NOTE: This annotated bibliography was developed and intended for my own personal use; much of its content reflects both verbatim and modified quotations
without being identified as such.
Abbreviations: anx=anxiety or anxious; approx=approximately; assoc=associated; beh=behavior; Ch=Christian; dev=develop or development; diff=difference;
env=environment; freq=frequent/ly; rel=relationship; sign=significant/ly; w=with
Feather, N. T. (1988). Moral judgement and human values. British Journal of Social Psychology, 27, 239-246.
Description:
Goal: Examine relationship between DIT, Rokeach Value Survey, & Conservatism Scale
Subjects: 133 11th grade subjects in metropolitan high schools in So Australia (16 year olds)
Methods: DIT, Rokeach Value Survey, Conservatism Scale
Findings:










Mean P of 26.
Four most important terminal values: world at peace, friendship, freedom, & health.
Four least important terminal values were social recognition, world of beauty, national security, salvation.
Four most important instrumental values were being honest, loving, loyal, & responsible.
Four least important instrumental values were being intellectual, imaginative, logical, & obedient.
P positively correlated w inner harmony, being broadminded, & logical
P negatively correlated w being clean ut scores actually decrease. n & obedient.
High Stage 4 scorers supported salvation & obedience.
High Stage 4 scorers downgraded importance of excitement, love, pleasure, open-mindedness, & imagination.
Stage 4 & conservatism positively correlated (P< .01)
Type of Data: Moral
Feather, N. T. (1988). Moral judgement and human values. British Journal of Social Psychology, 27, 239-246.
Description:
Goal: Investigate relations between moral reasoning, values, & conservatism
Subjects: 133 (65 males, 68 females) Australian 11th graders, varied SES levels, 16 yrs old
Methods: DIT, Rokeach Value Survey (RVS), Wilson & Patterson Conservatism Scale
Findings:


P positively correlated to inner harmony, being broadminded, & being logical; negatively correlated to being clean & obedient
Stage 4 & Conservatism Scale positively correlated. Some overlap exists, but conservatism involves a more complex value base than Stage 4
reasoning, but both value obedience & authority while placing less emphasis on excitement, pleasure, love, intimacy, & imagination.
QUALIFICATIONS:


45% of the original sample of 243 were rejected due to failing DIT consistency checks. Since 45% rejection rate is exceptionally high, results should
be viewed w suspicion. The study should have been terminated, or another means of assessing moral reasoning employed. Did almost half the
students not understand the questions? Even though English speaking, perhaps Australian culture is different enough that the DIT needs to be
modified for them.
Subjects were 16 yrs old.
NOTES:

RVS terminal values: general goals or end states of existence (e.g. equality, freedom, salvation, wisdom)

RVS instrumental values: modes of conduct or ways of behaving (e.g. being ambitious, broadminded, loving, obedient)
LIT REVIEW:

Feather (1979) found that conservatism score correlated positively w RVS salvation, security, cleanliness, & rule following; it correlated negatively w
equality, freedom, love, pleasure, open-mindedness, intellectual, logical, & imaginative ways of thinking
Type of Data: Moral, Values
Fernhout, J. H. (1986). Where is faith?: Searching for the core of the cube. In C. Dykstra & S. Parks (Eds.), Faith development and Fowler (pp. 65-89).
Birmingham, AL: Religious Education Press.
Description: Good analytical critique of Fowler’s theory, but not for the beginner -- very abstract. Must have thorough understanding of Fowler’s theory to be able to
follow Fernhout’s in-depth treatment.
Fernhout says Fowler has a very good description of general overall development, but it’s not faith development. He questions whether faith dev is a distinct &
unified developmental theory or simply an eclectic conglomerate of several developmental theories applied to faith.
J. Harry Fernhout accuses Fowler of describing the outer sides of the cube of faith, but of not defining its interior core. He says Fowler’s theory is so complex, that
it becomes amorphous & unwieldy. Fowler’s three primary definitions of faith:
1.
faith as commitment
2.
faith as acknowledging centers of value & power (worldview)
3.
faith as the ordering of experience (very broad way of life)
Fowler does a good job of addressing the latter two but never deals w commitment (setting one’s heart) as knowing. According to Scripture, to be committed to
God is to know God.
Aspects
1.
Form of Logic -- Piaget’s cognitive dev
2.
Role taking -- Selman perspective taking dev
3.
Moral Judgment -- Kohlberg’s moral dev
4.
Bounds of social awareness + Locus of authority + World coherence + Symbolic = logic of conviction (particularly the last two). These four aspects
are Fowler’s own creations.
5.
Fowler feels the least settled about Aspect G (Symbolic), yet this is the key structural feature of faith, & the one that is in question. Thus, the core of
Fowler’s cube is undefined. Fowler admits that what he calls the "heart of faith" -- namely a centering affection -- is missing.
If the "heart of faith" is missing, then what Fowler has is a general description of a person’s overall development, not faith development.
Type of Data: Faith
Flaherty, M. (see Bassett)
Fleming, D. (1997). Biblical theological foundations for a response to religious pluralism. Asbury Theological Journal, 52(2), 43-61.
Description: Excellent Biblical response to pluralism within a Wesleyan framework. Dean Fleming discusses Biblical evidence supporting all the following views
toward other religions:

