{"id":{"repo_id":"sbts","oai_identifier":"oai:repository.sbts.edu:10392/243"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/sbts/oai:repository.sbts.edu:10392/243","repository":{"repo_id":"sbts","name":"Southern Baptist Theological Seminary","base_url":"https://repository.sbts.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"An analysis of the relationship between Fowlerian stage-development and self-assessed maturity in Christian faithfulness among evangelical Christians","abstract":"The purpose of this descriptive-quantitative study was to analyze the relationship between individuals' development according to Fowler's stages and the self-assessed maturity of their faithfulness to Jesus Christ. Based on a review of significant texts from the Judeo-Christian Scriptures and from church history, the researcher concluded that faith as understood by the earliest Christians--which the researcher has termed \"biblical-orthodox faith\"--and the reality to which James W. Fowler referred as \"faith\" are not the same phenomenon. Biblical-orthodox faith entails two inseparable dimensions, faith-content and faith-commitment. The validity and vitality of biblical-orthodox faith may be assessed by measuring individuals' maturity in Christian faithfulness. Fowler's understanding of faith--described in this research as \"other-awareness\"--more closely relates to the phenomenon described in the writings of Friedrich D. E. Schleiermacher as das schlechthinnigen Abhängigkeitsgefuehl . The researcher created the Fowlerian Stage-Development Survey (FSDS) to assess Fowlerian stage-development in the sample of 348 evangelical Christians. The alpha reliability coefficient for the FSDS was 0.6941. The Shepherd Scale--a standardized instrument with two sub-scales, the Christian Belief sub-scale and the Christian Walk sub-scale--was utilized to assess individuals' maturity in Christian faithfulness. ANOVA indicated that no significant relationship existed between Fowlerian stage-development and maturity in Christian faithfulness as assessed by the Shepherd Scale. Both qualitative and quantitative analysis suggested that Fowler's Stages 2 through 4 describe the development of the Jungian Ego, while Stage 5 describes the development of the Jungian Self. These findings suggest that Christian spiritual formation comprises three separate \"tracks\"--Ego-development, Self-actualization, and Christian faith-development. In light of his research findings, the researcher constructed an integrative model of spiritual development that incorporated Ego-development, Self-actualization, and Christian faith-development into a single model while recognizing that Christian faith-development and Fowlerian stage-development operate on separate structural-developmental tracks.","abstract_html":"The purpose of this descriptive-quantitative study was to analyze the relationship between individuals' development according to Fowler's stages and the self-assessed maturity of their faithfulness to Jesus Christ. Based on a review of significant texts from the Judeo-Christian Scriptures and from church history, the researcher concluded that faith as understood by the earliest Christians--which the researcher has termed "biblical-orthodox faith"--and the reality to which James W. Fowler referred as "faith" are not the same phenomenon. Biblical-orthodox faith entails two inseparable dimensions, faith-content and faith-commitment. The validity and vitality of biblical-orthodox faith may be assessed by measuring individuals' maturity in Christian faithfulness. Fowler's understanding of faith--described in this research as "other-awareness"--more closely relates to the phenomenon described in the writings of Friedrich D. E. Schleiermacher as das schlechthinnigen Abhängigkeitsgefuehl . The researcher created the Fowlerian Stage-Development Survey (FSDS) to assess Fowlerian stage-development in the sample of 348 evangelical Christians. The alpha reliability coefficient for the FSDS was 0.6941. The Shepherd Scale--a standardized instrument with two sub-scales, the Christian Belief sub-scale and the Christian Walk sub-scale--was utilized to assess individuals' maturity in Christian faithfulness. ANOVA indicated that no significant relationship existed between Fowlerian stage-development and maturity in Christian faithfulness as assessed by the Shepherd Scale. Both qualitative and quantitative analysis suggested that Fowler's Stages 2 through 4 describe the development of the Jungian Ego, while Stage 5 describes the development of the Jungian Self. These findings suggest that Christian spiritual formation comprises three separate "tracks"--Ego-development, Self-actualization, and Christian faith-development. In light of his research findings, the researcher constructed an integrative model of spiritual development that incorporated Ego-development, Self-actualization, and Christian faith-development into a single model while recognizing that Christian faith-development and Fowlerian stage-development operate on separate structural-developmental tracks.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Jones, Timothy Paul"],"institution":"Southern Baptist Theological Seminary","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Simpson, Mark Edward"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2003,"date_issued":"2003-05-13","date_published":"2003-05-13","updated_at":"2026-07-27T21:04:28Z","subjects":["Fowler, James W., 1940-","Faith","Faith development--Case studies"],"languages":["en_US"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["THESES Ed.D. .J726a"],"render_values":[{"text":"THESES Ed.D. .J726a","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/10392/243","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Simpson, Mark Edward"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Jones, Timothy Paul"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2009-11-20T15:23:31Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2009-11-20T15:23:31Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2003-05-13"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["Southern