7.

Fowler’s Stages
of Faith
Development
SREEKALA.R
 James Fowler
• Famous for creating a theory of
Faith Development.
 Stage One: Intuitive/Projective
Faith

• ages 2 – 7
• Trust placed in what a child
sees and hears from parents or
guardians.
• A child absorbs all the taboos
and beliefs from the family
around them
• mirrors them back.

.
• First awareness of self – egocentric; hard to see
other perspectives
• Birth of Imagination, unrestrained by logical
thought
• Highly imitative stage where children can be
powerfully and
• permanently influenced by examples, moods, actions
and stories of
• the visible faith of primally related adults (parents,
etc.)
• Programs that use wonder & imagination (like
Godly Play or
• Catechesis of the Good Shepherd) are very
successful with this age
 Stage Two: Mythic/Literal Faith
or the Literalist

• Ages 8 – Adolescence (6-12),

but could last a lifetime
• NARRATIVE STAGE –
– Stories with great meaning.
But all taken
LITERALLY
• See Adam and Eve as an
historical story.
Simple explanations
give comfort!
• Transition to this stage happens as
the child becomes more capable
• of concrete operational thinking
• Can use logic to justify thoughts,
but not yet able to think abstractly
• Fascination with private worlds of
fantasy and wonder (ie – Narnia,
• Harry Potter, etc.) although in the
perception of this stage, symbols
• are one-dimensional and must refer
to something specific
• Story, drama & myth help give
coherence to experience – telling
• their “story” helps discover sense
of self and place in the community
• World based on reciprocal
fairness and immanent justice
 Stage Three: Synthetic/Conventional
Faith
• Adolescence (12+)
• Most people never get
beyond this stage!
• Trust is shifted from stories
to being part of a group
• Approval is important.
• Start to see contradictions
but questions are silenced and
conformity wins.

• God is seen as an extension

of interpersonal
relationships.. Parent, friend,
girlfriend/boyfriend.
• Transition often comes when children notice
contradictions in stories
• (ie – Genesis creation vs. evolution) leading to
questions/reflection
• Experience of the world extends beyond family
• Many things compete for attention: family,
peers, school, media, etc.
• Faith must help them synthesize values and
conventions – to
• provide a coherent orientation in the midst of
competing ideals
• Faith as a vehicle for creating a sense of
identity and values
• Many adults get stuck here
 Stage Four: Individuative/Reflective
Faith-
the
Searcher ( Late teen to early adult)
• Early as age 17, but usually 30s or 40s
• Begin to develop own spiritual beliefs
(no longer rely on others)
• Authority shifts from an external
source to authority within oneself.
• Working out one’s own path.
• Nothing is certain but my own existence.
– One can become disillusioned. (not a
comfortable place to be)
• Transition often comes with “leaving home” –
emotionally, physically
• or both – causing us to examine self, background &
values
• Understand and accept a higher level of
commitment to ideals and
• responsibilities – Intrinsic responsibility (not
enforced by others)
• High degree of self consciousness
• Sense of self develops outside of specific roles
• Conceptual meanings transcend Symbols –
“demythologizing stage”
• Capacity for critical reflection on identity
 Nihilism
• An extreme form of skepticism
that denies all existence.

• A doctrine holding that all values are baseless

and that nothing can be known or
communicated.
• Transition often comes with “leaving home” –
emotionally, physically
• or both – causing us to examine self, background &
values
• Understand and accept a higher level of
commitment to ideals and
• responsibilities – Intrinsic responsibility (not
enforced by others)
• High degree of self consciousness
• Sense of self develops outside of specific roles
• Conceptual meanings transcend Symbols –
“demythologizing stage”
• Capacity for critical reflection on identity
 Stage Five: Conjunctive Faith-
the Seer

• People usually enter Stage Five around age 35

or 40 (but could happen earlier, later, or NEVER)
• We realize absolute answers cannot be found
and starts to trust “the mystery.”

• Accept new views – have higher level of

relationships.
• Begins the total surrender to the Divine
• Truth is discovered from a variety of
viewpoints
• Second naiveté – symbols regain their
power; can appreciate myth,
• story, ritual (own and others) because they
have grasped, in some
• measure, the depth of reality to which
they refer
• Reclaiming & Reworking one’s past
• Commitment to justice; oriented towards
others
 Stage Six: Universalizing Faith
Enlightenment

• Few people reach!

• Called Universalizing faith because one
becomes an activist for the universe.
• Person begins to live in the “Kingdom of
God”
• We are no longer the center of the
universe
• Have radical commitment to social
justice
• This stage is rarely achieved
• Person becomes totally altruistic –
incarnation of the principles of
• love and justice (like Ghandi, Jesus,
Mother Teresa, etc.)
• Feel an integral part of an all-
inclusive sense of being.
• Often more honored or revered
after their death
Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Martin
Luther King, & Mother Theresa
Characteristics of Stage 6
1. Deny self for total unity with God
2. No longer concerned about the normal ego
needs of survival and security,
3. often involves nonviolent suffering
4. Everything matters, yet without attachment.
5. Life is both loved fully and held loosely.