Understanding Christians in Fowler's Stages of Faith

Last updated on: June 29, 2016 at 1:58 am by Jim Meisner Jr.

Understanding Christians in Fowler's Stages of Faith 2016-06-29T01:58:50-04:00 Jim Meisner Jr.

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Ask a seven year-old what it’s like to be 70.
Get angry when a 16 year-old new driver doesn’t understand how to disassemble a car engine.

Speak with a pair of 15-year-olds about the hermeneutic that informs their theology to determine their eschatology.
In his book, Stages of Faith, Dr. James Fowler created the theory of the stages of faith development.
Fowlers system
When you squander too much time engaging with people online about issues that are rooted in theology – who their understanding of God is and what God’s message is – it’s likely those people will be completely incapable of understanding what you’re saying.
According to Fowler, people develop faith through certain stages. Their understanding of God progresses, as they progress and grow.
Fascinatingly, humanity’s understanding of God can be seen progressing through the pages of Jewish scripture into the fullness of Christ. God walks through the garden in the cool of the day, God is vengeful, God demands sacrifice, God is unknowable, God can be known through Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
Although the growing understanding of God can be traced through the Bible, some remain fixated on certain aspects of God.
This is because they never progress beyond certain stages.
While Fowler ascribed ages and a timeline to faith development, the simple fact is some college professors, faith leaders and other public officials never progress beyond stage one – stage three. (Think of Franklin Graham, James Dobson, and other literalist fundamentalists.) I’ve encountered a lot of atheists who reject a stage three understanding of God – I don’t blame them, I did too.
Others reach more developed stages of faith development. For example, stage five, “a time when a person is also ready to look deeply into the social unconscious—those myths and taboos and standards that we took in with our mother’s milk and that powerfully shape our behavior and responses. We really do examine those, which means we’re ready for a new kind of intimacy with persons and groups that are different from ourselves. We are ready for allegiances beyond our tribal gods and our tribal taboos. Stage Five is a period when one is alive to paradox. One understands that truth has many dimensions which have to be held together in paradoxical tension.” (Think Tony Campolo and some other Progressive Christians.)
The highest stages are people like the Dalai Lama, Henri Nouwen and some aspects of Pope Francis.
(I believe faith development can occur like Abraham Maslow’s self-actualization – growth in different areas, so that you are more open to faith issues in some areas rather than others. So Pope Francis can be at a stage six in his faith in one area, and yet at another part of his faith believe it’s acceptable to marginalize women of faith.)
Now, here’s the part of Fowler’s book that has been most profound for me – people can only fully understand a stage after they’ve grown through it. They have great difficulty understanding a stage while they remain in it. They have nearly no chance of comprehending, much less agreeing with a stage they’ve not yet reached.
People can’t completely understand a stage that they haven’t yet grown to and they assume their current stage is the highest level achievable. So a stage three Christian assumes he’s the ‘true Christian,’ and is completely incapable of understanding a more complex or nuanced type of faith.

For me, I can see the faith development stage of the Dalai Lama or Henri Nouwen, for example, but my faith isn’t developed to the point where I don’t get angry and curse. Perhaps one day, I will grow to the next stage. But today is a day I curse, and tomorrow looks like it may be a lot like today.

Again, people can see down the stages of faith development, but they can’t see up.
So if someone believes that Christianity and militarization are compatible, they are probably around stage three or stage four. They can’t understand why a stage five Christian opposes militarization.
Stages of faith development explains how some Christians can support guns and advocate for the marginalization of the marginalized.
There’s little point in arguing about sexuality, guns, capitalism, scripture, or other issues that divide Christians, because we simply are talking past each other. Some of us can’t hear or understand others, while others can’t speak in a way that can be understood.
If they were able to understand the aspects of a higher stage of faith development, people would already be at that stage. Trying to communicate with these people is like asking a 15 year-old to explain their hermeneutic.
And we all know how difficult it is sometimes to talk with a 15 year-old.

Previous Post

June 27, 2016

We are all connected

Next Post

July 15, 2016 Right now

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Celtic spirituality Christmas Civil Rights culture Easter Faith images in the news Prayer Quote Scripture Uncategorized vocational ministry Writing

Select a Month August 2026 July 2026 May 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 July 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 July 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 October 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

True or False: Hebrews states that it is appointed for men to die once, and after this comes judgment.

Select your answer to see how you score.

FALSE TRUE