Fowler, Sweeney, Kohlberg

To capture the reader’s attention and improve their understanding of the book, the author provides a detailed analysis and description of what a Christian needs to understand regarding faith and factors that influence it. By the end of the initial section or at least the detailed introduction, almost any persons that reads Gonzalez work is confident that the book will provide a wide range of Christian related topics that influence our future. This will also entail informing the Christians who are the main audience that the author aims to reach on the importance of faith as a Christian.

James Fowler developed his stages of faith after conduction in-depth interviews of 359 people. The sample subjects were predominately white, with equal numbers of males and females and included a wide range of ages, from three and a half to 84 years old. Fowler’s interviews consisted of 30 plus questions regarding the subject’s life experiences, relationships, values, commitments and religion. After analyzing the responses, Fowler placed each subject in one of six faith stages. The responses indicated that as the subject’s age increased, so did their stage of faith (Hutchison, 2015).

In Soren Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling, he discusses the "Three Movements to Faith." For Kierkegaard, faith of any kind involves a paradox. This paradox, as well as Kierkegaard's suggested path to faith, is illustrated by the main characters of Breaking the Waves, Bess and Jan.

James Fowler’s theory of faith development includes six stages: primal faith, intuitive-projective faith, mythic-literal faith, synthetic-conventional faith, individuative-reflective faith, conjunctive faith, and universalizing faith (Hutchison,

Spiritual: The pre-stage is infancy before & language and conceptual thought. Sometime between two and seven a child enters intuitive/projective faith marked by the rise of imagination, but lacks logic for questioning perceptions or fantasies. Next, children progress into mythic/literal faith. Here the child develops a

The message of my work is to try and highlight the importance of showing how a person’s faith can have a positive and life-changing impact on their lives. I have done this by looking into the lives of two early Christian missionaries and portray how they would 've felt about their journeys, who they met and what they were teaching others. In doing so, I try to portray, to the best of my ability and knowledge, the apostle 's thoughts and just how strong their conviction and faith in God was.

The second level of Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral development is the Conventional Level. The Conventional level consists of stages 3 and 4. Stage 3 is based on interpersonal expectations. Those who are at this stage try to be a “good” boy or a “good” girl and live up to others’--such as close friends and family’s-- expectations. Stage 4 is based on Law-and-Order. They are not only focused on what their family and friends say; they are now focused on society. These stages are usually reached by early teens. They don’t blindly follow rules;

Theme in “Defender of the Faith” can be interpreted in many varying ways, some of which are life-long lessons and others to the relation between faith and the individual.

Kohlberg’s second level from his theory is conventional moral reasoning. This is primarily people following social norms and customs (Kohlberg’s Theory). The laws and rule are sustained simply because they are laws and rules that must be followed (“Kohlberg’s Moral Development”). The second level is generally found in society hence the name of this level being “conventional”. Stages three and four are included in the conventional level. Stage three focuses heavily on peer approval (Lawrence Kohlberg). Individuals are merely trying to please others so they will follow rules or do what others want them to do in order to gain their approval (“Kohlberg’s Moral Development”). Many will follow

In trying to reconstruct my past to correlate it with James W. Fowler’s stages of faith, who I am now is the lens through which I remember the past. I am rehearsing the past with a present view. James W. Fowler purports faith begins to develop between ages three and seven. I grew up in a rural area in South Carolina. We lived on a farm until I was twelve. Although my dad stopped farming when I was six or seven, we lived in the same house until I was thirteen. My earliest memory with regard to Fowler’s first stage of faith development, Intuitive/Projective Faith was prior to attending elementary school. I don’t remember my exact age, however, my siblings and I were quite imaginative during play time. We conjured these elaborate scenes and characters and envisioned ourselves as owners of mansions and castles. We were encouraged by our parents, particularly, our dad, to dream big dreams.

“‘Faith! Faith!’ cried the husband. ‘Look up to Heaven, and resist the Wicked One!’” (Hawthorne 1297) These were the words expressed by Young Goodman Brown during the evil baptisms. Whether Goodman Brown was speaking to himself or his pleasant wife Faith, it is easily seen that there is a definite need of Faith and God to be saved from the “Wicked One”.

Kierkegaard believes that true faith can only be attained through a double movement of giving up rationality or logic, while at the same time believing one can understand logically. In “Fear and Trembling” Kierkegaard relates true faith to the Knight of infinite resignation and the Knight of faith; in this paper, I will examine this claim and show why Kierkegaard’s analogy is an excellent metaphor for the double movement which is required in one’s quest to attain faith and why.

According to Martin the path of belief is when we are first introduced to the idea of religion at a young age and how much it impacts us. We are often introduced to religion or spirituality at home and in the media, but we mostly introduced to it via our families. Also how the idea of faith is brought up in our lives and how prominent it can be. Martin touched on the idea of faith being so important in our lives at such a young age, “Faith has always been an essential element in their lives. They pray regularly, attend religious services,

The first stage happens when you are at the age of one .The first stage is called Trust versus mistrust. Infants learn to trust or mistrust their caregivers. The world is based on whether if the child’s needs were met or not. As children we depend on our mothers to feed us and our fathers to protect us. It also matters if you grow up with two parents or just one, and where you live. I grew up in a small community with a mother and a father who loved me unconditionally. I learned to trust my parents instead of mistrust.

The first stage is trust or mistrust. This stage begins from birth to one year, children begin to learn the ability to trust others based upon the consistency of their caregiver. If trust develops successfully, the child gains confidence and security in the world around him and is able to feel secure even when threatened. Unsuccessful completion of this stage can result in an inability to trust, and therefore a sense of fear about the inconsistent world. It may result in anxiety, heightened insecurities, and an over feeling of mistrust in the world around them.