Faith Development and Conversion

CED 521 Psychology of Religious Learning

Timothy W. Brock

Faith Development and Conversion

Introduction

The information included in this presentation was derived from Chapter 23, “Form and Content: Stages of Faith and Conversion,” in the textbook, Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning, by James Fowler. The professor will present additional information as appropriate.

Personal Reflection

In the space below, write one or two paragraphs describing your “conversion experience,” i.e. your understanding of what happened to you when you became a Christian.

After you have written about this experience, please answer the following questions:

· At what age did this conversion experience occur?

· Based on your understanding of Fowler’s stages of faith, in which stage were you at the time of your conversion?

· In the time between that experience and the present, have you “rededicated your life to Christ”? If so, describe that experience. At what age(s) did this rededication occur? In what stage of faith were you at the time of this rededication?

· Some theologians, biblical scholars, and developmentalists have speculated that living out the Christian faith really involves a series of conversions throughout one’s life. How do you respond to this position?

The Importance of Conversion

In the Conservative Evangelical Context

As stated in our initial discussion about the relationship between theology and education, in the conservative, evangelical context, these four theological positions serve as the foundational aspects of Christian education ministry:

· Biblical Authority

· The Necessity of Conversion

· The Redemptive Work of Christ

· The Development of Personal and Corporate Piety

In class, be prepared to describe in detail your understanding of the foundational concept, “The Necessity of Conversion.”

In our discussions of this concept, we must acknowledge that two very different types of conversions may be manifested in the members of our congregations:

· Dramatic conversion…the person experiences a sudden and dramatic re-orientation of his or her life and lifestyle. Often, a great amount of emotion and energy is associated with this transition. This type of conversion is often called a “twice-born” conversion. Cite an example from the Bible.

· Nurtured conversion…the person is raised in a Christian family and in a Christian church and is nurtured in such a way that he or she “never knows themselves not to be a Christian.” At some point in time, this person does publicly acknowledge their faith, but can name no moment of conversion. This type of conversion is often called a “once-born” conversion. Cite an example from the Bible.

Which of these two types of conversion is most consistent with your own experience?

The Structure and Content of Faith

In Fowler’s approach to faith development, the six stages of faith describe the structure of faith (i.e. the set processes through which we make meaning in our lives). Although not a perfect analogy, think about the stages of faith as the software program that runs your computer (DOS, Linux, Windows, Mac, etc.). At moments in life when the current stage of faith is no longer adequate to interpret the experiences of the individual (i.e. to make meaning), the individual has a choice: to simplify life experiences and stay with the current “software,” or to go through the complex and sometimes painful process of transitioning to a new “operating program.” Sometimes, the individual gets in the middle of the transition and realizes that the upgraded program is not worth the anxiety and pain of “rebooting.” Others forge ahead, installing the new program and learning how to operate the new features. In any case, the stages of faith have to do with the structures through which we faith our way into the world.

The contents of faith are a different aspect of this discussion. Fowler stated that there are three components of the contents of our faith:

· The Centers of Value, or the causes, concerns, or persons that consciously or unconsciously have the greatest worth to us.

· The Images of Power, or the groups, institutions, or ideals with which we align ourselves to sustain us in the midst of life’s contingencies.

· The Master Stories, the narratives that we use to interpret and respond to the events that impinge upon our lives.

In his approach, Fowler stated that conversion primarily has to do with changes in the contents of faith. On pages 281-282 of the text, Fowler defined conversion as “a significant recentering of one’s previous conscious or unconscious images of value and power, and the conscious adoption of a new set of master stories in the commitment to reshape one’s life in a new community of interpretation and action.”

· What is your reaction to this definition?

· If we can assume that this definition is accurate, use this understanding of conversion to explain what happened to you in your own conversion experience.

Next, Fowler stated that conversion, understood in this way, can occur in any of the stages of faith or in any transition between them. This is a critical concept for us.

To illustrate this idea, Fowler included an extended case study of a man named Nate Shaw (on pages 282-285). Please read this case study and be prepared to describe what happened to Nate using Fowler’s approach and terminology.

Finally, Fowler described six possible ways in which conversion (the change in the contents of faith) and transition in stages of faith (the processes of faithing) might interact:

1. Stage change without conversional change.

2. Conversional change without faith stage change.

3. Conversional change that precipitates a faith stage change.

4. Faith stage change that precipitates conversional change.

5. Conversional change that is correlated with, and goes hand in hand with, a structural change.

6. Conversional change that blocks or helps one avoid the pain of faith stage changes.

Prior to class, please select one of these six concepts and identify from your own ministry experience an example of the dynamics indicted in the concept.

Conversion, Sponsorship, and

The Recapitulation of Previous Stages

In the last section of this chapter, Fowler developed two additional concepts:

· First, as maturing Christians and as persons with a working knowledge of this theory, we can use both our personal experience and our understanding of faith development to be a “sponsor” for others on their faith journeys.

· Second, as persons progress through the stages of faith, they often revisit both their previous structures and contents of faithing.

Prior to class, research the term, “second naïveté.” Be prepared to share the results of your research with the other members of the class.

Fowler’s Approach to Faith Development

Stage 1: Intuitive-Projective Faith

Almost totally limited to children to about age 6, persons in Stage I reflect the faith attributes of parents and family as perceived by that child. At this time of his or her life, the preschool child accepts parental faith attitudes without question.

Stage 2: Mythic-Literal Faith

In later childhood, the person becomes aware of and begins to internalize the faith attitudes and views of persons, primarily adults, other than family members. He or she has an increasing awareness of different faith attitudes in society but still tends to hold to those of family and religious traditions. Some adults remain in this stage through much or all of their lives.

Stage 3: Synthetic-Conventional Faith

In the early teens, peer pressure becomes significant. The attitudes and values of the “gang” are major determiners of most of one’s values, including those related to faith. Adherence to the “norm” is paramount as life’s increasing complexities necessitate a set of values held securely in common by a significant number of other persons close the individual. This need continues for many into adulthood, where a large percentage of people find a faith-security in their relationship with their church, synagogue, or other religious affiliation.

Stage 4: Individuative-Reflective Faith

As the adolescent moves into adulthood and begins to take an adult responsibility—marriage and family, vocation, financial responsibility—he or she also often begins to question some of the faith assumptions of parents and/or religious tradition. For many, the need to doubt, question, and even reject elements of one’s faith traditions is necessary for faith development. This phenomenon is not restricted to young adulthood, as an increasing number of persons in the middle and later years are faced with the need to rethink their faith.

Stage 5: Conjunctive Faith

Usually no earlier than the middle years, some adults are able to bring into meaningful reconciliation the variety of faith dynamics that have played important roles in previous stages of their faith development—their faith roots of family and church, the beliefs of others, the answers they have found to their own questions, all tempered with the maturity that comes only with the experiencing of life. Stage V individuals are able to identify beyond boundaries of race, class, or ideology to understand and integrate the views of others into their own expressions of faith, arrived at individually as a mature expression of a faith that is wholly theirs.

Stage 6: Universalizing Faith

Persons in Stage VI are rare. They are, however, those whose lives are so attuned to the ultimate meaning of life that their faith expression is beyond self-interest, taking on a truly universalizing quality. Fowler says of Stage VI that it “…represents the culmination of growth in faith, brought about by human fidelity and Divine grace and revelation.”

Faith Development in the Adult Life Cycle, pp. 36-37.