THE ROLE OF ARCHETYPES AND JUNGIAN TYPOLOGY IN BUILDING RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY: APPLYING JOHN BEEBE’S EIGHT PROCESS ARCHETYPAL MODEL THROUGH A CASE STUDY OF THE EXTRAVERTED INTUITIVE TYPE WITH INTROVERTED FEELING (ENFP)

Christopher F. J. Ross*

Abstract

Beebe’s eight process archetypal model for Jungian type development is described and applied in a religious context through a portrait of an extraverted intuitive dominant type with auxiliary introverted feeling (ENFP). The defining features of each mental process in its most developed form are outlined. The eight developmental archetypes are described in order of their developmental role and in terms of the inflexion given to the mental process in that developmental position. The contributions and limita- tions of ENFPs to a religious group are explored, including the dependability of their enthusiastic connectivity, the nurturing aspect of inner valuing, the fluctuating nature of their ability to organize, and the deepening significance afforded by attention to specifics and details.

Keywords: archetypes, Jung, psychological type, type dynamics, religion

Jung’s theory of archetype does not conform to the empiricist assump- tions of mainstream American psychology and may in large measure account for the neglect of his in that main- stream. By contrast, (Jung, 1921/1971) has become the “acceptable face” of Analytical Psychology because it provided the intellectual and descriptive foundation, along with the observations of Myers and test development skills and insight of Briggs Myers, of the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), the most widely used person- ality measure in the world today. Jungian analyst Beebe’s archetypal model of type development is important because it brings together

* Author Note: Christopher F. J. Ross, Department of Religion and Culture, Wilfrid Laurier University. The author is indebted to Leslie Francis who first imagined and suggested a project with this scope and to Lauren Price who assisted with the final editing of the text. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to: Christopher F. J. Ross, Department of Religion and Culture, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Email: [email protected]

Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, Volume 22 © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2011 316 christopher f. j. ross two aspects of Jung’s analytical psychology. The purpose of this article is to show how an archetypal approach to Jungian type development may enhance application of Jungian typology to religious issues and in particular to the development of community in a religious context. This article outlines a) the eight psychological processes foundational to Jung’s personality typology that the MBTI assays to measure; b) the eight archetypes that Beebe claimed have a distinct influence upon the role that a process may play in a particular personality type; and finally c) the application of the model in a religious context through an explo- ration of the functioning of an extraverted intuitive with introverted feeling (ENFP) in a religious community.

Eight Mental Processes Foundational to

Because each of the eight mental processes (referred to by Beebe as function attitudes) are most recognizable when they are the dominant mental process, following the approach of Haas and Huniker (2006), each mental process will be described when manifested at that more differentiated level of development. According to Beebe’s model, the dominant mental process is deployed by the archetype of the hero enabling an individual to walk confidently down the path of life, reli- ably solving most of the problems encountered, especially those met in the early part of the human life cycle. In the third section with the portrait of the ENFP, each process will be described where, depend- ing on the order of development into consciousness, the effect of the pertinent archetype may be illustrated for each of the eight mental processes.

The Perceiving Processes There are two kinds of perceiving, sensing and intuition, that may operate in both the introverted and extraverted direction. Perceiving processes are, according to Jung, irrational in that they have no ratio (Latin for “order”) or ordering properties. Perceiving processes merely register what is there: “They do not proceed selectively according to principles, but are simply receptive to what happens. But ‘what hap- pens’ is essentially irrational” (Jung, 1921/1971, p. 539). Furthermore, as Haas and Huniker explained in Building Blocks of Personality Type: “Perception is considered to be irrational because no intentional