Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning [Paperback]

James W. Fowler (Author)

Book Description

Release date: September 15, 1995

Dr. James Fowler has asked these questions, and others like them, of nearly six hundred people. He has talked with men, women, and children of all ages, from four to eighty-eight, including Jews, Catholics, Protestants, agnostics, and atheists. In many cases, the interviews became in-depth conversations that provided rare, intimate glimpses into the various ways our lives have meaning and purpose, windows into what this books calls faith.

Faith, as approached here, is not necessarily religious, nor is it to be equated with belief. Rather, faith is a person's way of leaning into and making sense of life. More verb that noun, faith is the dynamic system of images, values, and commitments that guide one's life. It is thus universal: everyone who chooses to go on living operated by some basic faith.

Building on the contributions of such key thinkers as Piaget, Erikson, and Kohlberg, Fowler draws on a wide range of scholarship, literature, and firsthand research to present expertly and engagingly the six stages that emerge in working out the meaning of our lives--from the intuitive, imitative faith of childhood through conventional and then more independent faith to the universalizing, self-transcending faith of full maturity. Stages of Faith helps us to understand our own pilgrimage of faith, the passages of our own quest for meaning and value.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Groundbreaking study shows how human life is progressively centered around a basic set of meanings and values that shape the faith people live by.

About the Author

James W. Fowler is widely regarded, along with his associate Lawrence Kohlberg and his contemporaries Carol Gilligan and Daniel J. Levinson, as a seminal figure in the field of developmental psychology. He has taught at Harvard University and Boston College and is currently the head of the Center for Ethics in Public Policy and the Professions at Emory University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne; New edition edition (September 15, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060628669
• ISBN-13: 978-0060628666
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #18,248 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #9 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Religious Studies > Psychology

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 65 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Slow start, but interesting look at faith development January 28, 2003

By Tanja L. Walker

I have to admit, I found the first part of this book to be rather dull reading, and if I wasn't reading this for research on a book I'm co-writing with a friend, I might have given up! But I stuck it out, and I'm glad I did. Fowler is clever in giving a mock symposium to introduce the development theories of Erickson, Piaget, and Kohlberg. And once he actually gets into his stages of faith development, the book really gets interesting. He provides interesting examples of people at different stages of faith development, and importantly, he does not judge people at the different stages--it would be easy to assume people are "better," or "more faithful" at higher stages. This book helped me understand where I am in my faith development, and helped me see ways I can grow in my own faith. This is not, however, a casual read. It takes quite a bit of concentration, and at times, I found Fowler a little hard to follow, especially at the beginning and the end. Still, I recommend it for anyone who wants to understand their faith journey, whatever faith journey they may be on.

41 of 45 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars He Who Lives By The Theory.... April 23, 2004

By Thomas J. Burns VINE™ VOICE

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Shortly after this work was published in 1981 I was engaged in a summer school graduate course on human development at Rollins College. The adjunct professor, an elementary school principal, was highly conversant with the schools and theories discussed by James Fowler in this work at hand. During a break in the ungodly four-hour night class, a student asked the professor if, given the chance to do it over, she would have focused her doctoral efforts in another direction. Without batting an eye, the professor shot back: "Oh yes. Pharmacology." To say that a few somnolent students snapped to attention would be a profound understatement. Her message was clear enough: when studying human development, psychological theory is only one leg of the stool.

"Stages of Faith" is the first and perhaps best known work of James Fowler, who is particularly remembered in Roman Catholic circles for his influence upon the structure and content of religious education programs and study books for the young. Fowler himself appears to have been profoundly influenced by the study of Paul Tillich and particularly Richard Niebuhr, about whom the author would produce another book years later. Fowler credits both theologians for their seminal systematic work on the distinction between personal spiritual experience and cultic religious belief. [I did find Fowler's omission of Rudolf Otto's groundbreaking work on religious experience from his primary sources as curious.]

The scholarly quest for systematic recognition of personal religious experience was a new venture for mainstream Protestant and Roman Catholic academics. The established theories of human development-notably Piaget and Erikson-provided theologians with something of a language for further theorizing. But I suspect that Lawrence Kohlberg's appearance on the scene was perhaps the flash point for scholars like Fowler. Kohlberg's stages of moral development looked for all the world liked psychological theology and practically begged theologians of all faiths to recouch their thinking on religious experience and faith in a new developmental and epistemological framework.

This essentially is what "Stages of Faith" tries to do, ponderously at times. Fowler attempts to integrate the thinking of Piaget, Erikson, and Kohlberg and apply this synthesis to the religious journeys of adults, one of whom is chronicled extensively toward the end of this work. I wish he had used several more actual biographies. Despite the fact that subject Mary's roller-coaster life brings spice to an otherwise admittedly dry read, it becomes clear immediately that Mary is not "typical," so that she becomes a poster child for abnormality. She does not integrate or learn from experience [Piaget], she is dreadfully deficient in meeting age appropriate challenges [Erikson], and her moral reasoning is little more than sensory [Kolhberg]. By the end of the interview Tillich and Niebuhr are at best distant memories. Presumably the merits of a marriage between psychology and theology are in its formative possibilities [hence the great interest in Fowler by Catholic educators and catechists, for example], but Mary regrettably is an indicator of what happens when those opportunities are lost. Our biography here has diagnostic value at best.

There is another issue at hand as well, the one raised by my former professor. As I read Mary's case study, I wondered to myself: how would this scattered woman's life be different were she taking Strattera, the new ADD medication for adults? I am not arguing that pills are a panacea, but rather that biology-along with sociology, environment, family structure, economic opportunity, physical or psychological trauma-are critical formative factors in the development of children and adults. In an interdisciplinary study of faith, one must ask just how many disciplines are necessary for a valid synthesis.

I was pleased to discover that Fowler published what is described as a revised edition of "Stages of Faith" under a different title in 1999. I will be curious to see where his thinking and research have taken him over two decades.

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Deep Thinking October 17, 2005

By Brad Shorr

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A daunting book--at times ponderous, at times fascinating. Fowler sets out to define a model of faith stages that applies universally--regardless of religion (or lack thereof), culture, nature, or nurture. In this effort he draws heavily on the work of Lawrence Kohlberg, Erik Erikson, and Jean Piaget. Giving credit where credit is due, he devotes about 40 pages to a fictional conversation among these eminent psychologists, a conversation which is highly technical but richly textured with subtle but crucial points about thought development that Fowler will use to build his own model of faith stages. Fowler proceeds with a description of these stages of faith, then uses some (much more readable) interviews to illustrate and flesh out his theory. Personally, I found Fowler's introduction the most fascinating part of the book. In it, he explains the distinction among religion, faith and belief in a way that seems obvious yet had never dawned on me.

As for his system of stages, it makes perfect sense, but I don't know how you could prove that it applies to all people in all cases. But even if it doesn't, it provides an extremely useful guide to understanding where you are in your own faith, and where others are and may be heading. For people who are ministering in any type of faith community, or for people who want a deeper understanding of their own faith journey, this book will broaden and sharpen your perspective, provided you have the patience to plow through Fowler's technical and complex prose.