Fowler, James

Biographical Information

Fowler's background is theology. He earned his Ph.D. in 1971 at Harvard University in Religion and Society with a dissertation on the work of the theologian H. Richard Niebuhr. After teaching at Harvard Divinity School (1969–1975), postdoctoral research at Harvard's Center for Moral Development, and teaching at Boston College (1975–1976), Fowler joined the faculty of Candler School of Theology at Emory University in 1977. He was named a Candler Professor in 1987, and he established and directed the Center for Research on Faith and Moral Development and has served as Director of Emory's Center for Ethics and Public Policy since 1994. His winning the Oscar Pfister Award from the American Psychiatric Association (1994) and the William James Award from the American Psychological Association (1994) indicates Fowler's recognition in the field of psychology. The honoris causa doctor of divinity awarded from the University of Edinburgh in 1999 indicates again Fowler's worldwide recognition in theology.

Faith in Interdisciplinary Perspective

Both theology and psychology come together in Fowler's thinking. This is obvious from the basic definitions in faith development theory. In terms of theology, the perspectives of Paul Tillich and H. Richard Niebuhr have influenced Fowler's concept of faith. Tillich and Niebuhr teach us to ask for faith by asking questions like the following: What is the ultimate value and power? To whom am I finally loyal? What am I ultimately concerned about? What gives my life meaning? The work of William Cantwell Smith, a great theorist of religion from a cross-cultural perspective, has also been important for Fowler in obtaining further clarification of this open concept of faith and its demarcation from belief and religion.

In terms of psychology, we see a strong impact from Erik H. Erikson's psychoanalytic view on religion and human development and of psychoanalyst Ana-Maria Rizzuto's developmental account of representations of God, especially in Fowler's 1996 book. However, most influential for Fowler's theory and research has been the theory and research of Lawrence Kohlberg, the well-known developmental psychologist at Harvard University who, influenced by the work of Jean Piaget, constructed a cognitive-structural theory of moral development. It is safe to conclude that Fowler owes his groundbreaking inspiration to envision a developmental schema of faith to his cooperation with Kohlberg. Fowler's concept of faith has, then, received its most characteristic imprint from the Piaget/Kohlberg tradition: Faith as meaning making is understood as a special type of knowing, namely constitutive knowing. Comparing Kohlberg's theory of moral development and Fowler's theory of faith development, one encounters striking parallels. The two theorists debated about whether moral development precedes faith development, or vice versa.

...