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

Religion as the realm of demonic activity
as humanity’s futile striving to find God
as preparation for the gospel.
as an arena of grace leading toward the experience of salvation
Examples for these last two abound:
o
o
Melchizedek is called a priest of God Most High. But the Hebrew term used is not the name for the God of Israel, but rather the high
god of the Canaanite pantheon. Abraham identifies reveals the true identity of the creator God that Melchizedek has been worshipping
all along as Yahweh. Gen. 14:19-20)
God revealed himself to Abimelech, king of Gerar (Gen 20:3)
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
and to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in the form of a dream (Daniel 4)
The Midianite priest Jethro offers sacrifices to the God of Moses. His confession suggests not a conversion from paganism, but rather a
deepening understanding of who he was truly worshipping (Ex 18:10-11, 1 Kings 14:24)
God communicates to Balaam, a pagan Mesopotamian diviner (Num 22:18-20)
Job apparently had no contact w the patriarchs, yet Yahweh calls him "my servant" (Job 1:8).
The Syrian officer Naaman asks Elisha for permission to worship in the temple of Rimmon, the Aramean storm god, a part of his official
duties, & receives the surprising reply, "Go in peace" (2 Kings 5:18-19)
The people of Ninevah in Assyria are more obedient to Yahweh than his own people or prophet. Although they apparently do not know
his covenant name & don’t relate to Yahweh in the same way Jonah does, their repentance and faith are graciously accepted by the
Lord (Jonah 3:5, 7-9).
Malachi 1:11 says, "From the rising of the sun to its setting my name is great among the nations, & in every place incense is offered to
my name, & a pure offering; for my name is great among the nations..."
Jesus commended the great faith of the Roman centurion (Matt 10:8)
and of the Syro-Phonecian woman
Matthew devotes considerable attention to the Magi (pagan astrologers).
Paul writes of a general knowledge of God available to all humanity (Rom 1 & 2)
Gentiles have an inner knowledge of right & wrong attested to by the witness of their consciences (Rom 2:14-15).
Fleming argues in favor of a biblical exclusivism which must maintain that salvation is not to be found in even the best of other religions. There is no other path to
God except through Jesus Christ.
But he also cautions that we must be willing to recognize signs of prevenient grace wherever they are to be found (in other cultures, their sacred writings, their
devotions, lifestyles, etc). The purpose of the Spirit is to lead humans to Christ. In this sense, religion can function as a preparation for the gospel.
When people of other religions come to faith in Christ they do not meet a total stranger, for they have already received the illuminating work of prevenient grace.
Norman Anderson writes, "I have never met a Muslim convert who regards the God he previously sought to worship as a wholly false God. Instead, he is filled w
wonder & gratitude that he has now been brought to know that God as he really is, in Jesus Christ our Lord."
Fleming responds to the age old question about the fate of the unevangelized by saying that Scripture gives no ultimate answers; God alone has the right to
answer. Jesus makes the point on more than one occasion that there will be surprises as o who is in heaven & who is not (Matt 7:21-23, 24:31-46, Luke 13:22-30).
One thing Scripture does make clear is that if people are in heaven apart from the preaching of the gospel, it will not be on the basis of their sincerity, goodness, or
devotion. It will solely be through the grace of God active in their lives through the Holy Spirit drawing them to Christ.
To admit the possibility of salvation apart from explicit knowledge of Jesus is not to flirt w universalism, nor does it diminish the urgency evangelism:
o
o
Universalism: The religions of the world are not ways of salvation, nor are they filled w anonymous Christians. The vast majority of
people will need to hear the Word & participate in a community of faith in order to be saved.
Evangelism: Jesus’ Great Commission was not simply to win converts, but to make disciples of them. If anything, the possibility of
"implicit" Christians ought to be a motivation rather than a deterrent to missions. The biblical mandate is to lead people to salvation in
the fullest sense, which entails a life of discipleship & holiness.
Type of Data: Theology
Miscellaneous Information: Pluralism
Fletcher, Joseph.
Description: A pragmatic concept of Christian ethics:
The situation ethic, unlike some other kinds, is an ethic of decision - of making decisions rather than ‘looking them up’ in a manual of prefab rules. It does not ask
what is good but how to do good to whom; not what is love but how to do the most loving thing possible in each situation."
Type of Data: Moral
Miscellaneous Information: Situational Ethics
Ford-Grabowsky, M. (1987). The fullness of the Christian faith experience: Dimensions missing in faith development theory. The Journal of Pastoral Care, 41(1),
39-47.
Description: (Condensed from: The concept of Christian faith in the light of C.G. Jung and Hildegard of Bingen: a critical alternative to Fowler. Princeton
Theological Seminary 1985 dissertation.)
Mary Ford-Grabowsky argues that Fowler’s theory makes too many concessions to modernity, losing the integrity of the Christian faith. She says faith dev theory
neglects the whole person by focusing only on the ego, instead of the self (the entire person): Fowler’s ego psychology misses repressed conflicts & other
unconscious dynamics.
She thinks Jung’s psychology that incorporates opposites & Hildegard of Bingen’s model of faith are more appropriate, even for modern times.
Jung differentiates between ego & Self. Jung sees the ego as the center of consciousness only, the Self as the totality of conscious plus unconscious elements.
Characteristics of the Self:



