Dialogue between Fowler and Loder (assignment is for Elsie Reyes).
Read the article "Conversations on Fowler's Stages of Faith and Loder's The Transforming Moment. Answer the following questions:
1. Describe Fowler's "Stages of Faith" as narrated by Loder.

2. What are Loder's concerns and challenges to this theory? How do you agree or disagree with Loder?

3. Describe Loder's paradigm as described by Fowler.

4. What are Fowler's concerns regarding Fowler's paradigm? In what ways do you agree or disagree?

James Fowler's Theory of Faith Development

I attempted to upload a video of a short lecture on the theological streams in Fowler's theory of faith development.  It did not work.  Therefore, here is a short synopsis:

H. Richard Niebuhr is a significant influence on the work of Fowler.  Fowler studied with Niebuhr and from him garnered the concept that faith is a social phenomena.  Niebuhr understood faith to be the consistent structure of the "I" and the "thou" in the presence of a third (shared center of value and power).  Faith is thus a human experience of interpersonal relations which exists between two persons insofar as they have a common cause- a common center of value which transcends them.  He referred to this a a "triad of faith."  All knowing involves a triadic relation of at least two subjects and an object.  This knowing may be described as an affair of valuation.

For Niebuhr there are three levels to this triadic existence of faith.  The first level is the organization of social beings for the sake of pursuing common interests.  Relations remain largely external to the terms related.  (My membership at the local YMCA puts me into a relationalship with other members.)  Secondly, there may be relations formed in the desire for a complete community of life which shares a common memory and a common  hope.   Relations here are more internal in the sense that the related are profoundly changed by being brought into relation.  'What is related is not interest so much as interested individuals." (Certain forms of political and religious alliances fit here).  Niebuhr's third possibility is one of common but divergent interest held together in trust and responsibility.  A union of this type is held together even if some common elements are destroyed.  Faithfulness of fidelity constitutes a bond in this society.  (A marriage covenant or a deeply committed relationship in Christian community)

For Niebuhr faith is a universal phenomenon based on trust and fidelity between two selves in the face of a third reality.  For him, the best center is "radically monotheistic," namely a shared center of value and power that is "ultimate being."

To Niebuhr's thought about faith Fowler added Kohlberg's and Piaget's structural developmentalism.  The resulting gestalt is an understanding of faith that sees it as a verb- to have faith is to trust in-rely upon- a shared center of value and power.  This "faithing" capacity is inherent within humankind and develops throughout the life span.  It is closely tied to cognitive and moral development.  

The end result is a very powerful theory that sees "faith" as progressing developmentally in stages.  We will go over these stages next week.

Books of interest:

H. Richard Niebuhr, The Social Self; Radical Monotheism