The purpose of this descriptive-quantitative study was to analyze the relationship between individuals' development according to Fowler's stages and the self-assessed maturity of their faithfulness to Jesus Christ. Based on a review of significant texts from the Judeo-Christian Scriptures and from church history, the researcher concluded that faith as understood by the earliest Christians--which the researcher has termed "biblical-orthodox faith"--and the reality to which James W. Fowler referred as "faith" are not the same phenomenon. Biblical-orthodox faith entails two inseparable dimensions, faith-content and faith-commitment. The validity and vitality of biblical-orthodox faith may be assessed by measuring individuals' maturity in Christian faithfulness. Fowler's understanding of faith--described in this research as "other-awareness"--more closely relates to the phenomenon described in the writings of Friedrich D. E. Schleiermacher as das schlechthinnigen Abhängigkeitsgefuehl . The researcher created the Fowlerian Stage-Development Survey (FSDS) to assess Fowlerian stage-development in the sample of 348 evangelical Christians. The alpha reliability coefficient for the FSDS was 0.6941. The Shepherd Scale--a standardized instrument with two sub-scales, the Christian Belief sub-scale and the Christian Walk sub-scale--was utilized to assess individuals' maturity in Christian faithfulness. ANOVA indicated that no significant relationship existed between Fowlerian stage-development and maturity in Christian faithfulness as assessed by the Shepherd Scale. Both qualitative and quantitative analysis suggested that Fowler's Stages 2 through 4 describe the development of the Jungian Ego, while Stage 5 describes the development of the Jungian Self. These findings suggest that Christian spiritual formation comprises three separate "tracks"--Ego-development, Self-actualization, and Christian faith-development. In light of his research findings, the researcher constructed an integrative model of spiritual development that incorporated Ego-development, Self-actualization, and Christian faith-development into a single model while recognizing that Christian faith-development and Fowlerian stage-development operate on separate structural-developmental tracks. / This item is only available to students and faculty of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. If you are not associated with SBTS, this dissertation may be purchased from <a href="http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb">http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb</a> or downloaded through ProQuest's Dissertation and Theses database if your institution subscribes to that service.

Excerpt: Fredericksburg buzzed with excitement on 29 August 1862. The end of four months of federal occupation was imminent, and the town’s mostly pro-Confederate residents rejoiced over the rumored approach of soldiers in gray. Around 5 p.m., a panicked horseman sped through the town’s dirt roads to the home of James W. Hunnicutt, a forty-seven-year-old Baptist minister and newspaper editor whose stern features, wrinkled brow, and graying hair lent to an already strong physical resemblance to abolition zealot John Brown. Both Hunnicutt and his friend knew that the restoration of Confederate control meant trouble for the clergyman. Hastily, the editor gathered what few items he could carry and left his wife and children. Elvira Samuel Hunnicutt promised to “pray constantly” for her husband without knowing when—or if—she might see him again. Few of his white neighbors shared her concern. Men and women, even children, shouted “Traitor!”, “Abolitionist!”, “Submissionist!” as Hunnicutt and roughly fifty other residents fled across a temporary bridge with the retreating Federals [...]

In his seminal work The Souls of Black Folk, W.E.B DuBois aptly states, "The Preacher is the most unique personality developed by the Negro on American soil." At once a spiritual leader, social-political activist, educator, idealist, and businessman, the antebellum black preacher was the idiosyncratic product of a soil contaminated with racism and sullied with hate. Despite this antagonistic environment, what enabled his ascension to the head of black culture was "a certain adroitness with deep-seated earnestness" and "tact with consummate ability." As shepherd and statesman, the black preacher embodied virtues and talents representative of the potential of his people and set the standards for community investment and civic action. He was the model of character for the race. My dissertation introduces scholars to an overlooked yet monumental institution in African American history, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, as well as two of its pioneering preacher-politicians, Bishop Jermain W. Loguen and Bishop James W. Hood. My study of these nineteenth-century AME Zion preacher-politicians exposes overlooked features of black rhetoric, challenges predominant perceptions of the black preaching tradition, and provides an alternative perspective on how to examine the persuasive appeals of black rhetoricians. Through rhetorical analyses of letters, speeches, and sermons--archival materials from the Schomburg Library and Union Theological Seminary in New York--I show that in addition to employing emotional appeals to draw the sympathies of whites and allay the lamentations of blacks, these black ministers also effectively wielded logical arguments to demonstrate their capabilities as reasoners in philosophical debates and intellectuals with original thoughts. However, most importantly, these black preachers' ethical appeals in written texts, public sermons and speeches, and actions as model citizens served multiple practical and salutary ends for the uplift of African Americans. / text

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

The aim of this thesis is to analyse certain aspects connecting religion and narration (which is understood here as a common human faculty to think and express oneself in the form of narratives). The first part of the thesis is concerned with methodology; first of all, the issues of defining narrative are introduced and a more elaborate definition is presented. A complete methodology is then formulated with a help of several authors (mainly James W. Pennebaker and Mary Douglas) in order to distinguish particularities and functions of creating narratives in religious contexts. Two main points are stressed here: that the content of the narratives is often concerned with problematic aspects of experience and that the expression of these narratives is beneficial for their creators. The second part focuses on several religious institutions concerned with creation of narratives which are interpreted with the outlined methodology. In this manner, the act of confession in Catholicism, prayer in Christianity and certain healing rituals are described and interpreted. Conclusions of this thesis should help the reader get a basic idea of the way created narratives in religious contexts affect their authors.

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