Self is a transcendent postulate: "the god within."
Personal unconscious which includes the animus/a (contrasexual components of the psyche) & shadow (the negative side of personality).
Self is a union of pairs of opposites: thinking & feeling, sensing & intuiting, unique & universal w unitemporal & eternal, good & evil
Whereas the ego aims at one-sidedness, repressing one member of a pair in favor of the other, the transcendent seeks to bridge & unite conflicting opposites.
Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) six-fold model of faith is based in a concept of the Self that is as solidly biblical as it is relevant to modernity. She distinguishes
between homo exterior & homo interior, or outer-self and inner-self. The outer-self is perceived as sinful, the inner as graced; the first as egocentric, the second as
theocentric. her ideas stem from Paul’s inner & outer man.
Whereas Fowlerian faith is concerned w the natural evolution of cognitive structures throughout the course of human lifespan, Hildegard’s concept of faith is a
relatedness between humanity & Divinity that is independent of psychological maturation.
Hildegard’s six elements of faith:
1.
Remembrance. We can look backward through time & memory & find God. We are exiles who yearn nostalgically to return to paradise-lost. The
desire causes a backward glance.
2.
A Principle of Knowledge. She contrasts faith-knowing w scientific-knowing: the first is symbolic & attained via "inner senses;" the second is direct &
acquired via "outer senses."
3.
Argumentum. Faith is its own argument; it proves itself by the power it engenders. The same source drives both the backward look of remembrance
& the forward look of faith.
4.
An Act of Grace. Without the action of divine grace, there could be no experience of Christian faith. Whereas faith dev theory omits a concept of
grace, she believes that faith is the biblical pearl of great price, won only by a free decision to appropriate the gift of grace. Grace not only bestows
faith, but heals, enlivens, enables the subject to do good, & actualizes the capacity for sacrificial love.
5.
Source of Life. The sacrament of baptism is the beginning of the higher life of the Spirit.
6.
A Mystical Experience. There is in religious experience a moment when the mirror of faith becomes a window, & God is directly glimpsed. Persons
are given the vision of God, if only "in a glass darkly."
Ford-Grabowsky demonstrates her points w a case study of an interview. Twelve doctoral candidates were unable to code the moral judgment portions in any of
Fowler’s six stages. Basically, she says that the reason they couldn’t was because the conflicting behaviors exposed an unresolved oedipal complex that Fowler’s
theory can’t recognize.
Type of Data: Faith, Theology
Ford-Grabowsky, M. (n.d.) What developmental phenomenon is Fowler studying? Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 5(3), 5-13.
Description: Very good.
Mary Ford-Grabowsky argues that Fowler’s theory of faith dev confuses two tracks of human dev that cannot be logically combined, ego dev & spiritual growth,
while omitting what Christians understand as faith. She discusses Jung, Hildegard of Bingen, & Paul in relation to Fowler. (See Ford-Grabowsky, M. (1987) The
fullness of the Christian faith experience - her argument is much the same.)
She includes a valuable, readable description of Fowler’s stages, illustrating her premise of two distinct developmental processes at work: ego-consolidation &
ego-transcendence. Fowler’s stages are a move from self-centerredness to self-transcendence.






