Fowler's Stages of Faith

or Close

As a babe, we learn of the safety of our environment.
A sense of trust and safety about the universe and the divine.
or the wariness, distrust, of negative experiences.

A sense of trust may open the door to a positive lifestyle
and, spiritually, to open the door to positive growth.

Any failure of the trusted environment may produc
a negative attitude to life and a liftime of suspicion,
precluding any real spiritual development;
until something arises to challenge it.

A positive attitude at thi stage may continue in later stages
through the unearned trust given to religious leaders,
until something arises to alter our opinion.

In either case, utter trust may return again at the end of life,
when we become completely dependent on others,
preparing us for the trust needed to face death without fear.

During this cared-for stage, we have no concept of the divine
other than as a figure in which to put our trust,
which may be exactly what Jesus had in mind
when he said that we needed
to be as little children..

3 to 7 Imitation of adults. Fantasy and reality merge.

We continually encounter new things or ideas.
Our imagination is unrestrained and uninhibited by logical thought.
We take no real account of the needs or perspectives of others
. We build strong taboos around important personal issues.

Here we have an attitude that
"If I follow the rules, God will give me a good life."
"If I pray, God will grant my wish.".
A literal view of reciprocity.

We can grow out of this phase when we encounter contradictions
when literal interpretation no longer has reality,
when we start to reflect on the real meanings,
or when there is no correlation between virtue and reward.

Alternatively we may remain where reality is discarded .
We persist in seeing as real whatever is desired,
and this ends up with a bogus spirituality.

The divine may be seen in super-hero fantasy terms.
We might put much emphasis on legend and traditional stories
without, necessarily, any basis of reality.

7 to 11 Literal and concrete ideas.

We take to ourselves our community's stories and observances.
Beliefs, morality and attitudes are taken literally,
as are the associated stories, tales and symbols.

We have a world-view based on reciprocal fairness
and an immanent justice based on reciprocity.
We do not formulate reflective, conceptual meanings,
for meanings are carried within our stories.

This is a feature of much Calvinistic and fundamental thinking.
Literal interpretation avoids the need for thought,
conflicting statements are merely ignored.
There is no margin for error or debate.

The 'written Word of God' is inviolate, inspired, God-breathed.
Biblical ideas can not be challenged or discussed objectively.

God may be seen as a paternal disciplinarian-
the Jehovah figure of the Old Testament.

11 to Adult Conforming faith.

At this stage we are acutely tuned to significant others;
to their expectations and judgements
As yet we do not have a sure enough grasp
on our own identity and autonomous judgement
to construct and maintain an independent perspective.

Whilst we feel our beliefs and values deeply,
there has not been occasion to step outside them,
to reflect on or examine them explicitly or systematically
We ignore any conflicts within our beliefs
fearing the threat of inconsistencies.

This is the common attribute of churchgoers today,
as ever,
and is the ideal situation for the Church.

Much clerical effort is devoted to bring us to this stage
and, often, to constraining us from further development.
The group mentality prevails in worship and theology.
We probably see God through Pauline ideas,
a caring teacher, requiring rules to be kept.

Any rocking of the boat is unacceptable,
even though the focus is on our individual salvation.
Our minds are closed to new ideas for the sake of peace,
fellowship
and the general good of mankind.

Young adult : Choosing Faith. individually chosen beliefs.

This is a stage of angst and struggle,
as we take personal responsibility for our beliefs and feelings.
We are open to new complexities of in our faith,
but also of conflict within what we believe.

The boat of our communal belief is rocked,
often by conflict with previously accepted authority.
We lose the communal creed, the belief system of the group.
This is the inevitable result of our new relationship with God
and is bound to cause dissension and upset.

We will be seeking for new explanations of the divine
and of the spiritual interface.
We may lose our church affinity
and even drift into non-Christian forms of spirituality
As with any travel there is always the risk of getting lost.

God may be seen as the revolutionary teacher of new ideas.

Mid-life Crisis : Inclusive or Conjunctive faith

Here we come to acknowledges paradox and transcendence .
We discern reality behind the symbols of inherited systems.
We may come to an understanding of previous conflicts
through an interdependent underlying global truth,
inexplicable by any particular verbal statement,
but somehow related to our inbuilt myths,
the product of our background.

We accept the underlying reality behind symbols, myth and ritual
because we grasp the depth of reality to which they refer.
We remain divided between an untransformed world
and loyalty to a transforming vision.

As we lose the constarints of a communal approach,
we reach an appreciation of the individual faiths of others;
that they may have equal validity with our own.

We know less of God than others suppose,
and so can not be as dogmatic as others would like.
God is real but beyond our understanding.

"Universalizing" faith, also called enlightenment.

Saints treat any person with compassion,
for we are all part of a universal community,
and should be treated with universal principles of love and justice.

We seldom meet such saints.
They create new concepts of faith, new belief systems.
They create zones of liberation from human conceptual shackles.
They are subversive of the structures by which we sustain society.
They becomes the focus for a community based on their ideas ,
which we will misunderstand to a degree
consistent with our own Stage of Faith.

Conclusion
Maybe we can see how the ideas of Jesus were misunderstood;
reinterpreted and adapted to fit the Stage of Faith of the hearers;
adapted to their preconceptions and material concerns,
forming the basis of the Christianity we know today,
and from which we grow - as we are able.