Biblical Conservatism and Psychological Type

Abstract

The Village Bible Scale, a measure of biblical conservatism, was completed by 3,243 Church of England readers of the Church Times in 2013 alongside a measure of psychological type. Overall, biblical conservatism was higher for men than women, for those under 60 than those over 60, for those with school-level than those with university-level qualifications, for laity than clergy, and higher among evangelicals and charismatics than among those in Anglo-catholic or broad-church traditions. For the sample as a whole, the perceiving process was the only dimension of psychological type to predict biblical conservatism, which was positively correlated with sensing and negatively correlated with intuition. Within church traditions, sensing scores predicted biblical conservatism in Anglo-catholic and broad-church traditions, but not for evangelicals. Thinking function scores were positively correlated with biblical conservatism among evangelicals, but negatively correlated among Anglo-catholics. The findings point to the possible roles of psychological preferences in influencing predispositions for retaining or changing theological convictions.

Liberalism and Conservatism in Relation to Psychological Type among Church of England Clergy

“…The four dimensions of this model have been shown to relate to religious orientations in numerous studies that have examined the psychological profiles of clergy and congregations (Francis, Craig, et al, 2007;Francis et al, 2011;Francis et al, 2010;Francis & Village, 2015;Village, 2013), or individual beliefs, attitudes, and religious experiences (Francis & Village, 2017;Francis, Village, et al, 2007;Village, 2005Village, , 2010Village, , 2016. For the purposes of this paper it is relevant to point out studies that have shown connections between psychological preferences and preferences for traditional or conservative expressions of faith.…”

“…The preference for thinking over feeling in the judging process might be linked to conservatism because of the greater ability of thinking types to resist the pressure to conform to the growing liberal moral consensus within and beyond the Church. A study of specifically biblical conservatism among 3,243 clergy and lay readers of the Church Times found that, across all church traditions, biblical conservatism was related to preference for sensing over intuition, but not to preference for thinking over feeling (Village, 2016). However, within traditions, preference for thinking predicted more liberal bible beliefs among Anglo-catholics and more conservative bible beliefs among evangelicals.…”

“…The latter include empirical theologians, who explore attitudes, beliefs and practices through the lens of the social and psychological sciences in order to try and explain the diversity of religious expression we observe in everyday life (Francis, 2007;Francis & Village, 2015;van der Ven, 1998). This paper builds on a tradition of research that uses individual differences, and particularly psychological-type models, to explain patterns of liberal and conservative dispositions in the Church of England (Randall, 2005;Village, 2010Village, , 2013Village, , 2016. It outlines briefly the origins and nature of liberal and conservative belief within the Church of England, examines the evidence that suggests psychological-type preferences might be related to liberal or conservative beliefs, and then tests these ideas on a sample of Church of England clergy.…”

Exploring Affect Balance: Psychological Well-being of Church of England Clergy and Laity During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…This is a 40-item instrument comprising four sets of ten forced-choice items related to each of the four components of psychological type: orientation (extraversion or introversion), perceiving process (sensing or intuition), judging process (thinking or feeling), and attitude toward the outer world (judging or perceiving) (Francis 2005 ; Village, In press). Previous studies have demonstrated that this instrument functions well in a range of church-related contexts (for example, see Francis et al 2007 , 2020 ; Francis et al 2011a , b ; Village 2016 ). In this sample, the alpha reliabilities were .83 for the EI scale, .75 for the SN scale, .73 for the TF scale, and .71 for the JP scale.…”

Does higher education change the faith of Anglicans and Methodists preparing for church ministries through a course validated by a UK university?

“…The Bible scale (Village, 2007(Village, , 2016) was a 12-item scale that assessed liberal versus conservative beliefs about the Bible. It has been widely used elsewhere in samples of Anglicans and other dominations, where alpha reliabilities are invariably above .90.…”