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Form of Logic entails transition from concrete to abstract thinking. Youthful multiplicity gives way to opposites, then to a vision of oneness where one
perceives the unity concealed in paradox.
Perspective-Taking entails growth from childish exclusivity to adulthood’s inclusivity.
Form of Moral Judgment: loyalty to oneself changes to loyalty to others, then to loyalty to being.
Locus of Authority: from externalization of authority to internalization. Authority ultimately lies in truth alone.
Bounds of Social Awareness: in the higher stages, one acquires an attitude of openness to all.
World Coherence also reflects the two-fold pattern of ego-gain & ego-loss: After Stage 4, one adopts a multisystemic way of envisioning the world.
Ultimately in Stage 6, the mind comprehends the unity that lies on the far side of multiplicity.
Symbolic Function evolves from literal understanding, to metaphorical, to reductive, & back to a simple understanding, this time one where the
deepest recesses of being, life & reality are transparently revealed.
Each stage illustrates Fowler’s two contradictory images of the growing self: one gaining egocentricity, one losing it. Ford-Grabowsky compares Fowler’s Stages 14 w Jung’s ego, Stages 5-6 w Jung’s Self. Jung equates consciousness w ego, the total psyche w Self. Jung would find the potential for faith only in Stages 5 & 6,
when the spiritual Self appears.
123
Fowler Ego Self -----
Jung Ego Self -----
Paul Outer Man ----- Inner Man
Hildegard Homo Exterior ----- Homo Interior
Kierkegaard Aesthetic/Ethic Relig A Religious B
Ford-Grabowsky says human dev can be broken down into 3 tracks that are logically & phenomenologically distinct:
1.
ego dev (Piaget, Erikson, Kohlberg)
2.
spiritual growth (Buber, Trungpa, Suzuki)
3.
Christian formation (Teresa of Avilla, John of the Cross, Merton)
Fowler combines Track 1 (Stages 1-4) & Track 2 (Stages 5-6), neither of which is descriptive of Christian faith.
It must not be thought that Tracks 1 & 2 occur in succession, as Fowler’s stages suggest, & Jung believed. Post-Jungians have corrected his notion that the first
half of life is marked by ego dev & the second by spiritual growth. Rather, Track 2 develops as its complement, not its consequence: egocentricity alternates
throughout the lifespan w centeredness in Self.
In addition, Tracks 1 & 2 are not two parts of a single system. Instead, Track 1 takes place on a linear plane, while Track 2 is on a circular, spiral one. Fowler’s
theory is doomed to logical collapse.
She then discusses grace in relation to Fowler’s stages. Stages 1-4 denote determinism, 5 & 6 denote grace (I don’t agree). But spiritual growth is a gift bestowed
on those who appropriate grace, not an act of choice alone.
Fowler omits Track 3 entirely: emulation of the character of Christ, & belief in the Trinity (Paul’s inner man & Hildegard’s homo interior).
What developmental Phenomenon is Fowler Studying? Not one, but two phenomena that ought not be equated w the Christian faith.
Type of Data: Faith, Theology
Fowler, J. W. (1987). Faith development and pastoral care. In D. S. Browning (Series Ed.), Theology and pastoral care. Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press.
Description: Fowler understands faith as being the underlying patterns of knowing, valuing, & committing that constitute persons’ ways of being selves & in faith.
We are not describing the contents.
Transition into Individuative-Reflective faith requires 2 things: First, tacit beliefs, values, & commitments must be critically examined. Second, the self must struggle
w identity & worth apart from previously defining connections. Persons must take into themselves much of the authority they previously invested in others for
determining their goals & values.
Conjunctive faith makes peace w apparent paradoxes: God is both immanent & transcendent; God is both an omnipotent & a self-limiting God; God is the
sovereign of history while being the incarnate & crucified One. In physics, light must be accounted for by 2 incompatible models: packets of light & waves of light.
Polar tensions in Conjunctive selfhood:
o
o
o
o
o
One is both young & old
One is not only constructive & well-meaning, but also destructive, bringing pain.
We are both masculine & feminine selves
We are both cons & uncons selves
We are singularly unique individuals, yet, have a heightened sense of solidarity w the human race: "We are digged out of the same pit,
& we are subject to the same range of flaws, foibles, cussedness, & glory" (pg 74).
Conjunctive faith brings an openness to truths of other religions & cultures. This is not a wishy-washy openness in which one has no strongly held convictions.
Rather, just the opposite. It’s a readiness for serious & mutual dialogue w traditions other than its own. It is confident that new depths & corrected perceptions of
the truths of its own tradition can be the result.
Universalizing faith occurs as a result of a radical de-centralization of self. Each successive faith stage centers less & less on self, increasingly including more
groups as among those who matter.
Fowler offers typical descriptions of parishioners at various stages of faith, but cautions that his faith stage theory:




