If you're new to the Enneagram, this book will help you understand what it is, where it originated from, and how you can use it for personal and spiritual growth. Enneagram is a great tool for understanding oneself, as well as others. The book helps root out how to grow to be the best spiritually, emotionally, and mentally healthy version of yourself.

As an avid reader of Enneagram books, I was excited to read the third book released that claims to view the Enneagram through a Christian lens. The other books are The Road back to You by Ian Morgan Chron and Suzanne Stabile, and Self to Lose, Self to Find: a Biblical Approach to the 9 Enneagram Types by Marilyn Vancil. Each of these books places its emphasis in different areas. IVP Press published both The Road back to You and, about a year later, Mirror for the Soul.

First off, if you are new to the Enneagram, read almost any other Enneagram book first.

Mrs. Fryling does not spend much time describing the types or in helping you to figure out your own type. That's okay, there are plenty of Enneagram books that do.

She also does a drive-by through the triads, the wings and the growth/disintegration points. I suspect the brief treatment of each aspect is more confusing than helpful to Enneagram newbies. So look for another book to explain these things in more depth.

Then, as if she hadn't already tried to cram too much (albeit abbreviated) information into too few pages, she added a chapter on spiritual direction for each type.

Thank goodness she didn't try to discuss the entire ball of wax, which means she would've included the 27 instinctual subtypes, in this very short, 179-page book.

Around 60% of the way through, she gets into the meat I'd been waiting for, which was her attempt to attach the ideas and possible uses of the Enneagram to some Biblical truths about human nature. Though what she said has merit in a psychological/spiritual sense, I personally found it rather repelling, sorry to say.

When I read the Bible, I want God's words to radiate from it. I don't want to think about how Enneagram psychology can be shoehorned into it.

Maybe you need to be a counselor, coach, or spiritual director to fully appreciate Mrs. Fryling's book.

If you're one of the above, go ahead, read it.

If you just want an introduction to the Enneagram, please red my all-time favorite, by Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson, entitled, The Wisdom of the Enneagram: The Complete Guide to Psychological and Spiritual Growth for the Nine Personality Types.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

As someone who had heard a bit about the Enneagram but didn't have a great understanding, I felt this book provided a helpful introduction. There is a lot of information to take on board and it is definitely a book to take slowly if the Enneagram is new to you, to allow time to reflect on the different sections.
I liked how the book clearly applied the theory of the Enneagram to living out the Christian faith and showed how the Enneagram can be a tool to grow in self-awareness, identify where we are operating out of our false self/ sinful nature and help us grow in God's grace.
The reflection questions and biblical meditations at the end of each chapter are helpful for applying the material personally.

Mirror for the Soul

A Christian Guide to the Enneagram



by Alice Fryling

InterVarsity Press

IVP Books



Christian , Religion & Spirituality

Pub Date 14 Aug 2017

I am reviewing a copy of the Mirror for the Soul through Intervarsity Press and Netgalley:

Alice Fryling has written a book that serves as a guide of the Ennegram for Christians. The Enneagram is an ancient tool that helps us puzzle out who we are. The Enneagram is a set of numbers, lines and arrows that serve to help undestand who you are. The Christian Roots of the Enneagram are believed to go back to the desert Mother and Father's of the fourth century.

They then break down this into nine perspectives on life. The people in the one space are gifted with goodness, they do things very well. The people in the twos are gifted in love. The people in the three space are gifted to be effective, the people in the four space reflect the creativity of God, those in the five places are gifted in the window, the people in the six space are faithful, those in the seventh are gifted with joy, those in the eight space are often leaders, and in the ninth space the gift is peace.

Honestly before reading this book I knew nothing of the Enneagram let alone its context to Christianity and honestly something does not feel right about using mere numbers to describes one self and certainly one's faith, but Alice Fryling's book was well written, her arguments and facts clear and concise.

I do like the fact that Alice Fryling addresses letting go of your false self and becoming more self aware.

Although I do not agree with using numbers to describe your faith, I feel that Alice Fryling has written a book that does make it easier to understand, so I give this book five out of five stars.

Happy Reading!