James Fowler's Stages of Faith: A Description of the Theory

[achilles]

I know that a lot of digital ink has been spilled in the LDS blogosphere about Fowler’s Stages of Faith. Despite the model’s weaknesses, I think it has some valuable things to say to transitioning Mormons and people of faith everywhere. I’d like to make a brief outline of the model and say a few things about the third, fourth, and fifth stages. I hope some of you will also chime in with your perspectives on the subject.

James Fowler was a theologian and developmental psychologist who interviewed hundreds of people to create a stage development theory of spiritual growth (much like his predecessors and contemporaries Jean Piaget and Lawrence Kohlberg). He proposes a six stage model. Here are brief descriptions of the stages (don’t get caught up on the names for each stage—focus on the main ideas.

Stage 1, Intuitive-Projective Faith:

Usually children 0 to 8 years; stage in which they form their first ideas about spirituality and deity; magic and reality are mixed; faith is egocentric—there is an assumption that everyone shares the child’s perspective and an inability to takes another’s perspective; children pick up on the taboos of their community; the imagination of the child is captured by fairy tales, bible stories, religious symbols, imagery, and drama forming deep feelings and beliefs about the nature of spirituality.

Transition from Stage 1 to 2:

Children begins to apply logical thought processes to the world around them; beginning of ability to take the perspective of another person (lessening of egocentrism); emergence of ability to distinguish between the real and the imaginary

Stage 2, Mythic-Literal Faith:

Middle Childhood, sometimes into adolescence; world becomes more patterned, ordered, and predicable; commitment to fairness and equal give-and-take in spiritual things—deity is fair and just in its dealings with mankind; spiritual meaning is captured in narratives, stories about one’s own spiritual community coupled with inability to step back and look at one’s stories objectively; belief is literal, religious symbols are interpreted literally.

Transition from Stage 2 to 3:

Children begin to see the limitations of literalness, of expectations of fairness, and of contradictory narratives.

Stage 3, Synthetic-Conventional Faith:

Adolescence through Adulthood; person gains the ability to think in the abstract and to think about one’s own thinking; placement of one’s own spiritual story in the context of other stories—the emergence of a person myth and spiritual identity; importance is placed on following the rules and conventions of one’s spiritual community and authority is firmly placed outside oneself, on the leaders of one’s spiritual community; one’s ideology and religious symbols are firmly held but remain unexamined.

This is where things start to get interesting for those of us questioning the Church, leaving, and heading to StayLDS, NOM, exmormon reddit, etc. It will be dealt with in the next post, so stay tuned!

[achilles]

Here is Part Two of the Stages of Faith post. We finished the last post outlining Stages 1 through 3 of Fowler’s developmental theory of faith.The next steps in development may be the most important for NOMs to understand.

Transition from Stage 3 to 4

This portion of the theory is so important that I am going to use Fowler’s words from his book Stages of Faith to describe it:

Factors contributing to the breakdown of Stage 3 and to readiness for transition may include: serious clashes or contradictions between valued authority sources; marked changes, by officially sanctioned leaders, or policies or practices previously deemed sacred and unbreachable; the encounter with experiences or perspectives that lead to critical reflection on how one’s belief and values have formed and changed, and on how “relative” they are to one’s particular group or background.

Stages of Faith, p. 173

As you can see, the preceding description seems to mirror many of our experiences as NOMs that have lead to our feelings of unease with the Church.

Stage 4, Individuative-Reflective Faith:

Middle Adulthood to Late Adulthood; one critically examines one’s previous religious symbols and rituals in a “demythologizing” process; “broken symbols” can result in a profound sense of loss, dislocation, and grief; one’s identity is no longer defined by spiritual group membership of Stage 3; one takes personal responsibility for one’s religious commitments and beliefs, moving authority from outside oneself to inside; usually occurs in mid-life and can be protracted, taking five to seven years or longer

Transition from Stage 4 to 5

One becomes restless in one’s critical reflection upon faith, and in an overconfidence in the conscious mind, critical thought, and empirical reality; Stories, myths, symbols, and paradoxes from one’s previous faith and the faith of others begin to “break in” upon one’s newly constructed reality; one begins to move toward a “dialectical” approach to spirituality and reality, and willing to learn to live with the clash between empirical reality and mysticism.

Stage 5, Conjunctive Faith

Middle Adulthood to Late Adulthood; One enters a “second naivete”, beginning to develop a way of knowing that reaches beyond the dichotomous, either/or thought patterns of Stage 4 to an acceptance of a multilayered, multidimensional reality; One is open to allowing the universe to speak its own truth, letting it suggest its own interpretation rather than imposing an ideology upon it; One allows the unconscious mind to guide the conscious- -recognizing the archetypal elements that guide our thoughts and actions; One reworks and reclaims one’s spiritual past and develops an ecumenical approach to symbols, rituals, and stories, allowing one to construct a fuller understanding of the spiritual.

Transition from Stage 5 to 6

Middle Adulthood to Late Adulthood; Seeing the division of humankind and recognizing the potential for an inclusive future, one allows the untransformed world and the transforming vision to merge; one becomes ready for a “radical actualization” of self and other in pursuit of this vision.

Stage 6, Universalizing Faith:

Middle Adulthood to Late Adulthood; Heedless of self-preservation, one becomes a disciplined activist incarnation of the transforming vision of a peaceful, self-actualized, united humanity; one’s vision and methods often offend existing ideologies and institutions; one’s contagious influence creates “zones of liberation from social, political, economic, and ideological shackles” that inhibit humanity from reaching its fullest potential.

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In the another post, I will apply Fowler’s developmental model in the context of the LDS Church.

[Corsair]

Thanks for putting this together, Achilles. I have seen material on Stages of Faith before, but you have a very good summary, particularly in how it relates to why we ended up on this forum.

[MerrieMiss]

A great podcast for Stages of Faith is one by Jon Paulien. I don't remember where I originally heard it, but it's located on Bill Reel's site:

http://www.mormondiscussionpodcast.org/ ... ulien-mp3/

The podcast is done from a Seventh-Day Adventist perspective, but it is fantastic in how similar that viewpoint is with Mormonism.

[Newme]

I like how this is laid out - it helps to see some sense of development spiritually. I haven't read Fowler's book, but of what I have read, it seems that he doesn't explain much about the process between stages 4 -6. Carl Jung and some others have mentioned more like about shadow aspects (dark night of the soul), symbolic archetypes/collective consciousness and bringing all of those subconscious (shadow) aspects to light.

Personally, I don't believe anybody ever "arrives." I don't even think that Buddha or Jesus or any of the other spiritual "masters" came to a point where there was no more progress to be made. I believe that progress is an essential part of any spiritual path.

[chesteridaho]

Thanks for the summary of the Stages of Faith. I had heard James Folwer's work mentioned on podcasts before, but hadn't taken the time to research it.

I am definitely between stages 4 & 5. For me stage 4 has felt very lonely and without direction. I knew what I didn't believe, but am not clear about what I do believe now. I have started listening to Noah Rasheta's Secular Buddhism podcast and that has been helpful in kick starting the discovery of my new self.