should never be used to devalue persons. It should facilitate our understanding of persons different from us in nondefensive, nonjudgmental ways.
are not stages in soteriology.
should not use to try to propel persons from one stage to another. Stage transition is a complex & protracted affair. Transitions cannot & should not
be rushed. Instead, pastoral care has to do w helping persons extend the operations of a given stage to the full range of their experiences. Genuine
development in faith & selfhood & the metanoia of real conversion, are the results of both our work & the encouragement & empowerment of the Holy
Spirit.
is not the direct goal of pastoral care, preaching, or Ch education. Our first concern is the proclamation of the gospel & the attempt to help it find a
deep & firm rooting in the soil of people’s lives. Next should be the concern w shaping vocation.
How to recognize parishioners at various stages?

Intuitive-Projective. Most obvious among preschoolers. They live liminally (move freely back & forth between cons & uncons). Are fascinated by God
as invisible, living in an inaccessible realm, & who is everywhere at the same time as a loving God.
For adolescents & adults, manifested in episodic regression or psychotic breakdown. Also at the most primitive end of the fundamentalist spectrum
(snake handlers, etc). Such groups provide religious sanction for the acting out of fantasies & impulses relating to violence, death, & miracle.

Mythic-Literal. If congregation is primarily middle & upper class, will see in elementary & middle-school age children. In fundamentalist & some
Pentecostal communities, this may be the modal stage for adults. The cosmos is construed as rewarding good actions & punishing bad ones. God is
a stern but fair parent or ruler.
A fair number of persons, usually men, who may exhibit considerable cognitive sophistication in occupations (physicians, engineers) but in their
emotional & faith lives are rigidly embedded in Mythic-Literal structures. To their marriages & families they bring a rigidity, often coupled w
authoritarian patterns, inflicting psychic or physical violence.

Synthetic-Conventional. Typical congregations are composed largely of persons in this stage. They long for harmonious & conflict-free relationships,
& for warmth & connectedness from their pastor. Their underlying metaphor for their church is an idealized or romanticized family. They constitute the
most consent corps of committed workers.
Predictable sources of dis-ease: Crises & distress arise if there’s dissonance between them & significant others (bosses, community leaders, &
pastors). Also, if two or more of the important authorities in one’s life are in conflict or serious disagreement, the person is left disoriented & in crisis.

Individuative-Reflective. These have had to struggle w external authorities & internalized voices of parents. They need acknowledgment of & support
for self-authorization. But they also need a place to be able to let down & relax from the stress of being self-sufficient, self-starting, self-managing, &
self-repairing units. The underlying metaphor for church is individualism.
They need a certain measure of intellectual stimulation w community fellowship that doesn’t impose external restraints. Without fellowship &
community, the Individuative-Reflective person often suffers from either self-aggrandizement or self-negation.
These folks respond to religious leadership that invites them "into the kitchen" w the preacher or priest to join in the struggle of making sense of
particular texts or traditions.
Synthetic-Conventional & Individuative-Reflective folks don’t mix well. I-R types find life in S-C communities stifling & dull. Enabling both groups to
coexist & work together is a major challenge for pastoral leadership.

