Catholic Online Forum

http://agapepartners.org/articles/37/1/ ... Page1.html

Did the 4 Gospel writers really have different temperaments?



Are people with different temperaments prone to different sins ?

What about the temperaments of the Apostles ?

How exact is the science?

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Simon

Hi Simon,



I read the article and I'm not seeing what you did. My take on this is that it wasn't about the authors of the Gospels, rather, it was about whether our temperaments have an influence on which Gospel we prefer to read. All four Gospels are definitely written in different styles. Not because of the author's temperament, but because of who the author was writing to and what his intent was. Matthew wrote to the Jewish community and wanted to show that Jesus was the promised Messiah. As a result, he included a lot of OT references which you will not find in Luke because they would have been meaningless to the Gentile community Luke was writing to. Each writer told the same story,the same message, but in a way that would be understood by their audience.



A few years ago my pastor gave a presentation where he discussed this issue. He used our temperaments (based on the Briggs-Myer's test) to help each of us find the prayer style that worked best for us. During the process he was able to show that our temperament had an influence on which Gospel we preferred and why. Not only the Gospels, but various passages throughout scripture. Understanding this had a very positive impact on my prayer life.

The book he used was "Prayer and Temperament - Different Prayer Forms for Different Personality Types" by Chester P. Michael and Marie C. Norrisey.

I was on a silent retreat once and the director gave me scripture to pray with. Unfortunately the scripture she chose was totally wrong for someone of my temperament. It was like trying to put a square peg into a round hole. When we found passages that fit my temperament I was able to pray with the scriptures.

I should add that a discussion on temperament doesn't mean that we can reject scripture, or that one passage is better than others. Rather, it's about finding what prayer style works best for us.


Effie

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“The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of Conservatives is to prevent mistakes from being corrected.” –G.K Chesterton

Thanks Effie,that was really nice.

What about the temperaments of the Gospel Characters?
Can one know what went on inside them when they met Jesus?

For example what was it in Judas 's personality that caused him to betray Jesus?

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Simon

Hi Simon,

A little bit, but not much. The purpose of the Gospels is to tell us the story of Christ. The authors weren't interested in giving us a lot of details about His followers, unless it related to the life and message of Jesus. However, that doesn't mean you won't find information about some of them, especially Peter, James, John, and Judas. Paul's writings also give us a good glimpse into his personality.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan wrote a wonderful book called "To Whom Shall We Go". It a series of reflections based on passages in scripture that involve Peter. When learning about Peter, we can learn a lot about ourselves, and our relationship with Christ. I think it would be a good book to read during Advent.


Effie

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“The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of Conservatives is to prevent mistakes from being corrected.” –G.K Chesterton