JAMES W.

FOWLER
BY JORDAN ABBOTT

OVERVIEW OF LIFE
BORN IN 1940 IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA
GREW UP IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA
FATHER WAS AN ORDAINED METHODIST MINISTER
HIS WIFE LURLINE LOCKLAIR STUDIED WITH HIM AT THE UNITED METHODIST
THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL
STUDIED UNDER RICHARD NIEBUHR

OVERVIEW OF LIFE
GRADUATED FROM DUKE UNIVERSITY
DREW THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
EARNED HIS PHD IN RELIGION AND SOCIETY FROM HARVARD UNIVERSITY IN
1979
HIS PH.D. FOCUSSED ON ETHICS AND SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION
CONTINUED POST-DOCTORAL STUDIES AT THE HARVARD GRADUATE SCHOOL
OF EDUCATION

OVERVIEW OF LIFE
FOWLER WAS A HUGE SUPPORTER OF CIVIL RIGHTS AND WAS PRESENT AT
THE MARCH ON WASHIGTON PROTEST
HE SPENT MUCH OF HIS TIME AS A HOUSE MINISTER
WORKING WITH PEOPLE WHO WERE STRUGGLING WITH FAITH ISSUES
THIS SHAPED THE DIRECTION OF HIS STUDIES TOWARD FAITH AND
THEOLOGICAL ISSUES

INSTRUCTION
FOWLER HAD MUCH EDUCATION AND SPENT A NUMBER OF YEARS TEACHING
HE TAUGHT AT HARVARD DIVINITY SCHOOL TILL 1975
TAUGHT AT BOSTON COLLEGE AFTER THAT TILL 76
BY 1977 HE WAS TEACHING THEOLOGY AT EMORY'S SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY

LIFE AT EMORY
MOVED UP TO BECOME THE DIRECTOR OF THE CENTRE FOR RESEARCH ON
FAITH AND MORAL DEVELOPMENT
FROM 1994-2005 HE WORKED AS THE FULL TIME DIRECTOR FOR THE
CENTER OF ETHICS
AT AGE 65 HE RETIRED

AFTER EMORY
CONTINUED TO WORK AS A MINISTER IN THE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
WORKED AT THE SAME LOCATION AS HIS DAD DID IN THE WESTERN NORTH
CAROLINA DISTRICT
LIVED WITH HIS WIFE AND 3 CHILDREN NOW HAS 5 GRANDCHILDREN
DIED OF ALZHEIMERS DISEASE ON THE 16TH OF OCTOBER LAST YEAR IN
ATLANTA
AGE 75

AWARDS
HEAVILY AWARDED THROUGHOUT HIS LIFE AS AN EDUCATOR AND
PROFESSOR
HONORARY DOCTOR OF DIVINITY FROM UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH 1999
MANY OTHER AWARDS FROM AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATIONS FOR
WORK THAT ADVANCED THE PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGION
ONE SUCH AWARD WAS THE OSKAR PFISTER AWARD IN 1994

BOOKS
DR FOWLER WROTE NUMEROUS BOOKS ON THEOLOGY AND ITS EFFECTS ON
ETHICS AND PRACTICALITY
MOST WELL KNOWN OUT OF 11 PUBLISHED BOOKS IS STAGES OF FAITH
IT HAS BEEN TRANSLATED INTO THREE LANGUAGES

FOCUSSES
DESCRIBED AS A PIONEERING SCHOLAR IN PRACTICAL THEOLOGY
DESCRIBED THE STEPS IN PEOPLES JOURNEY THROUGH THEIR BELEIFS
WAS A STUDENT OF THEOLOGY

STAGES OF FAITH DEVELOPMENT

FOWLER IS MOST WELL KNOWN FOR HIS WORK ON FAITH DEVELOPMENT
HE DEVELOPED 6 STAGES THAT PEOPLE GO THROUGH AS THEIR FAITH
MATURES
DREW IDEAS FROM PIAGET STAGES AND KOHLBERG STAGES
THE THEORY IS APPLICABLE TO ANY SORT OF RELIGIOUS BELIEF SYSTEM

IMPACTS
THE STAGES OF FAITH WERE HUGELY INFLUENTIAL TO BOTH CHRISTIAN AND
NON-CHRISTIANS
IT DEFINED AND SPELLED OUT VERY ARTICULATELY THE JOURNEY OF FAITH
WE ALL GO THROUGH
DURING HIS YEARS AT EMORY CENTER FOR ETHICS HE INFLUENCED MANY
PASTORS THROUGH MENTORSHIP