Head, heart or instinct: Which encourages more followers of Jesus?
On the blog today is my review of the 2023 book, Evangelization and Ideology: How to Understand and Respond to the Political Culture by Dr. Matthew Petrusek, Professor of Catholic Ethics and Assistant Director at the Word on Fire Institute. Petrusek tackles the complex art of arguing against modern ideologies using the principles of Catholic social thought. Because I am more familiar with Evangelicalism than Catholicism, the first question I explored was: What is meaning and development of Catholic social thought? Second, I explored the argumentative process Petrusek suggests Christians use to debate the ideologies of utilitarianism, classical liberalism/libertarianism, progressivism/wokeism, and non-theistic conservatism. And finally, I contrasted Petrusek’s singular focus of using thought and reason to evangelize with the impact of using the other centers of human intelligence: the heart and the gut (instinct) to connect people to Jesus. A summary of this journey follows below.
What is Catholic Social Thought?
The University of San Diego’s Ministry page provided a helpful overview of Catholic social thought, which they define as “the reflection of the whole [Catholic] Church on the order of social life.”[1] In short, Catholic social thought is the church’s response to modern social issues. There is no one source for this worldview, instead “it has developed not only through the insights formulated by the Church councils, papal encyclicals, and bishops’ documents and letters, but also is fashioned by the contributions and insights of the broader Catholic community around the world.”[2] Armed with this background and additional insights provided by the article referenced above, I set out to understand Petrusek’s methodology for arguing in support of Catholic social thought against the popular ideologies of the modern day.
Thinking in Circles: A Map of Moral Argumentation
Along with in-depth philosophical histories of utilitarianism, classical liberalism/libertarianism, progressivism/wokeism, and non-theistic conservatism, Petrusek introduces a simple tool to assist us in recognizing the various components that make up moral reasoning. The map, which he calls Thinking in Circles, is a visual representation of the factors that influence our moral reasoning, with the outer circles being the foundational concepts and the interior circles being dependent on those concepts that surround it (see figure below).[3]
Petrusek asserts that each of the modern ideologies has deficits that become clear when mapped in this way and that Catholic social thought can “fix” these deficiencies and prove it’s superiority in a rational, logical manner.
What I appreciated about Petrusek’s approach was the systematic way he dissected the ideologies. The Thinking in Circles map helped me understand the relationship between politics, morality, epistemology, anthropology, ontology, and theology in a new way that is helpful and visual. For the sake of this useful diagram, I will keep Petrusek’s book on my shelf for future reference. What I found disheartening about the book, was Petrusek’s argumentative tone and premise that rational argumentation is THE way to change a person’s mind about ideology. In contrast, I suggest there are two other centers of intelligence that are equal, if not superior to argumentation when it comes to winning hearts and minds for Christ.
The Three Centers of Intelligence
As a certified Enneagram Coach, one of the basic concepts I teach my clients is that human beings have three centers of intelligence: 1) head 2) heart 3) instinct. Each personality type has a default center that they primarily use to make decisions and see their place in the world, but the goal is to use all three. In Petrusek’s book, he focuses exclusively on the head center for evangelizing. While this is useful, head knowledge or consious thought is not the only way of knowing things (epistemology). A person can know things subconsciously out of instinct and emotion, as well. In fact, “Neuroscience now tells us that we each have three brains. The one we most often think about and pay attention to is the “head” or cephalic brain. We also have a heart (cardiac) and a gut (enteric) brain. Each has sensory neurons, motor neurons, ganglia, and neurotransmitters. They are able to take in information, process it, store it and access it when needed.“[4] This makes perfect sense when we think about how Jesus evangelized to the world. He did not solely use facts or debate as a means to communicate the gospel. He used story and emotion, meals, dancing, physical touch, prayer, and even song. This holistic way of sharing about God using all three centers of intelligence is becoming more and more important as Christians face the competing ideologies of the day.
