Tim Keller, in reflecting upon the pastoral wisdom of John Newton, discusses several different personality styles or perhaps problematic ways of relating to others.
He writes:
Here I'll share my expanded list—based heavily on his Newton's
original one. Since Newton gave each case study a slightly humorous
Latin name, I've done the same.
Austerus is a solid and disciplined
Christian but abrasive, critical, and ungenerous in dealing with people,
temperamental, seldom giving compliments and praise, and almost never
gentle.
Infitialis is a person of careful and
deliberate character but habitually cynical, negative, and pessimistic,
always discouraging ("that will never work"), unsupportive, and vaguely
unhappy.
Pulsus is passionate, yes, but also
impulsive and impatient, not thinking things out, speaking too soon,
always quick to complain and lodge a protest, often needs to apologize
for rash statements.
Querulus is a person of strong convictions,
but known to be opinionated, a poor listener, argumentative, not very
teachable, and slow to admit wrong.
Subjectio is a resourceful and ambitious
person, but also someone who often shades the truth, puts a lot of spin
on things (close to misrepresentation), is very partisan,
self-promoting, and turf-conscious.
Potestas gets things done but needs to
control every situation, has trouble sharing power, has a need to do
everything him or herself, and is very suspicious and mistrustful of
others.
Fragilis is friendly and seeks friends, but
constantly gets feelings hurt, easily feels slighted and put down, is
often offended and upset by real and imagined criticism by others.
Curiosus is sociable but enjoys knowing
negative things about people, finds ways of passing the news on, may
divulge confidences, and enjoys confronting too much.
Volatilis is kind-hearted and eager to
help, but simply not reliable—isn't punctual, doesn't follow through on
promises, always over-extended, and as a result may do shoddy work.
Read the rest of it here.
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