by James W. Fowler
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Product Description
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.
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Average Customer Review:
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
A Book for the Journey, 2008-04-06
If you are doubting your faith, if you are unbelieving, if you've been condemned as a "back-slider" or an "infidel," if you never had a belief in the Divine but want to understand the dynamics of faith, this book may be yours to read!
I was first given this book about 18 years ago when I found myself at odds with the faith in which I was reared. I had doubts in high school as I could no longer tolerate the literalism and simplicity of the churches I attended. I lived with the dissonance for several years. Eventually, the dissonance was so unbearable, I sought the help of a counselor.
The counselor heard my doubts and lent me this book. I read that there are different stages of faith. I realized that my doubts stemmed from growth. I realized the conflicts were the conflicts of maturity not of "back-sliding."
Now, as I see young people struggling with their spiritual growth, I talk with them and, if I feel it appropriate, I give them a copy of this book.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Stages of faith and human development, 2008-03-06
I use Stages of Faith in a human development class I teach at a small private Christian university. I use the book for two reasons. First, it still has the most foundational understanding and process for conceptualizing and defining faith development. It is old now; however, it is the central piece for dialog in faith development. Second, I appreciate the thoroughness of Fowler's stages and his interaction with other developmental theories. As a professor, I also appreciate Fowler's challenge for Christians. My students are quick to assume that Fowler is writing about Christian faith development, but he is not. I like the challenge Fowler lays out for Christians and others to appropriate his "generic" model of faith development for specific religious traditions.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
The How, Who, When, What, and Why of Trust, 2007-08-19
For those looking for a book simply on human cognitive development, "Stages of Faith" is not the place to go. For those looking for a book simply on Christian religious development, "Stages of Faith" is not the book to read. However, for those looking for solid research into the stages of working out "meaning" in life, then this is the classic text.
For Christians who have a distaste for research or even an aversion to anything that does not quote chapter and verse, this will be a disappointing book. But for Christians who respect research based upon the Creation Mandate given in Genesis 1, "Stages of Faith" can be seen for what it is: a welcomed attempt to classify, systematize, and outline how, who, and what people trust. This is not a study of religious or Christian faith from a biblical perspective, per se. It is a study of the dynamics of trust from a research psychology perspective.
I find the focus of this work quite helpful in talking with self-described "non-religious," agnostic, or atheistic people who claim they are not faith-oriented. Fowler demonstrates that we all trust something or someone. This should be no surprise to anyone reading the fundamentalist, militant, atheist primers being penned today (and ever-so-popular on Amazon). Life, for all human beings, is progressively centered around entrusting ourselves to someone or something. No one escapes the trust dilemma.
What Piaget, Erikson, and Kohlberg have done in developmental psychology, Fowler does in faith development. This is why I require the text in the class I teach on Counseling Adolescents. Far too many Christian parents practice, and are happy to have their teens practice, less mature levels of faith, never encouraging their children to develop their own personalized faith in Christ. Thus while not written specifically to address specific religious belief, "Stages of Faith" surely has application for everyone's personal spiritual experience. That's why I have also used Fowler's work as a catalyst to examine Scripture to outline a biblical approach that includes four stages of faith, four stages of foolishness, and four stages of wisdom. This "Creation, Fall, and Redemption" approach can then be applied as one way to examine the specifics of individualized spiritual choice.
Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of Soul Physicians, Spiritual Friends, and Beyond the Suffering.
3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development, 2007-05-15
This book presents a skillful conceptualization of the relationship between human development and spiritual maturity.
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
 Still very usefull, 2007-01-11
Although this study of James Fowler is 30 years old already, I don't know a more recent book, which describes the possible development of a believing christian so clear. In this sense, it is of more current interest than ever.
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