March 12, 2007

Comments (6)

  • haha, nice! It’s like what I’ve been readin in my dissertation. Actually found that those with increasing religious/spiritual involvement through identification (that is, where religiousness/sprituality is personally affected but extrinsically motivated/driven) actually show lower faith development (Cheng, in press).

    The finding suggests that involvement that is seemingly actively influenced by outside forces hinders faith development. Perhaps Stage Two Christian adults are just going through the motive, living an unexamined life…..

    Wow, don’t I know at least one or two of those!!!!

  • thanks for posting that. it was really nice to read of the 4 stages.

  • here’s the rub…
    1) how does the “stage 4 Christian” know that he has actually ‘advanced’? how does he know that he IS, in fact, ‘in a better place’ than the “stage 2 Christian”? why can we trust the “stage 4 Christian” to report out to us on all the various stages/ maturities? how do we know the model is legit?
    2) if the model is legit, what about pride? might not the “stage 4 Christian” ignore the “stage 2 Christian” and concerns of theirs that are spot on?

    as for myself, i have experienced something like this growth model suggests…but can i trust that internal change? is he just telling me what i (and he) wants to hear?

  • I don’t think the stages are crystal clear, but there are signs that you’re more in one stage than another. I think it’s hard to come up with specifics. The story was a pretty good illustration of Stage 2 vs Stage 4.

  • ftl: It’s legit, because I said so….. :) Trust me, I’ve become an expert/Authority in this area of human cognitive-structural development.

  • i enjoyed the story … even though i’m on a different trajectory! :)

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