Abstract:
A sample of 389 experienced preachers completed a measure of psychological type. They then
read Mark 1:29–39 and recorded their evaluations of the four refl ections on this passage proposed
by Francis (1997) and which were derived from the SIFT method of biblical hermeneutics and
liturgical preaching. Three main conclusions are drawn from these data. First, compared with the
United Kingdom population norms, preachers within this sample were signifi cantly more likely to
prefer introversion, intuition, feeling and judging. Second, preachers were four times more likely
to prefer a sensing interpretation of the text rather than a thinking interpretation, emphasising the
richness of the narrative rather than facing the theological questions posed by it. Third, there was
little evidence to suggest that preachers were less likely to appreciate interpretations consonant
with their less preferred or inferior function than those consonant with their most preferred or
dominant function. In this sense, the richness of the SIFT method should be accessible to preachers
of all psychological types.
