Faith Formation
Earlier this spring I read The Critical Journey by Janet Hagberg and Robert Guelich. Having worked as a children’s pastor and an educator for many years, I am familiar with the research surrounding developmental stages and have gleaned from that research, ever-growing as it is, to help me choose curriculum, write curriculum, and develop age-appropriate programs. However, this book, rather than focusing on developmental stages, delves into defining six unique stages of faith formation.
I found myself fascinated as I read about these various stages and began wondering how these proposed stages aligned with the developmental stages that were so familiar to me.
One thing led to another, and before I knew it, I had a stack of books offering a variety of research and insight on this topic. I thought it might be nice to spend several weeks writing about these stages of faith, looking at them one at a time, and offering us the opportunity to reflect on our own journey.
However, before we begin I think we should look at the word “faith” and how this word comes to have different meanings in these various writings.
In 1981 James W. Fowler wrote Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning. His book looks at the intersection of theology and psychology and explores the ideas of human faith, human development, and stages of faith.
Fowler writes, “Faith is not always religious in its content or context. To ask these questions seriously of oneself or others does not necessarily mean to elicit answers about religious commitment or belief. Faith is a person’s or group’s way of moving into the force field of life. It is our way of finding coherence in and giving meaning to the multiple forces and relations that make up our lives. Faith is a person’s way of seeing him or herself in relation to others against a background of shared meaning and purpose.”
The questions he is referring to are ones that he had been thinking through on his way to an event, questions that caused him to pull off to the side of the road and wrestle with his own answers about the people and spaces that held meaning and value in his life.
Questions like:
“What causes, dreams, goals, or institutions are you pouring out your life for?”
“To what or whom are you committed to in life? In death?”
“What are those most sacred hopes, those most compelling goals and purposes in your life?”
In his book, Fowler shares research from Paul Tillich and H. Richard Niebuhr being published in the 1950s.
Tillich asks the question, what values have centering power in our lives? Of this question, Fowler writes, “The ‘god values’ in our lives are those things that concern us ultimately. Our real worship, our true devotion directs itself toward the objects of our ultimate concern. That ultimate concern may center finally in our own ego or its extensions - work, prestige and recognition, power and influence, wealth. One’s ultimate concern may be invested in family, university, nation, or church. Love, sex and a loved partner might be the passionate center of one’s ultimate concern. Ultimate concern is a much more powerful matter than claimed belief in a creed or a set of doctrinal propositions.”
Essentially, he is saying that our words might declare our ultimate concern is God, but our actions might reflect that something else entirely receives our true devotion.
Niebuhr’s work is of a similar nature. Fowler writes, “Niebuhr sees faith taking form in our earliest relationships with those who provide care for us in infancy. He sees faith growing through our experience of trust and fidelity - and of mistrust and betrayal - with those closest to us. He sees faith in the shared visions and values that hold human groups together. And he sees faith, at all these levels, in the search for an overarching, integrating and grounding trust in a center of value and power sufficiently worthy to give our lives unity and meaning.”
Fowler notes that both Tillich and Niebuhr find faith a universal human concern. He writes, “Prior to our being religious or irreligious, before we come to think of ourselves as Catholics, Protestants, Jews or Muslims, we are already engaged with issues of faith… Moreover, we look for something to love that loves us, something to value that gives us value, something to honor and respect that has the power to sustain our being.”
All of that is to say that before we ever come to form faith in God, we are already forming a faith in the people and practices that make up the world around us.
In contrast, in The Critical Journey, Hagberg & Guelich describe what they mean by faith. They mention first the idea that faith is at times used as a noun or an object, something for us to grasp ahold of, but at other times it might be used as an adjective describing specific beliefs that we have and adhere to within our religious practice.
However, their primary use of faith is as a verb. They write, “Faith with reference to the journey is simply the process by which we let God direct our lives or let God be God. The more we deliberately choose to let God direct our every thought, word, and action, the more profoundly our journey is affected.”
A journey takes time. It requires some work to get ready and patience along the way. As we’ve seen today even the ideas of human faith and faith in God can look quite different and require a little bit of exploration to help us look at not only the human faith and developmental formation that is taking place within us, but also the journey that we are on to more fully understand the depths that God desires to know us and to be known by us.
Looking forward to continuing this journey with you next week as we explore Stage 1: The Recognition of God.
~ Melissa