Abstract

This dissertation is a theoretical inquiry into the hermeneutics of James Fowler's theory of faith development; therefore, it starts with an investigation of Fowler's theory . For an account of the hermeneutics of metaphor, symbol, and narrative, it investigates the work of Paul Ricoeur . Thus it engages in a correlative discussion; it attempts to strengthen, within a theory of the structural-development family, the hermeneutical perspective and presents the proposal of a con-text-ualist model for faith development theory . ;In investigating Fowler's theory, and in proposing the con-text-ualist model, the reflection focuses on: the conceptualization of faith; the model of development in faith; and the research method in faith development. ;Certain themes in Fowler's theory be brought into sharper relief, but they also help to find answers, when viewed in the light of Ricoeur's hermeneutical perspective, regarding the insufficiency of the subject; the impossibility of any immediate self-understanding; the mediation through the 'text;' the decentering and creative power of symbol, metaphor, and narrative; their power to constitute the person, to remake reality; 'listening' or 'hearkening' as the ground of faith. ;The proposed con-text-ualist model defines faith as responsiveness and thus pays special attention to the subject's decentering interaction with the 'texts' and con-texts ; and, in regard to the idea of development, it ascribes to these con-texts developmental significance: the subject appears in the role of both 'reader' and 'author' of the life narrative; developmental transformations appear as 'writing' and 're-writing' one's own life narrative. ;For research, the con-text-ualist perspective suggests considering Ricoeur's proposal for social scientific methodology: the dialectic of understanding and explanation; the content and con-text referentiality; the stronger focus on an interpretive approach. ;Further research is suggested for conceptualizing domain-specific faith operations; for discerning stage specific content and con-text; for accounting for the person's biographical reconstructions; for testing communicative validation.