'MATURITY OF FAITH': AN INTERDISCIPLINARY CLARIFICATION OF THE TERM (RAHNER, FOWLER, ERIKSON, CATECHETICS, MASLOW)

The phrase "maturity of faith" has appeared frequently in catechetical literature from the 1950's through the present. This study continues the investigation of the phrase "maturity of faith," interpreting it as a metaphorical expression which offers both a vision of the normatively human and an opportunity for disciplined reflection on available models of human transformations.;The study first shows the origin of the term "maturity of faith" in the praxis of the French catechetical school and its use in documents of the Catholic Church. Next, the study summarizes and criticizes a major theoretical attempt to discuss faith in developmental terms; namely, James Fowler's theory of faith development. In each of these cases, the study finds a valuable contribution to the understanding of "maturity of faith"; none of them, however, attempts the critical correlation demanded by a metaphorical interpretation of the phrase.;The remainder of the study critically correlates the theology of faith constructed by Karl Rahner with developmental psychologies advanced by Abraham Maslow and Erik Erikson. Rahner's theology embodies both the turn to the subject and the universalist understanding of faith which ground the possibility of dialogue with the human and social sciences. His universalist understanding, however, is articulated in terms of a transcendental anthropology which on his own admission must be further concretized through dialogue with such sciences.;The developmental perspectives of Maslow and Erikson are brought into dialogue with Rahner's understanding of faith in order to accomplish the following objectives: first, to access the potential of these developmental theories to complete the turn to the subject begun by Rahner, second, to assess the relative adequacy, in terms of human transformation, of each of the three models.;The study involves the critical correlation of models of transformation drawn from developmental psychology and systematic theology. Methodologically, the study attempts to avoid certain problems which often attend the interdisciplinary dialogue of psychology and religion. These include the following: first, the instrumentalization of psychology for the practical application of theology; second, the uncritical assimilation of theological categories to psychological ones; third, the equally uncritical assumption of psychological models as necessarily reductionistic.