Dr. James W. Fowler III, C.H. Candler Professor of Theology and Human Development at Emory University, is director of the Center for Research on Faith and Moral Development Emory's Center for Ethics in Public Policy and the Professions. He is a member of the United Methodist Church.
He is best known for his book Stages of Faith published in 1981 in which he sought to develop the idea of a developmental process in faith.
This stages of faith development theory was along the lines of Jean Piaget theory of cognitive development and Lawrence Kohlberg's stages of moral development.
Publications
- Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning (1981)
- Becoming Adult, Becoming Christian: Adult Development and Christian Faith (1984)
- To See the Kingdom: The Theological Vision of H. Richard Niebuhr (1985)
- Faith Development and Pastoral Care (1987)
- Weaving the New Creation: Stages of Faith and the Public Church (1991)
- Faithful Change: The Personal and Public Challenges of Postmodern Life (1996)