How To Connect With The Owen Lars In Your Life

Most of us know Owen Lars from Episode IV (A New Hope). Some might first have been introduced to him as a young man in Episode II (Attack of the Clones).

But if you don’t remember, here’s brief background. Owen was a hard nosed moisture farm from Tatootine. When we first met him in A New Hope we only knew that he was Luke’s uncle. We did not have any reason why Luke was living with him. In Episode II we find out that Owen is Anakin Skywalker’s step-brother. So at the end of Episode III (Revenge of the Sith), we see that he and Beru were tasked by Obi Wan Kenobi to watch over Luke.

Why Owen is a good MBTI fit for ISTJ

Owen has been identified as being an ISTJ on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) by Jenny over at Geek in Heels. While neither she nor I claim to be certified administrators of the MBTI I think it’s a legitimate designation. That also equates to Keirsey’s “Inspector”.

When you look at the MBTI description for a person that is an ISTJ, we see that this person can be described as having these characteristics:

wanting to create and enforce order within systems and institutions
tend to be neat and orderly
have a procedure for things
have a “conservative, no non-sense” air about them
calm, stable, steady, cautious, and conventional

That seems to fit Owen rather well based on the fact he was a plain clothed moisture farmer. He had an ordered life and was overly cautious, especially when it came to Luke going of to the academy. That meant Luke would be leaving Owen’s protection. We also she how “no non-sense” Owen is through his dealings with the Jawas and Luke.

According to research, those with a MBTI of ISTJ make up about 11-14% of the general population (16% of men and 7% of women).

Strengths of an ISTJ

Honesty and Directness
Very Responsible/”Stick To It” Attitude
Calm and Practical
Create and Enforce Order
Jacks-of-all-trades

We can see some of these played on in Owen when he deals with the Jawas. After buying the red R2 unit, he remains calm and matter of fact after its motivator goes bad and he just buys R2D2. He then matter of factly tells Luke to get them cleaned up before dinner. We even see him quickly control his fear and remain calm when, in A New Hope, Luke mentions that he found a message for an Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Weaknesses of ISTJ

Tend to be insensitive to people’s feelings
“Always by the book”, therefore may come across as cold or aloof
Tend to look at external ideas with primary purpose of finding fault
Tend to have difficulty expressing their thoughts and feelings to others

We can see some of these played on in Owen’s reaction to Luke wanting to transmit his application to the academy this semester- right before the harvest. Own is unable to express his feelings to Luke before Luke storms out. He is able to confide in his wife of many years that he is concerned about how much like his father Luke is.

How to talk with MBTI

If you were going to try and talk with Uncle Owen from Star Wars or a person who didn’t believe in Jesus, who was an ISTJ, how would you do it?

Since people like Owen and me are into facts and not just theories, going the apologetics route might work best. Resources by apologists like Josh McDowell, Norman Geisler, C.S. Lewis, and others might be a good way to start the discussion.

Being systematic and organized will gain you respect and attention.

Just don’t be overly theoretical.

How to disciple An ISTJ

If you were going to disciple Uncle Owen from Star Wars or a believer (like me) who was also an ISTJ, how would you do it?

Be sure to avoid spending too much time on personal matters and get to the point immediately.

Stick to the facts.

Don’t be emotional or appeal to our emotions.

Be specific and oriented to details as you present information. Make sure you are clear, precise, and do so in a step-by-step manner.

Instead of telling us to be more loving, give examples of how to act more loving. An example of being more loving could look when you volunteer to mow your elderly neighbor’s lawn (without being asked or paid).

Give ISTJs time to reflect before acting since we are processing what we have just ingested.