Stages of Faith ( James Fowler ) free essay sample

Critical review of work on the development of faith as a process response to individuals formative development. Stages of Faith Introduction James Fowler states in Stages of Faith that central among the qualities that make and keep humans human is our capacity for trust and fidelity (292). Thus, his book is a theory of faith based on the structural-development perspective that defines the growth of faith in humans along certain highly formal stages. He argues that while his theory is not a theology, it provides a formally normative criteria for determining the adequacy and responsiveness of our particular traditions of faith (Fowler 292). Fowler essentially divorces faith from religion; rather, religion would appear to be a form of faith under his definition. His theory is instructive in the stages of human development and informative of the ways such development itself aids or hinders..