Included here are some papers written for the class, "Psychology of Religion"
taken at Warren Wilson Collegeg with the Rev. Andrew Summers, Ph.D. One of the
major works that we used in this class was James Fowlers Stages of Faith, The
Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning in which Dr. Fowler
explores the stages of a faith in a person's lifetime.
Briefly stated, Fowler's six stages of faith development are as follows: Stage 1
is Intuitive Projective Faith, usually a child hood stage in which highly
imaginative fluid thought patterns are not restricted by logic. Stage 2 is
Mythic-Literal Faith and is very one dimensional and very literal, symbols are
important and things are usually very cut and dry, there is good and bad- and you
are punished for doing bad. Stage 3 is Synthetic Conventional Faith and in which
a person gathers and falls in love with the personal myth of self. In this stage
one still has conformist values and would not step outside the system. Stage 4 is
Individuate Reflective Faith and is marked by a start to question and look beyond
simple black and white answers, an interruption of reliance on external sources of
authority and the beginning of a self identity outside of others. Stage 5 is
Conjunctive Faith in which a person integrates into self and looks at much that
was suppressed or undiscovered. It is marked by the rise of ironic imagination, by
recognition that things are relative. Finally, stage 6 is Universalizing Faith.
The transition involves becoming a disciplined activist incarnation, making real
and tangible the imperatives of absolute love and justice.
Dr. Fowler and his associates interviewed many respondants in order to develop
this theory. As part of the class, we were asked to use Fowler's interview
questions in conducting simliar interviews of our own and to analyse them
according to Fowler's stage theory.
The names of the respondants have been changed to protect their privacy.