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Foundational Discussions in Christian Psychology
with ideas and realities that are beyond what we References
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of God as related to the infinitely creative love Fowler, J. (1981). Stages of Faith. New York: Harper &
and resurrection of God. We can overcome Row.
denial and laziness and choose to see what is, Fowler, J. (2001). Faith Development Theory and the
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accept the difficulty, pain and suffering of our Howe, M. L. and Lewis, M. D. (2005) The importance of
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Lesson Three – We continue to deepen our level Kaplan, U., Crockett, C. E. and Tivlan, T. (2014). Moral
of ultimate trust – related to but more than that motivation of college students through multiple develop-
mental structures: Evidence of intrapersonal variability
which we experience in human relationships. in a complex dynamic system. Motivation and Emotion.
We see a trust that is separate from either opti- 38:336–352
mism or pessimism – that is not based on speci- McLaren, B. (2011). Naked Spirituality: A Life with God
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Getting Stuck – The greatest challenge in de- search. 51(3): 233-252.
veloping this facet is a lack of courage to face Peck, M.S. (1987). The Different Drum: Community Ma-
the fears and anxieties that these lessons can king and Peace. New York: Touchstone.
cause. Many approach and then back away in Schmelzer, D. (2008). Not the Religious Type: Confessi-
spite of the fact that reality continues to make us ons of a Turncoat Atheist. Phoenix: Salt River.
Siegel, D. (1999). The Developing Mind: Toward a Neuro-
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back to certainty, to grasping one side of a para-
dox and simplistic beliefs that soothe with half-
truths instead of giving us the courage to stand
up in the truth.
Conclusion
This model does not have the simplicity of struc-
ture that FTD or other stage theories possess,
but it is my hope that the two complementary
dimensions of increasing maturity and free-
flowing, repeated seasons in which we high-
light the four facets outlined above can provide
a way of understanding spiritual development
that may be truer to our varied and idiosyncra-
tic experiences and which encourage a deeper
appreciation and honouring of people with very
different pathways of spiritual development.
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