Fowler and his stages of Faith

In college I had the opportunity to study James Fowler and his stages of faith. The stages he describes often coincide with Kohlberg, another famous moral development psychologist, in their substance and in their supplication. In short, Folwer describes everyone's moral development on a 1-6 scale; a one being a child ages three to seven who has a fantastical faith, and a six being a Christ or Ghandi like figure.

Mostly, I'm concerned with stage four on this moral developmental scale because that is what I find myself recently in and coming out of. I sort of have a foot in each pond between a 4 and a 5. A 4 person on Fowler's scale is described as one who is sort of in critical thinking mode, or a person who hears disturbing inner voices.

I remember those "disturbing inner voices" very well, and they're not definitively gone yet either. The voices started really churning when I was visiting South Korea. It was my first experience overseas, and I was seeing the world through a new set of lenses. While there I read the DaVinci Code. Now, I think it's pretty clear to say that aspects of the DaVinci code have been rendered bullshit in many capacities by various Biblical and Discovery Channel authorities. However, it was nonetheless a catalyst that got my motors churning so to speak.

The inner voices started, and they haven't really stopped even though I no longer hold the theology that was cracked by these disquieting drones. The voices asked, "What if Jesus is not the son of God? How could a loving God allow such injustice in the world? Do euphemisms and expressions from the Old and New Testament misdirect modern interpretation of the scriptures?" These questions I asked two years ago, and they were deeply important to me at the time.


To a much smaller degree, I still ask these questions. From time to time my mind still wonders why there is so little justice in the world, and what parts of the new testament should be interpreted literally considering it was written by non-literal authors? However, on the whole these cracklingly discomforting voices have all but disappeared under the shade a new light of questions.

Two years after visiting Asia for the first time, I was back there in a different country, Taiwan. While there I read Brian McLaren's book The Secret Message of Jesus, and was morally stricken by the focus shift the book entertained. The book reintroduces the phrase "The Kingdom of God" as a kingdom available to all people here on earth. I believe book represents a paradigm shift from a stage 3 moral development to a stage 5 on Fowler's scale. I will try to explain.

A stage 3 individual might ask, "What are ultimate principles?"
A stage 4 might then ask, "Why are they ultimate principles?" Thus doubting the contingency of them.
Lastly, a stage 5 person might ask, "Who the fuck cares about the paradox of ultimate principles when there are social issues to deal with?"

Now, I've really attended some liberties in generalizing Fowler's stages of faith in this manner. However the point is that I find them pertinent to my individual journey. Likewise, I see the stages play out in the moral development of "God" in the Bible. We see the Old Testament God as something of a stage 2 or 3 adhering and demanding an adherence to ultimate principles. Later, we see God disgruntled, asking disturbing questions of his relationship with the Isrealites, His wayward chosen people. Finally, we see God as a stage 5 and 6 in the New Testament in the incarnation of Christ, and his willingness to die for a cause.