James W. Fowler was a preacher’s kid who himself became an ordained United Methodist minister, but it was as a scholar and author that he exerted considerable influence.
Fowler’s 1981 book “Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning,” has gone through more than 50 printings in its U.S. edition and remains required reading in many college and seminary courses.
Through his books, teaching at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology and directing Emory’s Center for Ethics, Fowler would help shape the thinking of many pastors and others. He was well known among leaders in The Michigan Area.
Fowler died October 16 in Atlanta, at age 75, from complications of Alzheimer’s disease.
The book differentiates faith from religious beliefs, arguing that faith is a human universal which represents a person’s ongoing, dynamic approach to finding meaning in life.
Fowler lays out six stages of faith development, beginning with early childhood and carrying such titles as mythic-literal, individuative-reflective, conjunctive and (finally) universalizing. That stage of self-sacrifice for social justice was reached, in Fowler’s view, by such figures as Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.
Last Updated on February 6, 2024