Thomas speaks from the gut

For more commentary on this week's readings, see the Reflections on the Lectionary page, which includes Spong's current Living by the Word column as well as past magazine and blog content. For full-text access to all articles, subscribe to the Century.

Last year I took a class to determine my Enneagram number. I’m an old hand at Myers-Briggs, with its 16 types, but this nine-number circle with all sorts of arrows going back and forth was a new system for me. Thankfully the teacher, Suzanne Stabile, had a teaching style I understood well. It turns out we are the same type.

Some of us reside in the heart (or feeling) triad, as Suzanne and I do, and some in the head (or thinking) triad. My guess is Thomas would belong in the third triad: the gut. He says the thing or asks the question that emanates from his gut. Sometimes I think Thomas’s problem isn’t doubting so much as blurting. He says things that nobody else dares to say.