Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Nye, R., Savage, S., & Watts, F. (2001). Psychology for the Christian Ministry. New York: Routledge.
Many kinds of metaphors have been used to characterise religious development: images of inner revolution, a journey, horticultural growth, changing nutritional needs, rebirth and death. Different metaphors illustrate the various characteristics involved in religious growth.
Many people experience a yearning to develop, driven by what Paul Tillich (1957) called ‘the urge to self transcendence’, a dim sense of our personal incompleteness. Yet too many regard the dynamic change inherent in ‘development’ as a threat to ‘solid’ faith, ironically resisting religious growth on religious grounds. 101
Most people develop a general aptitude for logical thinking in readiness for adulthood. However, religious thinking does not always follow suit. For some people more elementary ways of thinking about religious matter may continue to be cherished. Despite having an ability to think in more ‘abstract’ terms, it may seem safer to stay within the parameters of literal, or even more impressionistically emotional or sensory, kinds of thinking 102
The transition from thinking about religion in concrete, literal terms to a form more suited to the qualities of the adult mind can be a particularly awkward moment in religious development. Many adults seem frozen in a state of what Ronald Goldman called ’11-year old atheism’ 103
Two ways adults can feel uncomfortable about this development. Some adults may recall the literalistic religion of their childhood as relatively stronger and more ‘real’. They may feel guilty about having developed doubt, questions and alternative world views… The shift away from the passion of emotionally governed ‘thought’ or literal certainties does not need to be interpreted as a withering of faith when seen in the context of the normal process of intellectual development.
For other adults the revolution in religious understanding since their childhood may lead them to think that they did not have ‘real’ faith as children. For example people may feel uncertain about the validity of religious commitments they made to a God they understood in simple, literal terms, when subsequent understanding has fuelled and apparently more complex, deeply informed sense of God.
Accepting that it is normal for our approach to thinking to change in these ways can help people feel more comfortable with eth full course of their religious development... 104
Do you welcome change in your own spiritual and religious life? If so why? If not, why not?
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Many people experience a yearning to develop, driven by what Paul Tillich (1957) called ‘the urge to self transcendence’, a dim sense of our personal incompleteness. Yet too many regard the dynamic change inherent in ‘development’ as a threat to ‘solid’ faith, ironically resisting religious growth on religious grounds. 101
Most people develop a general aptitude for logical thinking in readiness for adulthood. However, religious thinking does not always follow suit. For some people more elementary ways of thinking about religious matter may continue to be cherished. Despite having an ability to think in more ‘abstract’ terms, it may seem safer to stay within the parameters of literal, or even more impressionistically emotional or sensory, kinds of thinking 102
The transition from thinking about religion in concrete, literal terms to a form more suited to the qualities of the adult mind can be a particularly awkward moment in religious development. Many adults seem frozen in a state of what Ronald Goldman called ’11-year old atheism’ 103
Two ways adults can feel uncomfortable about this development. Some adults may recall the literalistic religion of their childhood as relatively stronger and more ‘real’. They may feel guilty about having developed doubt, questions and alternative world views… The shift away from the passion of emotionally governed ‘thought’ or literal certainties does not need to be interpreted as a withering of faith when seen in the context of the normal process of intellectual development.
For other adults the revolution in religious understanding since their childhood may lead them to think that they did not have ‘real’ faith as children. For example people may feel uncertain about the validity of religious commitments they made to a God they understood in simple, literal terms, when subsequent understanding has fuelled and apparently more complex, deeply informed sense of God.
Accepting that it is normal for our approach to thinking to change in these ways can help people feel more comfortable with eth full course of their religious development... 104
Do you welcome change in your own spiritual and religious life? If so why? If not, why not?
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