Conjunctive. These know in their bone marrow that the mystery we name God can only partially be represented in our best symbols & parables. Most
Conjunctive persons are in mid-life or beyond. It is an earned faith: earned by having noses rubbed in our finitude, by the sacrament of failure,
through death, through suffering.
They at times feel a deep sense of cosmic aloneness or homelessness brought on by a deepened appreciation of the otherness of God.
Three sources of change:
1.
Developmental: biological, cognitive, etc
2.
Reconstructive: our general woundedness, our neuroticism
3.
Intrusive events: divorce, death, birth, illness
The dynamics of change include these interrelated phases:
1.
Disengagement: We give up a significant connection (death, divorce, job change, moves, illness)
4.
Disidentification: Some part of our sense of identity must be given up or changed.
5.
Disenchantment: We realize that some significant part of our old reality was in our head: Santa is fiction, parents lie, a lover is unfaithful, & we
ourselves have not lived up to our own standards.
6.
Disorientation: The cumulative impact of the 3 previous phases. We lose our bearings & familiar moorings.
Type of Data: Faith
Fowler, J. W. (1991). Weaving the new creation. San Francisco: Harper San Francisco.
Description: A marvelous book articulating Fowler’s own practical theology (divine praxis in concert w human vocation to fulfill God’s mission). Very readable. I
don’t agree fully w some of his goals for the church, but for the most part I think he’s right on target. A theologically provocative & challenging book.
CHAPTER 1: What kind of church are we called to be in the 21st century world, a world characterized by: the vertigo of relativity; increased global
interconnectedness & vulnerability; ecological rape; emotional & physical abuse; biological & chemical warfare; religious pluralism.
Fowler says we are in the midst of a paradigm shift of cultural cons. He reminds us that in times of paradigm shift we can expect to see strong currents & tides
flowing in opposite directions: we now see fundamentalists trying to return to a pre-enlightenment mentality & New Agers groping for post-modernism, embracing
anything that remotely resembles spirituality.
CHAPTER 2: Illustrates his concept of divine praxis (providence) through the lives of Martin Luther King, Thomas Merton, & Carlyle Marney. While being faithful &
resourceful in her or his vocation, a person can be made a crucial linkage in the network of the Spirit’s energy & will for the preservation, healing, & redemption of
God’s world.
CHAPTER 3: Introduces theologian Sallie McFague’s metaphors for God. Instead of a sovereign God that creates, governs, liberates, & redeems & one that
smacks of male hierarchical domination to 20th c ears, McFague proposes reconstructing the Trinity as parent, lover, & friend.
God the parent (mother): She proposes imaging God as female, not feminine. Feminine aspects of God conjure up cultural stereotypes of sentimentality, pity,
caring, nurture, passivity, & healing. Whereas viewing God as female builds on the female strength & fierceness involved in gestation, birth, lactation, & defense of
the young: God as mother bear, protectively, fiercely jealous of her young creation. Viewed from this perspective, divine wrath toward sin can be understood in
terms of God being angry when for any reason the fulfillment of the created life is thwarted; God the mother is necessarily God the judge. God as female is
passionately concerned for all of her creation, not just humans; God has given birth to all being & wants all to flourish - an inclusive, agape love that affirms all of
creation.
God the lover (Christ): God as Lover came not to condemn the world but to save, restore, heal, & reunite the world w God. Eros expresses the valuableness of the
beloved, a love that draws the beloved to itself & seeks the beloved’s wholeness & completion. Eros is the love of forgiveness that reaches in rescue to the depths
of the finite experience of stain, worthlessness, willful rebellion, or oppressed, silent passivity. The concept of erotic love allows us to affirm that God loves the
world & its creatures & that God longs for & needs the response, in love, of creation. God as lover has a particular desire for union or reunion w those creatures
who uniquely have the gifts of reflective consciousness & finite freedom & the capacity to respond w love in personal ways. God longs for our response in love &
for intimate relationship. Erotic love lures us toward reunion w God where our worth is as beloved is restored & confirmed.
McFague downplays forgiveness & redemption, the salvific acts most appropriate to the guilt arising from self-conscious willful choices to act wrongly against God
or neighbor. Instead, she focuses on "saving" & "healing" through the affirmation in personal address that we are loved by God w the greatest love we can imagine
-- the love that loves us not in spite of who we are but because of who we are: God the lover