Contemplative Christianity and the four stages of faith

In this episode, I give an overview of Brian McLaren’s Four Stages of Faith, a really helpful model for understanding how our religious worldview or spirituality can evolve over time as we pay more and more attention to the world around us. I’ve studied under Brian’s wisdom at the Center for Action and Contemplation and have come to respect him a great deal, not just for his writings but for his example as a community advocate and activist.

Brian calls the four stages Simplicity, Complexity, Perplexity, and Harmony. They represent the evolution from dualistic, black-and-white thinking in Stage 1, to a gamified winner/achiever mindset in Stage 2, to the disillusionment and chronic skepticism of deconstruction/the wilderness in Stage 3, to the generous and expansive love of Stage 4.

I give my own spin on these four stages, and I share about how contemplative Christianity has been a soft place to land for me throughout Stages 3 and 4, even as I impatiently long for more Stage 4 communities to sprout up and give us a place to belong again.

 

Things I mention in the episode:

The PDF table of the four stages: http://brianmclaren.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Four-Stages-1.pdf

Brian’s podcast where he explores 13 cognitives biases that stunt our spiritual growth in Seasons 1 and 2: Learning How to See

Sarah Bessey’s new book that feels like a cozy blanket and a warm cup of tea: Field Notes for the Wilderness

As always, the music and sound for the pod is provided by my husband Joe Calderone. You can check out his composition and production work at https://www.joecalderonemusic.com/

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