Fowler and the stages of faith

The road less travelled

Scott Peck, referencing Robert Frost’s poem ‘The Road Not Taken’, encourages us to take the ‘road less travelled’. Sometimes in the middle of life, with questions of faith and church and growing older all coming to the fore, it can seem as though we’re no longer on a road at all. Not adrift from the fundamentals of our faith (however we experience or express those) we can say – in the memorable phrase of a good friend - “I’m not lost but I don’t know where I’m going”.

God is not ‘here’ or ‘there’ but truly to be found in all things.

For several of us who meet together as the “two halves of life” group, reading and discussing some of Fowler’s work on the stages of faith proved profoundly affirming. Knowing that there are those who have walked this way before and experienced the feelings of dislocation and even alienation in faith and life – and have named and travelled through these – brought a deep sense of being held in something much bigger. God is not ‘here’ or ‘there’ but truly to be found in all things.

Gus MacLeod

[If you’re interested in finding out more about the stages of faith refer to either of the following books: ‘Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning’ by James W. Fowler or ‘A Churchless Faith’ by Alan Jamieson]