This paper provides a relational analysis of James Fowler's (1981) Faith Development Theory (FDT) and Heinz Streib's (2001) Religious Styles Perspective (RSP) in light of a recent study of apostasy from religious fundamentalisms. Empirical support is provided for both theories. RSP is endorsed as a more encompassing theory of religious development which accounts for more contingencies than FDT. However, FDT is subsumed rather than superseded by RSP as a powerful lens through which to observe cognitive dimensions of religious development. The paper introduces an integrative paradigm, phenomenological empiricism, to conceptualise a complementary relationship between FDT and RSP as key theories in the future study of religious development.
AdamR. J. (2003). Fundamentalism and structural development: A conceptual synthesis and discussion of implications for religious education (Masters thesis, James Cook University, 2003). Available from http://eprints.jcu.edu.au/13/.
2.
AdamR. J. (2008). A cognitive developmental analysis of apostasy from religious fundamentalisms (Doctoral thesis, University of Queensland, 2008). Abstract available from http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:131309.
3.
AFFP (2006). A cognitive developmental analysis of apostasy from Christian and Muslim fundamentalisms.University of Queensland, Australia [Unpublished data].
4.
Atlas.ti (2003-05). The knowledge workbench.Scientific Software Development.Berlin: Scolari, Sage Publications.
5.
BarnesM. H. (2000). Stages of thought: the co-evolution of religious thought and science.New York: Oxford University Press.
6.
BooneK. (1989). The Bible tells them so: The discourse of Protestant fundamentalism.Albany NY: The State University of New York Press.
7.
CaplovitzD., & SherrowF. (1977). The religious drop-outs: Apostasy among college graduates. Sage Library of Social Research (44). London: Sage Publications.
8.
DayJ. (2001). From structuralism to eternity? Re-imagining the psychology of religious development after the cognitive-developmental paradigm.International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 11, 173–183.
9.
DayJ. (2002). Religious development as discursive construction. In HermansC., ImminkG., de JongA., and van der LansJ., editors, Social construction and theology.Leiden and Boston: Brill.
10.
DayJ., & TappanM. (1996). The narrative approach to moral development: From the epistemic subject to dialogical selves.Human Development, 39(2), 67–82.
11.
DayJ., & YoungmanD. (2003). Discursive practices and their interpretation in the psychology of religious development: From constructivist canons to constructionist alternatives. In DemmickJ., and AndreolettiC., editors, The handbook of adult development.New York: Plenum.
12.
DoiseW., & MugnyG. (1984). The social development of the intellect. [trans. A. St James-Emler. and N. Emler]. International Series in Experiemental Social Psychology. Vol 10.Oxford: Pergamon Press.
13.
DykstraC., & ParksS. (1986). Faith development and Fowler.Birmingham, Alabama: Religious Education Press.
14.
FestingerL. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance.Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
15.
FowlerJ. W. (1980). Faith and the structuring of meaning: Toward moral and religious maturity.Morristown, NJ: Silver Burdett.
16.
FowlerJ. W. (1981). Stages of faith: the psychology of human development and the quest for meaning.San Francisco, CA: Harper and Row.
17.
FowlerJ. W. (1993). Response to Helmut Reich: Overview or apologetic?The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 3(3), 173–179.
18.
FowlerJ. W. (2001). Faith development theory and the postmodern challenges.International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 11(1), 159–172.
19.
FowlerJ. W. (2004). Faith development at 30: Naming the challenges of faith in a new millennium.Religious Education, 99(4): 405–421.
20.
FowlerJ. W., StreibH., & KellerB. (2004). Manual for faith development research.Bielefeld, Germany: Center for Biographical Studies in Contemporary Religion.
21.
FowlerJ. W., & KeenS., (Ed). J. Berryman (1978). Life maps: conversations on the journey of faith.Waco, Tex: Word Books.
22.
FreudS. (1961). The future of an illusion. In StracheyJ., editor, The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud. (Vol. 21), London: The Hogarth Press. (Original work published 1927).
23.
Gruber, H. E. (1986). Which way is up? A developmental question. MinesR. A., and KitchenerK. S. (1986). Adult cognitive development: Methods and models.New York: Praeger Scientific, 112–133.
24.
HeapJ. L. (1976). Eidos, sociology and language: A criticism of free-phantasy variation, unpublished paper presented at the Eastern Sociological Society meetings, Boston, Mass.
