Searching for the Lost Sheep (Matthew 18: 10–14): Do Sensing Types and Intuitive Types Find Different Things?

Drawing on psychological type theory and a reader-perspective approach to biblical hermeneutics, this study examines how sensing types and intuitive types read the Matthean reference to the lost sheep in different ways. Data drawn from a workshop involving 22 Anglican clergy (first year curates and training incumbents) illustrate how sensing types focus on important details in the passage, while intuitive types allow the passage to spark multiple ideas. While looking for the same lost sheep, sensing types and intuitive types are inclined to find different things and to preach different messages.