Drawing on the concept of implicit religion and psychological type theory : shaping a cathedral congregation survey and listening to diverse voices

Conceptualising cathedrals as welcoming spaces that soften the boundaries between common ground and sacred space, the present paper tests the thesis that a rich account of participants’ experience of a cathedral Sunday Choral Eucharist can be facilitated by intentionally engaging each of the four psychological functions identified by psychological type theory: sensing, intuition, feeling, and thinking (SIFT). Of the 139 participants who completed a quantitative survey during the service in the Anglican cathedral in Liverpool, 81 also addressed the qualitative section that posed four questions designed to access each of the cognitive functions.

The sensing function provided rich description, the intuitive function forged links and insights, the feeling function engaged the human heart, and the thinking function analysed the implications and voiced the criticisms. The SIFT approach can be commended for further application in cathedral studies and more widely.