According to Tim Keller, there is a pensee by Blaise Pascal where he says, “Bring people to the place where they wish Christianity was true, then show them it’s true.”[5] In other words, help people understand emotionally and instinctually why they would even want Jesus to be real and THEN show them how it can make sense with reason. By putting the mind first, as Petrusek proposes, I fear we are missing the mark with a generation that is becoming more and more disillusioned with arguments and facts. Perhaps beginning with the heart, where the greatest commandment resides, would be a more effective approach.
[1] “What Is Catholic Social Thought? – University Ministry – University of San Diego,” accessed April 4, 2024, https://www.sandiego.edu/ministry/service-and-social-justice/catholic-social-thought.
[2] “What Is Catholic Social Thought?”
[3] Matthew Petrusek and Cardinal Thomas Collins, Evangelization and Ideology: How to Understand and Respond to the Political Culture (Word on Fire, 2023), 49.
[4] Brian Gorman, “Council Post: Change Leadership: Why Your Head, Heart And Gut Are Critical To Listen To,” Forbes, accessed April 4, 2024, https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2019/03/04/change-leadership-why-your-head-heart-and-gut-are-critical-to-listen-to/.
[5] Carey Nieuwhof, “Episode 583: Tim Keller on How He Would Preach If He Was Starting Over, His Biggest Regret, The Decline of The Evangelical Church, and How Culture Is Changing the Future of the Church,” CareyNieuwhof.com, July 13, 2023, https://careynieuwhof.com/episode583/.
About the Author
Laura Fleetwood
Laura Fleetwood is a Christian creative, certified Enneagram Coach, doctoral student at Portland Seminary and Creative Director at her home church, Messiah St. Charles. As a published author, national faith speaker, podcaster and self-described anxiety warrior, Laura uses storytelling to teach you how to seek the S T I L L in the midst of your chaotic life. Find Laura at www.seekingthestill.com7 responses to “Head, heart or instinct: Which encourages more followers of Jesus?”
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Laurea,
Great post. I appreciated the way you summarized Petrusek’s book. I found Catholic Thought intriguing as a way of teaching systematic thinking and discipleship. Yet, I found the book too heady in his approach to evangelism. I agree that solely focusing on the brain or ideologies is to pander more to Christian intellectualism than to provide a proper Christian alternative to other ideologies. Of course, Holland gives us a way to subvert the approach of Petrusek’s more direct approach to challenging the ideologies of our time. I appreciated the formative approach you offer with the enneagram. I agree that can be more effective in treating faithful and thoughtful people.
Thank you for the comment and reflection, Chad!
Laura,
I enjoyed learning more about the Ennegram
Great final thoughts:
By putting the mind first, as Petrusek proposes, I fear we are missing the mark with a generation that is becoming more and more disillusioned with arguments and facts. Perhaps beginning with the heart, where the greatest commandment resides, would be a more effective approach.
Honestly, I was pretty impressed with how he presented logically that I lost sight of the points that you make. The heart and instinct are good things to keep in mind esp. when presenting the gospel!
Who would’nt sit and eat a meal with someone who would like to share from the heart?
See you May 2nd!
Exactly, Kristy! We need all three centers of intelligence, that’s why God created us with them. Looking forward to graduating with you!
If I had to answer the question off the top of my head, I would say that the Heart would bring more followers. I would say that because when I think of the powerful weapon of love and what God wants from us it would be a no-brainer. My profession would probably look at the mind because science believes that your mind controls your heart and it is the most powerful tool. I guess the answer would be different based on what you have been taught, different leaders different answers.
Laura, thank you for the way you engaged with this book and this post about it. I too felt like this book was very dense and took some time to switch on that part of my brain. I listened to a lecture that he gave this idea of the Common Good. There are some very interesting perspectives to consider, although it was more so in the Q&A that I felt like his comments became more accessible.
The amount of time I spent on that thinking in circles map!
You did a wonderful job engaging in the book!