Reviews & Recommendations
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Enneagram Transformations: Releases and Affirmations for Healing Your Personality Type, Don Richard Riso. 1993. 129 pages. *****
A collection of one sentence prayer-mantras for each of the types. (A Christ-follower might recognize the releases as “confessions” and the affirmations as statements of “hope” or “faith.”) This is a very practical, simple, accessible resource. I love it! Something to keep handy to open and read/ pray one each day.
The Enneagram & Prayer, Metz & Burchill. 1987. 161 pages. *****
This is a breath of fresh 1987 air. It is from a Christ-ian perspective, but could be helpful for any person who is spiritually open-minded. It had a unique approach to typing based on Triads, it had some very valuable insights on prayer — basically that each of our prayer lives will be different because we are all different, and it had a lot of suggested practical and Scriptural prayer practices based on one’s Triad or type. One of my favorite things was at the back of the book – two lists for each type. A list of “Sinfulness To Pray Through…” and a list of “Giftedness To Rejoice In And Strengthen in Prayer…”
The Enneagram: A Christian Perspective. Richard Rohr & Andreas Ebert. 1989. 265 pages. ****
Rohr & Ebert’s language of a “root sin” for each type was one of the most helpful things I’ve ever found in my personal, transformative work with the Enneagram. It is simple, humbling, perfect place to start for anyone who wants their life to be changed – simply confessing that sin to God over and over again. Rohr & Ebert write from a Catholic perspective; anyone with a desire to learn will benefit from their insights.
Using the Enneagram in Prayer, Suzanne Zuercher. 2008, 101 pages ****
Zuercher is one of my favorite writers on the Enneagram. Her insights for prayer, rooted in the triads rather than the types, were principled and helpful. Her suggestions for practice were not explicit, but you can use your imagination!
The Enneagram: A Journey of Self Discovery, Beesing, Nogosek, and O’Leary. 1984, 221 pages ***
Deeper level Enneagram theory and much more theoretical than practical. A good read if you’re trying to learn with your brain. Not as great a read if you’re trying to learn with your heart and hands.
The Sacred Enneagram, Christopher Huertz. 2018, 258 pages. **
This is definitely a book that I would recommend waiting to read until after you’ve typed yourself. A few of Huertz’s insights were helpful, but it was all very theoretical and unaccessible. Overall I have to say that I do not think it is worth your time. At the time I read it, I had been studying and teaching the Enneagram for a decade, but I still found it to be very confusing. It made the Enneagram sound much more complicated and ethereal-sounding than I think it was intended to be. I fear that it might especially confound a beginner into giving up on the whole thing.