inactive
There is a book by James Fowler, “Stages of Faith”. If you have read Piaget, Erickson, Tillich, Niebuhr, Smith – those are the theorists Fowler synthesized from. I would suggest that if you are not familiar with developmental psychology or do not respect it as a relevant or legitimate intellectual inquiry, you might not appreciate his work, but I could be wrong. I am very often wrong.
Before anybody jumps on me and makes assumptions, this is how “faith” is defined in the context of his developmental
model for how all people find meaning and value. In this
model or theory,” faith is not necessarily religious, nor is it equated with belief. Rather, faith is a person’s way of leaning into and making sense of life. Faith is the dynamic system of images, values, and commitments that guide one’s life. It is thus universal: everyone who chooses to gobon living operates by some basic faith”
This is a theory. So take it as such, but one which for me, in the years since I read it, has fostered a frame through which I view religion, spirituality, mental health, intellectual growth and maturity and aging. I see things very differently since I read this. There is, in this theory, room for religion, agnosticism and athiesm. Any human being in the process of living can be viewed through the lense of the six stages of Fowler’s human development theory. I “believe” in the brillance of this framework, not as a substitute for any personal religion, nor as an absolute truth, but for what the theory offers in terms of compassion, intellectual growth and intellectual honesty and our shared humanity.
I am NOT going to participate any further on this thread. I
just want to put the title, author and six-stages out there for those who might be interested.
Stage 1: Intuitive-Projective Faith
Stage 2: Mythic-Literal Faith
Stage 3: Synthetic-Conventional Faith
Stage 4: Individuative-Reflective Faith
Stage 5: Conjunctive Faith
Stage 6: Universalizing Faith
Kind of heady reading, but relevant to what I think is really universally important. And, remember, it is just a theory. A working model that is NOT proslytizing but rather attempts to be objective and find a common thread through the development of all of humanity .
That’s all. I’ve said my piece.