Baptist Theological Seminary"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Fowler, James W., 1940-","Faith","Faith development--Case studies"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["en_US"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["THESES Ed.D. .J726a"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/10392/243"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The purpose of this descriptive-quantitative study was to analyze the relationship between individuals' development according to Fowler's stages and the self-assessed maturity of their faithfulness to Jesus Christ. Based on a review of significant texts from the Judeo-Christian Scriptures and from church history, the researcher concluded that faith as understood by the earliest Christians--which the researcher has termed \"biblical-orthodox faith\"--and the reality to which James W. Fowler referred as \"faith\" are not the same phenomenon. Biblical-orthodox faith entails two inseparable dimensions, faith-content and faith-commitment. The validity and vitality of biblical-orthodox faith may be assessed by measuring individuals' maturity in Christian faithfulness. Fowler's understanding of faith--described in this research as \"other-awareness\"--more closely relates to the phenomenon described in the writings of Friedrich D. E. Schleiermacher as das schlechthinnigen Abhängigkeitsgefuehl . The researcher created the Fowlerian Stage-Development Survey (FSDS) to assess Fowlerian stage-development in the sample of 348 evangelical Christians. The alpha reliability coefficient for the FSDS was 0.6941. The Shepherd Scale--a standardized instrument with two sub-scales, the Christian Belief sub-scale and the Christian Walk sub-scale--was utilized to assess individuals' maturity in Christian faithfulness. ANOVA indicated that no significant relationship existed between Fowlerian stage-development and maturity in Christian faithfulness as assessed by the Shepherd Scale. Both qualitative and quantitative analysis suggested that Fowler's Stages 2 through 4 describe the development of the Jungian Ego, while Stage 5 describes the development of the Jungian Self. These findings suggest that Christian spiritual formation comprises three separate \"tracks\"--Ego-development, Self-actualization, and Christian faith-development. In light of his research findings, the researcher constructed an integrative model of spiritual development that incorporated Ego-development, Self-actualization, and Christian faith-development into a single model while recognizing that Christian faith-development and Fowlerian stage-development operate on separate structural-developmental tracks."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["An analysis of the relationship between Fowlerian stage-development and self-assessed maturity in Christian faithfulness among evangelical Christians"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Simpson, Mark Edward"],"dc:creator":["Jones, Timothy Paul"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2009-11-20T15:23:31Z"],"dc:date.available":["2009-11-20T15:23:31Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2003-05-13"],"dc:description.abstract":["The purpose of this descriptive-quantitative study was to analyze the relationship between individuals' development according to Fowler's stages and the self-assessed maturity of their faithfulness to Jesus Christ. Based on a review of significant texts from the Judeo-Christian Scriptures and from church history, the researcher concluded that faith as understood by the earliest Christians--which the researcher has termed \"biblical-orthodox faith\"--and the reality to which James W. Fowler referred as \"faith\" are not the same phenomenon. Biblical-orthodox faith entails two inseparable dimensions, faith-content and faith-commitment. The validity and vitality of biblical-orthodox faith may be assessed by measuring individuals' maturity in Christian faithfulness. Fowler's understanding of faith--described in this research as \"other-awareness\"--more closely relates to the phenomenon described in the writings of Friedrich D. E. Schleiermacher as das schlechthinnigen Abhängigkeitsgefuehl . The researcher created the Fowlerian Stage-Development Survey (FSDS) to assess Fowlerian stage-development in the sample of 348 evangelical Christians. The alpha reliability coefficient for the FSDS was 0.6941. The Shepherd Scale--a standardized instrument with two sub-scales, the Christian Belief sub-scale and the Christian Walk sub-scale--was utilized to assess individuals' maturity in Christian faithfulness. ANOVA indicated that no significant relationship existed between Fowlerian stage-development and maturity in Christian faithfulness as assessed by the Shepherd Scale. Both qualitative and quantitative analysis suggested that Fowler's Stages 2 through 4 describe the development of the Jungian Ego, while Stage 5 describes the development of the Jungian Self. These findings suggest that Christian spiritual formation comprises three separate \"tracks\"--Ego-development, Self-actualization, and Christian faith-development. In light of his research findings, the researcher constructed an integrative model of spiritual development that incorporated Ego-development, Self-actualization, and Christian faith-development into a single model while recognizing that Christian faith-development and Fowlerian stage-development operate on separate structural-developmental tracks."],"dc:identifier.other":["THESES Ed.D. .J726a"],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/10392/243"],"dc:language.iso":["en_US"],"dc:publisher.institution":["Southern Baptist Theological Seminary"],"dc:subject":["Fowler, James W., 1940-","Faith","Faith development--Case studies"],"dc:title":["An analysis of the relationship between Fowlerian stage-development and self-assessed maturity in Christian faithfulness among evangelical Christians"],"dc:type":["Thesis"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-27T21:04:28Z"}