While I was reading my obscenely expensive Adolescent Psychology textbook for a grad class, I came across some things that I found informative because they came from an educational psychology perspective, but apply to Christianity in significant ways.

First, Santrock identifies some characteristics of cults:

• Cults exist primarily for their own good. They are inward-focused, and not concerned with the good of the world or even necessarily of the individual members, but only the group and its leader.
• Cults try to separate the individual from his/her previous identity, family, and friends
• Cults try to eliminate freedom of thought
• Cults often demand excessive money and time commitments, even to the point of relocating

These are to some extent true of most churches, and it’s only together that they give a clear indicator that a group is a cult. But I think it’s worth taking warning, and making sure what we do doesn’t come close to these things. Aside from the obvious negative consequences of being associated with a cult, these aren’t good ideas to be promoting anyway.

Second, an interesting paradigm is James Fowler’s Stage Theory of Religious Development, which has six stages. Stages one and two are what you’d call childlike faith. Stages three and four are characteristic of the faith of many modern evangelicals. Stage five is the questioning, paradox-accepting approach that you find among us emerging types.

So what’s the highest level of faith development, according to Fowler? “Transcending specific belief systems to achieve a sense of oneness with all being and a commitment to breaking down the barriers that are divisive to peole on this planet.” In other words, become Buddhist, Hindu, or Unitarian Universalist. He says Gandhi, MLK, and Mother Teresa have been among the few people who reach this stage.

I wonder what Fowler believed. I think it’s worth respecting other people’s beliefs enough that you do not simply place your own at the top of a developmental stage ladder. Especially if you are a researcher whose work will be respected and studied for years to come. Santrock points out that Fowler’s paradigm hasn’t received a lot of support from subsequent research, and understandably so since it sounds like a matter of opinion which type of faith is “higher” than the others.