25.
HeapJ. L. (1980). Description in ethnomethodology.Human Studies, 3, 87–106.
26.
HoodR., HillP., & WilliamsonW. P. (2005). The psychology of religious fundamentalism.London: The Guilford Press.
27.
HusserlE. (1962). Ideas: General introduction to pure phenomenology.New York: Collier Books.
28.
JohnsonM. (1997). Developmental cognitive neuroscience.Cambridge, MSS: Blackwell Publishers Inc.
29.
KamenkaE. (1970). The philosophy of Ludwig Feuerbach.New York: Praeger Publishers.
30.
KohlbergL. (1969). Stage and Sequence: The cognitive-developmental approach to socialization. In GoslinD. A., editor, Handbook of socialization theory and research.Chicago: Rand McNally.
31.
KohlbergL. (1981). The philosophy of moral development: Moral stages and the idea of Justice. (Vol. 1), San Francisco: Harper and Row.
32.
KüngH. (1980). Does God exist? An answer for today.London: Collins.
33.
McDarghJ. (2001). Faith development theory and the postmodern problem of foundations.International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 11(3), 185–199.
34.
Merleau-PontyM. (1962). Phenomenology of perception.London: Routledge.
35.
Merleau-PontyM. (1964). Signs.Evanston: Northwestern University Press.
36.
Merleau-PontyM. (1988). Merleau-Ponty à la Sorbonne. Résuméde cours 1949-1952.Paris: Edition Cynara.
37.
OserF., & GmünderP. (1991). Religious judgement: a developmental approach.Birmingham, Alabama: Religious Education Press.
PiagetJ. (1973). The child's conception of the world.Frogmore, NF: Granada Publishing Ltd.
41.
PiagetJ. (1974). The child and reality: problems of genetic psychology.New York: Viking Press.
42.
PiagetJ. (1977). Epistemology and psychology of functions.Dordrecht; Boston: D. Reidel Pub. Co.
43.
PiagetJ. (1978). The development of thought: equilibration of cognitive structures.Oxford: B. Blackwell.
44.
PlantingaA. (2000). Warranted Christian belief.New York: Oxford University Press.
45.
PowerC. (1991). Hard versus soft stages of faith and religious development. In FowlerJ. W., NipkowK., and SchweitzerF., editors, Stages of faith and religious development: Implications for church, education, and society.New York: Crossroad.
46.
ReichK. H. (2002). Developing the horizons of the mind: Relational and contextual reasoning and the resolution of cognitive conflict.Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
47.
RicouerP. (1981). Appropriation.Hermeneutics and the Human Sciences.Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
48.
RicoeurP. (1988). Time and narrative, Vol. III.Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (Original work published 1985)
49.
RicoeurP. (1992). Oneself as another.Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (Original work published 1990)
50.
SaeedA., & SaeedH. (2004). Freedom of religion, apostasy and Islam.Aldershot, UK: Ashgate Publishing. San Jose, CA: University Press.
51.
SelmanR. L. (1971). Taking another's perspective: Role-taking development in early childhood.Child Development.42, 1721–1734.
52.
SinnottJ. D. (1996). The developmental approach: Postformal thought as adaptive intelligence. In Blanchard-FieldsF., and HessT.M., editors, Perspectives on cognitive change in adulthood and aging.New York: McGraw-Hill.
53.
StreibH. (2001). Faith development theory revisited: The religious styles perspective.The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 11(3), 143–158.
54.
StreibH. (2002a). A faith development perspective on fundamentalism. Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion in Salt Lake City, Nov 3. 2002.
StreibH. (2005). Faith development research revisited: Accounting for diversity in structure, content, and narrativity of faith.The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 15(2), 99–121.
57.
StreibH. (2007). Faith development and a way beyond fundamentalism. In TimmermanC., HutsebautD., MelsS., NonnemanW., and van HerckW., editors, Faith-based radicalism: Christianity, Islam and Judaism between constructive activism and destructive fanaticism.Brussels: P.I.E.-Peter Lang.
58.
TamminenK., & NurmiK. (1995). Developmental theory and religious experience. In HoodR.Jr., editor, Handbook of religious experience.Birmingham, AL: Religious Education Press.
WilberK. (2000). Waves, streams, states and self: Further considerations for an integral theory of consciousness.Journal of Consciousness Studies, 7(11-12), 145–176.
