Poets, Prophets and Pragmatists in Community

Introduction

"Poets, Prophets, and Pragmatists", written by Evelyn Woodward,
is a book that speaks of the uniqueness of each person in a
religious community. The author says also that poetic insight,
prophetic challenge, and pragmatic planning, are key qualities
of leadership in a pluralistic age such as ours. These three
gifts for community can also be found in any group or social
unit such as the family, an organization, or anything that
requires teamwork.

The gifts combined in an individual

It is also probable that a single person may combine several or
all of these three gifts in his person, but in different
intensities. If some really gifted individual combines these
three gifts in himself, in actuality, only one would dominate and
externally appear as the more prominent gift. When choosing a
leader for an organization, these three gifts in a leader can be
a good measure by which members of the organization can choose
the best leader for their present circumstances - a leader who
possesses a unique combination of these three gifts that would
be effective in the present state of the organization.

The poet

Woodward defines the poet as an individual or groups of people
who intuitively and deeply understand the nature and quality of
our being human. He usually understands human beings with quite
a delicate accuracy and empathy of perception. The poet sees at
a certain level of consciousness. He is a visionary.

The prophet

The prophet is an individual or groups of people who have the
ability to see the vision of the poet, and challenge others with
its truth - urging people to raise their awareness and live a
life more rooted in the vision. As an accurate example to this,
we have the Old Testament prophets who urged regularly the
people Israel to be faithful to the vision of their Covenant with
God - something that is rooted in the vision of God Moses had
experienced.

The pragmatist

Woodward defines the pragmatist as a planner who takes both the
vision of the poet and the challenge the prophet presents, and
then together with both these two gifted peoples, put and combine
a system of living and working. The pragmatist can reorganize
old systems and move more in the direction where a new system
would be more in line with something better - closer to the
vision of the poet and the strength of challenge the prophets
give. Pragmatists are planners, evaluators, troubleshooters,
and inventors of systems.

Immeasurable gifts

Unlike the MBTI and the Enneagram, poetic insight, prophetic
challenge, and pragmatic planning seem to be gifts that would
be difficult to measure. We know them only by experience - in
how we relate to others in a permanent living set-up such as a
religious community. Because in a religious community, people
not only live together more permanently, but they also work
together more permanently. This stable living arrangement opens
up opportunities to relate with each other in many socially
organized ways and thus invite every member of the community to
know each other's giftedness.

A help in understanding people

As we relate to people more permanently, we will perceive which
of these three gifts is present in each one. If each one sees
the other as a leader like himself because of the gift the others
also have, then harmony and balance can be achieved. And when
the system in which all members live and work in, is going along
the direction the poets see, the prophets lead to, and the
pragmatists constantly plan and renew, then there would be a
sense of stability, meaning, and purpose which all find agreeable
and effective. People will understand how each one's gift
contributes to the process of becoming one in mind and heart.

Source of post

"Poets, Prophets & Pragmatists: A New Challenge to Religious
Life", by Evelyn Woodward