James Fowlers Stages of Faith and Moral Development - Assignment Example

the model has solemn faults when used as a cognitive and psychosocial explanation of religious faith, but to some extent, it has strong points to be noted.

The Stages of Faith and moral development model are characterized by Fowler’s designation of faith. He defines it as the “worldwide quality of human being meaning-making”. It describes the fundamental meaning-making process utilized by all individuals regardless of their beliefs. To the author, faith occurs as persons place individual loyalty and trust in many “centers of value” such as money, religion, power, and family The model of development suggests that this structure remains uniform in spite of whether individuals side with a spiritual or unspiritual center of value ( Fowler 67). As a result, the faith development model centers on the psychological issues that make possible the operation of faith but does not address any detailed faith content; that is, the specific faith beliefs and values of a given religion.

The use of a structural technique by Fowler to systematize the faith developmental phases and how he defines faith is challenging in a manner. Being a structural theory, most readers assume that faith development clarifies in a consistent way across hierarchical, universal, and irreversible stages. According to psychological research, development entails much more variability and a rigid stage as theory is inadequate in its capability to confine diversity and richness of religious development. Further, critics differ with the logic behind Fowler’s elimination of sacred content from the development stages of faith. The exclusion was based on the concept that faith entails trust and loyalty to the center of value and has no need for the intellectual accord to any definite assertions. One scholar by the name of Jones T.P (20040 criticized this element of Fowler by arguing that Christianity involves trust and loyalty to Jesus Christ. As a center of value, yet at the same time, it is a “content-requisite faith” that is based on recognition of certain beliefs like the existence of God, Jesus’ resurrection from the departed, and Jesus as the son of God and messiah. Agreeing to other contents and beliefs apart from Christian principles is regarded as idolatry. The weakness of Fowler’s description of faith as a worldwide construct detached from religious context is that it is contrary to faith’s definition of content requisite spiritual groups ( Fowler 70).

3 strong points of James Fowler’s theory

Concrete operational thinking

This is a strong idea developed in the first stage of Fowler’s theory. Effectively, the decree of oedipal factors or their immersions in latency are vital accompanying factors. In the middle of the transition from one stage to another is a child’s growing concern to basically know how things are and to make clear personally the foundations of differences between what is factual and what solely seems to be.

The birth of imagination

This is a strong point in the first stage of Fowler’s theory. He puts forward the ability to grasp and unify the experience world in influential images as illustrated in stories that develop a child’s intuitive feelings and understanding toward the real conditions of existence ( Fowler 72).

Critical reflection

Fowler’s stage of individual-reflective stage is a stronghold of the theory based on the fact he illustrates the capacity for critical reflection as well as the willingness to face realities that may cause estrangement from comfortable patterns that result in pain.

Conclusion

The faith developmental model has been seriously criticized concerning its structural approach limitations, neglect of the self, and issues arising from the author’s definition of faith. Despite these drawbacks, Fowler’s model is appreciated for establishing a systematic psychological evaluation of religious faith development. Studies in the future may have the ability to address the flaws in the model and provide an improved method for evaluating this inclination.