Human Development and Faith (Second Edition)

Life-Cycle Stages of Body, Mind, and Soul

Dr. Felicity B. Kelcourse

• Publisher: Chalice Press
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9780827214965
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Religion
• Index: Psychology

This book, now in its second edition, brings together the best available understandings of human development from a multidisciplinary perspective. Uniquely inclusive of the moral and faith dimensions of context and life-cycle development, Human Development and Faith examines the interplay of mind, body, family, community, and soul at every stage of development. It addresses two central questions: What are the "good-enough" conditions of parenting, family, and community in each phase of life, from birth to death, which support growth and development? What gives life adequate meaning as development proceeds? If human development describes the normative and hoped-for passages of life, then faith provides the necessary component of meaning. Throughout the various perspectives offered in this volume is the premise that faith is that quality of living that makes it possible to fully live.

The Journal of Pastoral Theology called the first edition of Human Development and Faith "an excellent text for pastoral theology courses, because it fulfills its ambitious goal of bringing a holistic faith perspective to the usual topics of development." This second edition includes a new chapter on infancy, updates reflecting our growing awareness of cultural diversity, and a new preface.

PART ONE

The Context of Development

CHAPTER 1

Theories of Human Development

Felicity Brock Kelcourse

All of us are much more human than otherwise.

HARRY STACK SULLIVAN, CONCEPTIONS OF MODERN PSYCHIATRY

You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

PSALM 139:13B, 14A, NIV

Specific theories of human development that inform this text each presume an implicit orientation to faith as the ability to receive, find, and make meaning in our lives. Theories of depth psychology originating with Sigmund Freud and Carl Gustav Jung, cognitive-structural-constructive developmental theories based on the work of Jean Piaget, and family systems theories have been chosen for their relevance in the work of pastoral care and counseling.¹ Because these theoretical perspectives give attention to individual self-awareness as well as intersubjective, relational patterns in families and society, they serve to describe “good-enough” development—the desired conditions for meaning-making in relation to self, others, and God.

Depth psychologies consider both conscious and unconscious components of human awareness. Unconscious awareness can have developmental significance as it appears in recurring dreams, fantasies, and complexes, or feeling-toned thought patterns that may impede desired functioning (Jung, 1921/1971). For example, a person who has consistent difficulty relating to men in authority might have a father complex based on negative interactions with his or her father as a child. Projection, the largely unconscious process by which we see both positive and negative, disavowed characteristics of our own in others, can cloud our perception of relationships (A. Freud, 1933/1966). Insight-oriented psychotherapy aims to make us more conscious of, and therefore more responsible for, our patterns of attention and inattention to the world around us. Unconscious beliefs can be transmitted intergenerationally, as family patterns repeat both from one generation to the next, and cross-culturally, through folk tales, mythology, and religion. Depth psychologists explore the intrapsychic (inward) and interpersonal (relational) dimensions of meaning and motivation in human experience.

Sub-groupings of depth psychology include psychoanalytic theory and analytical (or Jungian) psychology, ego psychology, object relations, self psychology, relational theories, and intersubjectivity. Psychoanalytic theory gives attention to human development and faith through the work of Sigmund Freud (1953–1974), Melanie Klein (1932, 1957), Anna Freud (1966/1980), Erik Erikson (1950/1963), Donald Woods Winnicott (1965, 1971), Anna Maria Rizzuto (1979), William Meissner (1984), and Daniel Stern (2000), among others. Chapter 3 (Cooper-White) offers an overview of object relations, and chapter 5 (Senter) presents the work of Daniel Stern, Daniel Siegel, and others with regard to the earliest stages of self/other awareness in infancy. Chapters 12 (Lyon) and 13 (Davis) are also psychoanalytically informed.

Analytical or Jungian theories include depth psychological understandings of persons, but also depart from them in significant ways. Analytical psychology gives attention to vocation (the individuation of adulthood) as an expression of faith and is represented by the work of Carl Gustav Jung (1953–1979), Marie-Louise von Franz (1999), James Hillman (1992), John Sanford (1979), Donald Kalsched (1996), and Ann Ulanov (2001a), among others. Authors of chapters 7 (Gibson), 8 (Thompson), and 14 (Barbre) draw on principles of Jungian psychology.

