Navigating Mormon Faith Crisis - A Simple Developmental Map by Thomas Wirthlin McConkie

This title is rather off-putting. I probably would have never bought this book if I hadn't heard the author interviewed by Jody Moore, a life coach. She interviewed him on her free podcast, "Better Than Happy" and he was fascinating to listen to. His basic premise is that adults continue to develop along a trajectory in a similar way that children do. Yet in our culture, we often consider adults as a group as "done," developmentally. And this book relates a lot of adult developmental research to adults who are religious and at times become questioners or strugglers in their faith journey. He calls this absolutely normal and gives a framework for development that is reasonable and reassuring.

McConkie himself left the LDS church for twenty years before returning with a new perspective. He has a wide view of the world and beyond that is very appealing to me and very inclusive. He chooses words carefully and respectfully. Here are some quotes that particularly resonated with me...

Page 15 - "We might redraw the cultural maps of Mormonism proper in order to allow different kinds of faith to flourish."

Page 33 - "A central premise in the study of adult development is that meaning making is an essential function of all human beings. The patterns we draw on to make meaning evolve over time in sequential and hierarchical unfolding. Put simply, meaning develops through stages."

Page 108 - "If properly recognized and assimilated, doubt can become an indispensable nutrient for a more robust faith."

Page 124 - "With an understanding that each stage of development comes with its strengths and challenges, its healthy and unhealthy manifestations, church leaders have an opportunity to recognize and reinforce the healthy aspects."

He names the 5 stages of Adult Development; from "highest" to "lowest" in this way:

• Strategist - essence: integrate
• Individualist - essence: include
• Achiever - essence: choose
• Expert - essence: defend
• Diplomat - essence: obey

We do not develop through all stages; they are not linear.  He writes a chapter describing the strengths and challenges of each stage. He also relates each stage to what he calls the "faith-doubt polarity" which is an intriguing way to think about each stage's manifestation of questioning. A fascinating way to organize complex information.

He cautions: (page 142) - "The names for the stages, the categories, the whole theory--it's all just a map. It's distinct from the actual landscape--from who we are. And yet a good map can help us get where we're going. We need good maps."

I find this all reassuring. I feel validated that my view is sometimes large and sometimes small...And that my tension in some situations where members' word choices reflect very narrow thinking is entirely normal. I don't need to judge, just reassure myself that there is room for all. As McConkie puts it: "It's beautiful to me that any stage can serve as a healthy and vibrant station." page 146

He writes on page 148: "...a faith crisis may simply be a developmental shift unrecognized, unsupported."

And I love this, from 149 -- "Development shows us that establishing Zion isn't simply a matter of converting others to our way of seeing so much as more deeply converting ourselves to seeing more of the Whole." WOW! Just wow. My kind of thinking and believing.