Faith Development Theory

Back when I first grasped some implications of the theory of evolution, I wrote down some questions:

• Does God fit into this?
• If not, then what?
• If so, then how?
• What about sin?
• What is sin?
• What in the Bible is true?
• Is Jesus even necessary?
• What about the Sabbath?

For the most part, these questions remain unanswered to my satisfaction. I revisit them from time to time, but they are not as all-encompassing (or brain-frying) as they once were. If there are answers, they may come; they may not.

One of the helpful resources I've read is a chapter in Creation Reconsidered: Scientific, Biblical, and Theological Perspectives by Graeme Sharrock (the chapter, not the entire book) called "Faith Development in a Scientific Culture" in which Sharrock briefly discusses faith development theory and describes the stages of faith development (based on James Fowler's model) as it relates to the Genesis creation story. Here I am going to quote stages three and four.

Stage Three: Synthetic-Conventional Faith—With the onset of adolescence and the arrival of abstract thinking, a world of possibilities opens up that forces a crisis in identity. A person's experience of the world now extends beyond the family to peers, media, employment, and societal groupings. Faith must provide a coherent orientation amid a network of offers, synthesize values and information, and lay a basis for a new self-consciousness. Stage Three faith typically structures the environment in interpersonal terms; it is strongly conformist in that it is attuned to the expectations of others, seeking identity and affirmation yet without the ability to maintain autonomous judgment or an independent perspective. Beliefs and values are tacitly held—a person dwells within them without being able to objectify them for examination—and in a sense is unaware of having them. Dependence on external authorities for the synthesis of a personal perspective is combined with abstract reasoning. Hence, many teens are attracted to idealistic movements and ideas that seem to offer security and absolutes. The authority of parents may be replaced by that of teachers or religious figures or rock singers. The young person may be well aware of this shift yet be unaware that his or her values are still being determined and delivered by others.

Adventist teens will usually accept the literal interpretation of Genesis if that is what is taught to them by trusted authorities. They become "creationists" just as their public school counterparts become "evolutionists." Interest in doctrines as abstractions from the Bible exists in a few intellectually oriented teens, as absolutist teachings give one a sense of identity within an ideological system.

Stage Four: Individuative-Reflective Faith—The synthesis achieved in Stage Three is only relatively stable and can be threatened by knowledge from outside influences or by crisis experiences. This can happen when the person perceives a clash between authorities and feels the need for independent evaluation. Encounters with other cultures or radically different ideologies (leaving home, attending university, traveling abroad); personal tragedy such as prolonged illness, death of a close friend, marriage, or divorce; collapse of public criteria for morality (Watergate) or a sense of the implausibility of one's childhood beliefs in wider society—all these contribute to the breakdown of Stage Three faith and lead one to reflect upon one's own beliefs, values, and commitments. In late adolescence, a young man or woman is developmentally ready to begin to take seriously the burden of responsibility for his or her own lifestyle and worldview. The transition to Stage Four is underway when unavoidable tensions with one's upbringing exert themselves and doubt concerning the claims of previously unquestioned authorities arises. It is time to begin to "think for oneself."

Stage Four most appropriately forms in young adulthood, but many adults do not construct it until their thirties, forties, or fifties, if at all. There is a double development: the self, once stable in its identity and faith structure shared by an interpersonal group, now claims an identity no longer defined by a group. The Stage Four person now seeks order with a new set of questions: How do I know that is true? (asking for method of verification), and What does it mean? (seeking understanding). Stage Four faith "demythologizes" the tacit faith of Stage Three with an acute sense of distance between the past and the present. Conceptual meanings replace conventional definitions as reason replaces external authorities in the personality. Some, especially those undergoing secular education, may find themselves afloat on a sea of ambiguity as all authorities fade, and they may possibly reject altogether the religion of previous years.

In this stage, belief in creationism may be questioned along with other beliefs. For the first time, a student may entertain and investigate alternative views about the origin and history of life. For many, these new views will appear contradictory and seem to require an either/or choice. Faith struggles with the need for certainty as it slowly becomes a personal choice. Later in Stage Four, if growth continues, the logic of clear distinctions and abstract concepts steadily fails to make sense of the more complex adult world, and one feels the need to press toward a more multi-leveled approach to life. Influences from science, philosophy, and certain theologies may suggest not only different ways of putting the puzzle of religion and science together, but also alternative ways of constructing one's identity that do not require a neat fit. Restless with the self-images and uncertainties of this relativistic stage, the Stage Four person may become disillusioned with his or her own compromises and experience a gnawing to re-appropriate meaningful symbols from childhood.

I see myself as having largely moved from Stage Three to Stage Four, with hints of Stage Five. But your eyes are tired. You may rest until I write more tomorrow.