James Fowler: the Six Stages of Faith

In his work ‘Stages of Faith’ (1981), psychologist James Fowler suggested that
there are six stages of faith development in humans.

As infants, humans learn what he called ‘primal or undifferentiated faith’, from

their upbringing and environment – warmth, safety, security and love, and this
will help them, in later life, to have a sense of trust and safety about the
universe and the divine. On the other hand, if they have a negative upbringing
with neglect and abuse, they may well, in future years, develop a distrust of the
universe and the divine.

For Reflection: Do you agree with Fowler’s assertion? Why/ why not?

With these factors in mind, Fowler offered his six stages of faith:

1. Intuitive-Projective (ages 3-7) – the first stage comes with the

development of language and imagination. Young children follow the
beliefs of their parents and tend to imagine angels and religious figures in
the scriptures as characters in fairy tales.
2. Mythical-Literal (school children) – children respond to religious stories,
myths and rituals in a literal rather than symbolic way. This is usually
accompanied by a strong belief in authority and justice, with deities often
seen as superhuman.
3. Synthetic-Conventional (teenagers) - characterised by conformity and
acceptance of belief with little questioning of such belief. Fowler
suggested that most people do not go any further than this level: ‘…for a
genuine move to stage 4 to occur there must be an interruption of reliance
on external sources of authority and a relocation of authority within the
self.’
4. Individual – Reflective (young adult) – a shift from believing because
others do and instead developing spiritual beliefs of their own. The
individual takes personal responsibility for their beliefs and feelings
rather than being one of the crowd. Can be a time of deep though,
anxiety and soul-searching.
5. Conjunctive - few people reach this stage. A time of change – people have
their own views but move from being preoccupied with themselves and
are much more open and tolerant of other points of religious and cultural
points of view. This includes the beginning of understanding of paradoxes
and transcendent realities behind the symbols and a greater openness to
the divine.
6. Universalizing – It is very rare to reach this stage. Those who do are likely
to be older adults who look for universal values such as unconditional
love and justice. They are less concerned for themselves and more with
serving others. Examples include Mother Teresa and Mahatma Gandhi.

VLE Revision RS3CS – Unit 4 LMR 10/11

Writing Task

(a) Explain Fowler’s notion of the six stages of faith. (30)

(b) ‘Fowler’s theory fails to explain why people have religious faith.’ Assess this
view. (20)

VLE Revision RS3CS – Unit 4 LMR 10/11