24
If the devil wanted to enter the Church through occult initiation, he wouldn’t come through the front door–most Christians would expect that. Instead he’d enter through a side door. As Christians, we must remember that we’re in a fight against spiritual rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of darkness.25
Although Jesus already won the war, the fight is still afoot, the enemy is still astir, and we are very much involved. Let us be on guard lest we keep the side door open.
8. The Enneagram diverts attention from the Bible and the Holy Spirit. It attempts to attain divine guidance by looking within yourself and your three centers of intelligence.
Here’s an example of an Enneagram exercise that illustrates Enneagram philosophy and practice. I was taught it during my Enneagram certification. This exercise is used when a critical decision has to be made. An enlarged Enneagram map with the Enneagram symbol of all nine types is laid on the ground. The person seeking an answer (seeker) stands on the map.
The person guiding the exercise (elder) asks the person his core Enneagram type. It will be connected to one of the three “centers of intelligence–the head, heart, or gut.” From knowing his core type, he will also know the other two types that are part of the core’s “harmony triad,” each of which is connected to their centers of intelligence (head, heart, or gut).
The guidance comes from bringing the critical decision or question before each of the types in one’s harmony triad. In turn, the seeker stands on each of their three numbers on the map and the elder asks, for instance, “Type 2, what does your heart tell you? Type 5, what does your head tell you? Type 8, what does your gut tell you?”
The seeker is inquiring of oneself for divine guidance, replacing the wisdom of the Bible and the Holy Spirit. The concept of the centers of intelligence are taken from Gnostic and New Age teacher G.I. Gurdijeff.
9. Enneagram teachers in the Church are trying different techniques to “christianize” the Enneagram, but God warns not to adopt unholy practices.
Despite the origin, message, and practices of the Enneagram, Christian teachers are utilizing various techniques to “purify” the Enneagram so it can be used in the Church. However, this goes against God’s warnings in both the Old Testament26 and the New Testament27 for God’s people not to conform to unholy ways of the world.
If one must go to such measures to try to make a world system acceptable in the Church, perhaps that’s a sign it has no place in the Church.
Some of these techniques are:
- replacing traditional Enneagram language with biblical terminology
- mixing accepted spiritual practices with use of the Enneagram so that the Enneagram becomes associated with these practices and undeniably linked28
- identifying instances of secular culture being used in the Bible to justify the Enneagram being used in the Church29
- invoking “common grace” to pull from the wisdom and traditions that are inherent in the world.30
10. The Enneagram distracts believers from the basics of Christian community.
As part of human nature, we love to focus on ourselves. But in Christian regeneration, the focus shifts from ourselves and onto Christ. In Christian community, we “let the word of Christ dwell in [us] richly,”31 and share with one another every good thing we have in Christ.32
When the Apostle Paul was with the Corinthians, he “decided to know nothing among [them] except Jesus Christ.”33 In Christian community, Christ is the centerpiece and substance of conversation, hope, and connection.
However, the Enneagram brings the focus back to self. Instead of delighting in Christ, hoping in Christ, helping each other see more of Christ, and praying into the glory of Christ, we center ourselves on the Enneagram and back to ourselves. ”Ooh, what is your number? What number do you think I am? Listen to this…I was totally in my number.”
Conclusion
In closing, let us remember what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Galatians, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you into the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.”34 We can all be susceptible to false gospels, and the Enneagram is a false gospel.
The Westminster Confession says “the supreme judge by which all controversies of religion are to be determined…can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture.”35 The Enneagram is a religious controversy.
May the Holy Spirit through the Holy Scriptures lead us all to truth. May leaders not accept, endorse, or stay silent when the truth says otherwise. May we all be faithful with what we know. To Christ be the glory now and forever.
Sources
1 Garber, Steven. Visions of Vocation. IVP, 2014.
2 Kocher, Gerald P., Madeline R. McMann, Annika O. Stout & John C. Norcross, “Discredit Assessment and Treatment Methods Used with Children and Adolescents,” vol #44, no. 5, 2015, pp. 722-729, Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15374416.2014.895941
3 Schnitker, Sarah A., Jay Medenwaldt, and Lizzy Davis. “Can We Do Better Than The Enneagram?” Christianity Today, Dec 21, 2020, “https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2021/january-february/enneagram-personality-psychology-research-based.html
4 https://meaningring.com/2019/09/09/life-advice-from-drew-houston/
5 Veinot, Don and Joy and Marcia Montenegro. Richard Rohr and the Enneagram Secret. MCOI Publishing LLC, 2020.
6 Rohr, Richard and Andreas Ebert (trans. Peter Heinegg). Discovering the Enneagram: An Ancient Tool for a New Spiritual Journey. Crossroad Publishing,1992.
7 Ibid.
8 Cherry, Rhenn. Enneagram Theology: Is It Christian? RESOURCE Publications, 2021.
9. Richard Rohr and the Enneagram Secret
10 https://cac.org/daily-meditations/sin-and-salvation-2022-04-03/
11 https://cac.org/daily-meditations/trusting-our-inner-authority-2021-06-25/
12 https://aleteia.org/2021/06/19/can-catholics-use-the-enneagram-personality-system
13 https://www.amazon.com/Road-Back-You-Enneagram-Self-Discovery/dp/0830846190
14 Cron, Ian Morgan and Suzanne Stabile. The Road Back To You. IVP Books, 2016.
15 DeYoung, Kevin. “Enneagram: Road Back to You, Or to Somewhere Else?” Gospel Coalition Blog, Feb. 1, 2018, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevin-deyoung/enneagram-road-back-somewhere-else/
16 Heuretz, Christopher L. The Sacred Enneagram. Zondervan Publishing, 2017.
17 Ibid.
18 Merritt, Jonathan. “What is the Enneagram and why are Christians suddenly so enamored by it,” Religious News Service, Sept. 5, 2017, https://religionnews.com/2017/09/05/what-is-the-enneagram-and-why-are-christians-suddenly-so-enamored-by-it/
19 Johnson, Dale. “Episode 307: Thinking Biblically About the Enneagram.” Truth in Love Podcast, Rhenn Cherry, Association of Certified Biblical Counselors, 2021. https://biblicalcounseling.com/resource-library/podcast-episodes/thinking-biblically-about-the-enneagram/
20 Colossians 1:15-17
21 Reeves, Michael. Rejoicing in Christ. IVP Academic, 2015.
22 Hebrews 12:2
23 Romans 13:14
24 Montenegro, Marcia. “The Enneagram GPS: Gnostic Path to Self,” Christian Answers for the New Age Blog, https://www.christiananswersnewage.com/article/the-enneagram-gps-gnostic-path-to-self
25 Ephesians 6:12
26 Deuteronomy 18:9
27 Romans 12:2
28 Calhoun, Adele and Doug and Clare and Scott Loughrige. Spiritual Rhythms For The Enneagram. IVP, 2019.
29 McCord, Beth. “Should Christians Use the Enneagram?," https://www.yourenneagramcoach.com/origins
30 Zach, Tyler. “Should Christians Use the Enneagram?”, https://gospelforenneagram.com
31 Colossians 3:16
32 Philemon 6
33 1 Corinthians 2:2
34 Galatians 1:6
35 The Westminster Confession, I.1.10
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