Stages of Faith by James Testerman
December 17, 2009
Life can be viewed as a quest in which we seek to understand the world we find ourselves in, discover its meaning, and locate ourselves within the grand scheme of things. As we go about the lifelong business of constructing our intelligible worlds, we pass through different eras or stages in our life, in each of which we approach our meaning-making task quite differently.
James Fowler called these life stages the “stages of faith”–your faith being the way you make sense of the world. After listening to the life stories of hundreds of people, Fowler believed he had found a consistent pattern of six major faith stages which occur in an invariant order. However, most people complete only three or four during their lifetime.
These stages have to do with the type of faith but not with the amount of faith. Profound faith in God or unbelief may occur at any stage. Faith stage determines what one considers to be the important questions, what counts as evidence, and how and with what cognitive tools one looks for answers. The stages can be thought of as the different lenses through which we view the world as we journey through life.
Faith stage transitions occur when, in response to new experiences or life crises, our old way of seeing the world collapses and a new faith structure is built. As seen in the stories in this issue of Adventist Today, these faith stage transitions are sometimes traumatic, accompanied by much painful soul-searching, and they can bring people into conflict with their faith communities.
I. Magical World
The Stage 1 child of ages 2-6 perceives the world through the lens of imagination and intuition unrestrained by logic. The preschooler thus lives in a numinous, magical world in which anything is possible.
II. Concrete Family
Stage 2 children of ages 6-12 see the world through the lens of story–a concrete, literal, narrative world of family and tribe, ritual and myth. They begin to identify with a faith community, which may be religiously, politically or culturally defined, and to locate themselves within its story–the story that tells you who you are.
Stage 2 collapses when teenagers use their newfound power of abstract thought to deconstruct their previous concrete understanding of the world. If they are not provided with a Christian peer group and adult level religious teaching, they will now be at high risk for rejecting their religion as childish, and identifying instead with the surrounding secular culture.
III. Faith Community (This is the stage where 70% of the population plateaus)
The teenager in Stage 3 sees the world through the lens of the peer community. We are socialized into our faith community, “catching” our values and ways of thinking unconsciously from our peer group and subculture. We are immersed in the thought system of our faith community like a fish that does not perceive the water in which it swims.
Stage 3 usually continues as the adult faith stage of most people in our church and society. Once the culturally accepted ways of thinking become part of us, we tend not to question them, nor the authoritative sources from which they derive. At Stage 3 my identity is based on being part of a group with shared history, traditions and values. Without Stage 3 persons, denominations or cultures would have little cohesiveness or continuity. People may change denominations, however, if they can be convinced that the new group is more faithful to accepted authoritative sources, such as the Bible or the Vatican.
Group-based identity is also a cause of conflict. It is hard to deal calmly and rationally with issues which touch on one’s identity.
Adult Stage 3 types, then, tend to be loyal and support the church and its beliefs and practices. They may react strongly if they perceive any of these things as under attack, since their identity is tied to them. They form the majority and financially supportive backbone of any church.
IV. Rational Constructs
If the traditional answers stop making sense, Stage 3 collapses. In some respects Stage 4 is a continuation of the rational examination of belief that begins during Stage 3. Now, however, not only individual beliefs, but the whole previously unquestioned traditional and authoritative bases of belief are called into radical account. One develops the capacity to step back from one’s own faith heritage and examine it through the lens of science and reason, compare it to other faith traditions, throw out the parts that don’t make sense, or even abandon it altogether. One’s universe is now reconstructed along self-chosen rational lines, and one’s religion (if retained) must, above all, make sense.
In transition to Stage 4, people may experience deep disappointment and anger on finding that some of the beliefs they had based their lives on do not stand up to their investigation.
They may nevertheless remain in the church if they can reinterpret their faith along reasonable lines and find a supportive local church community with Stage 4 role models and tolerance of diversity. Leaders who insist on having 100 percent of the church agreeing with “fundamental beliefs” as a condition of retaining membership are essentially demanding that all Stage 4 parishioners leave the church. Members who happen to be passing through the Stage 4 transition but who hold highly visible positions in the denomination often become casualties, whereas less vulnerable individuals who are members of supportive local church communities may remain and thrive.
V. Numinous Universe
Stage 4 collapses when we run up against the limits of rational thought and the search for certainty ends in failure and even despair. Stage 5, which may begin at mid-life or later, in some respects is similar to Stage 1. Seeing once more through the lens of the imagination and intuition, we again come to live in a numinous universe of mystery, wonder and paradox. The answer is not an explanation, so science and reason are no longer the primary tools with which we attempt to apprehend ultimate reality.
Having taken authority into ourselves at Stage 4, we now give back to sacred symbol, story, tradition, liturgy and faith community the numinous power they enjoyed in our consciousness decades earlier. God, previously the target of much theological discussion, is experienced in a way that is not so neatly captured in a theological box. Without giving up or devaluing one’s own religious heritage, there may be a new openness to learn from other faith traditions.
VI. Selfless Service
Stage 6 faith is rare. Such individuals identify deeply with all of humanity, and therefore tend to spend themselves in service of worldwide issues of love, justice and brotherhood. Some possible examples are Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Schweitzer, and Mother Theresa.
Coexistence
How are people at all these faith stages supposed to coexist in the same church? To those at any given stage, the next stage looks like loss of faith and the previous stage is repulsive. To people in Stage 3, Stage 4 sounds like giving away the store. To those in Stage 4, Stage 3 looks like unthinking traditionalism and Stage 5 like mystical mush.
The problem is worsened by some Stage 3′s who engage in witch hunting at the first scent of heresy, and Stage 4′s who gleefully bait or ridicule their Stage 3 colleagues.
How do we provide for diversity without losing community? There is, of course, no easy answer. But knowing about stages of faith can help us understand how tradition and continuity, as well as new ideas and diversity in the faith community, are inevitable and necessary. All of the stages are important and valid expressions of faith, and people in all stages have a right to serve and be served by faith communities.