Psychoanalysis sees faith and meaning-making as capable of change through the dialogue between conscious knowing and unconscious, body-based awareness, or what psychoanalyst Christopher Bollas (1985) calls the “unthought known.” As a developmental theory, it begins with the concern of Darwin and other students of animal behavior and habitat (ethologists) to discover the basic biological underpinnings for human behavior, especially sexuality and aggression (Freud, 1905/1953). It shares with ethology the conviction that early experiences inform later thought and affect (Ainsworth et al., 1978; Bowlby, 1988, 1999). Terms originating in psychoanalytic theory that have now passed into common parlance include id, ego, superego, projection, and libido, among others (Reber, 1995).

Theories of cognitive development, including structural and constructive developmental theories, document observable responses to changing levels of intellectual maturity as well as to changing circumstances. They consider schemas, or the mental constructs we use to interpret sense perception.² Structural theories of development study the actions and reactions of children and adults, attempting to infer from observed behavior the mental processes and inner logic that informs them. Theorists building on the work of Jean Piaget (1937/1954; 1967), including Lawrence Kohlberg (1981), James Fowler (1981/1995), Carol Gilligan (1993), and Robert Kegan (1982), identify the stages and processes of reasoning through which decisions are made.

Cognitive development is the rubric generally used to categorize these theories due to their focus on the development of logic in childhood (Piaget), moral reasoning (Kohlberg), conscious articulations of faith (Fowler), moral decision-making in women’s experience (Gilligan), and the conceptual demands of modern life (Kegan). Following Piaget, these theorists see developmental change as unfolding in stages that are sequential (in a logical progression), invariant (the order of stages does not change), and universal (the same for all people regardless of their cultural context). Although these Piagetian categories have been nuanced or questioned by subsequent theorists, they continue to provide the template by which this group of theorists is recognized. Theorists within this school use the term “structural” to summarize their understandings of development. Robert Kegan (1982) prefers the term “constructive-developmental” to emphasize “the development of the activity of meaning-making” (p. 4). Given this definition, Fowler, Gilligan, and Kegan could each be considered constructive developmentalists; compared to Piaget and Kohlberg, they are relatively more willing to take into account the contexts in which meaning is made and place more emphasis on meaning-making as a process involving both affect and cognition that evolves over time. Chapter 6 presents a structural approach to development in dialogue with theologians Brueggemann and Kierkegaard, but the influence of cognitive, structural, and constructive developmental theories can be found throughout this volume. While Erikson’s (1998) epigenetic chart is grouped with the psychoanalytic theorists based on his attention to unconscious, intrapsychic dynamics, his work forms a bridge between psychoanalytic and structural understandings of development, given his attention to developmental stages. Faith, in the understanding of structural development, has to do with our ability to find and make meaning as the sequential phases of our lives unfold.

Family systems theories consider individuals within the context of their relationships, both familial and societal. These theories lift up the developmental contribution of community and culture, the multiple forms of influence family members have on each other, and the observable patterns of intergenerational behavior individuals bring from their families of origin. Family systems theories serve to counterbalance the relative individualism and essentialism of depth psychologies and structural developmental theories, although Erikson, Fowler, Gilligan, and Kegan also give attention to contextual dynamics and cultural concerns. Compared to the other schools considered here, most family systems theories are thoroughly postmodern: it is generally assumed that there is no established “right” way to be a family or to develop as an individual. Judgments about the adequacy of development in families, individuals, and cultures are based on mutuality and consensus—whatever serves to balance intimacy and autonomy, self-care and responsibility for others is seen as good.

Systems models of human interaction assume that we are each so influenced by those around us that it is virtually impossible to say where interpersonal and societal influences begin or end. Texts provided by Monica McGoldrick (2011) and her collaborators (2015, 2008, and 2005) offer an excellent introduction to family systems theory, as does the work of Murray Bowen (1993) and Edwin Friedman (2011). Chapters 8 (Braeger), 4 (Wimberly),³ and 11 (Cushing & McGoldrick) consider ethnicity, intergenerational support systems, and couple relationships from a family systems perspective. But attention to familial and cultural dynamics informs other chapters as well. The field of human development itself is giving increasing attention to the profound influence of culture and context on the unfolding meaning of individual lives (Arnett, 2012; Rogoff, 2003; Liebert, 2000; K. Richardson, 2000; Miller & Scholnick, 2000; Morss, 1996). Faith, from the standpoint of family systems theories, must be understood in systemic rather than individual terms; life, health, and meaning are found through the confluence and balance of interacting systems. While individuals are responsible for their choices, families, communities, and cultures are ultimately charged with providing the contexts within which faith can be found and meaning made.

Taken together, these three conceptual frameworks—depth psychologies, cognitive-structural-constructive developmental theories, and family systems theories—provide a comprehensive understanding of human behavior and motivation within the context of developmental change. My own primary theoretical grounding is in depth psychology (Kelcourse, 2011a). Yet I find it useful to juxtapose these theoretical groups in teaching human development, since each group of theories appeals to different personality types and viewpoints. Depth psychologies often fail to give adequate attention to the influence of familial and societal factors such as racism, sexism, ageism, etc., as they inevitably influence individual development. Family systems theory does this well. Structural developmental and family systems theories, with their greater emphasis on observed behavior, are better suited to quantitative and qualitative research than depth psychologies that rely on subjective reports and interpretations. On the other hand, the subjective emphasis of depth psychologies enables them to map the landscapes of human interiority. Theories that rely primarily on observed behavior have relatively less access to the inner lives of persons (Bittner, 1991). Cognitive-structural-constructive developmental and family systems theories are based on the observation of individuals, families, and groups. But these theories emphasize what is consciously known and are therefore less able to account for the presence of irrational, unconscious factors in human experience.

Since a basic familiarity with the three theoretical perspectives in question is assumed in the chapters that follow, it is useful to review their origins and principles here in light of the following questions: “What does this theory teach about faith as our ability to trust, our ability to receive, find, and make meaning? What does this theory recognize as expressions of vital concern?” Note that this chapter will not attempt to give equal time to each theoretical group, in part because structural-constructive developmental and family systems theories are relatively new; many of the founding theorists are still living. Depth psychologies provide at least some of the foundations upon which subsequent structural and family systems theories are built. Readers who find themselves drawn to a particular theorist or group are encouraged to use this overview as a large scale map from which to choose a more detailed orientation.

Depth Psychologies

Freud and Psychoanalysis

Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) was raised in a Jewish home and trained in neurology. For all but the earliest and last years of his life, he lived and worked in Vienna beneath the shadow of rising anti-Semitism. He initially became a psychoanalyst because university positions were closed to Jews. Barred from the more empirical sciences, he applied his appetite for research to the distressed women and men in his care, extrapolating from their difficulties developmental theories to explain the underlying causes of psychopathology. Psychoanalysis, as founded by Freud, begins with the cognitive and affective self-report of adults in psychotherapy and looks back in time to discern the psychosexual origins of their complaints. Sexuality, in this context, should be broadly understood as including the entire continuum of affiliative and erotic longings. To gain access to the unconscious workings of the mind, Freud favored dreams as the “royal road to the unconscious,” as well as free association, understood as the practice of saying whatever comes to mind without the usual social censorship (Bollas, 2002).

Freud compared the interaction of the ego (the primarily conscious sense of “I”) and the id (the reservoir of embodied but generally inarticulate impulses, images, and ideas) to the relationship between a rider and horse. Only the skillful rider, in cooperation with the horse, is able to access the powerful precision that horse and rider together can express. Psychoanalysis aims to make us more self-aware and therefore more responsible for our actions, more accepting of self and others; from this standpoint it can be considered a form of spiritual discipline. To the extent that psychoanalysis enhances our ability to love our neighbor and ourselves (Lev. 19:18; Mt. 22:39), promoting ethical behavior and good deeds, or mitzvot, it can be said to promote the love of God (Grant, 2001; LaMothe, 2005). Freud’s avowed atheism not withstanding, psychoanalysis promotes faith as it assists persons in their search for meaning and abundant life (Lear, 1990).

While Freud’s (1900/1953) neurological studies and early clinical work launched his initial theorizing, his own self-analysis, as found in The Interpretation of Dreams, was a major breakthrough both personally and professionally. By analyzing his dreams, Freud was able to overcome the internal conflicts that limited his productivity. At 40 he then began the work and writing that would make him one of the leading intellectual influences on 20th-century thought.

In addition to Freud’s theory of libido as the basic life energy that we either express directly through various forms of sexuality and aggression or sublimate in socially acceptab...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• About the Authors
• Introduction
• Part One: The Context of Development
• Part Two: Life-cycle Stages of Development
• References and Bibliography
• Index