Borjana Bogićević
Fakultet sporta i tjelesnog odgoja
Sarajevo

RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENT AND VALUES IN MIDDLE-ADULTHOOD

Abstract

James Fowler defined a religious development of each individual through six hierarchical stages. His theory originates from framework of North American protestant culture. The present research investigates applicability of Fowler's religious development model in multicultural European society tested on the sample of citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina (male and female) of different religions aged between 40 and 60. Furthermore this research also investigates whether the religion and religious development correlate with certain values. Two instruments were used in determining the stage of religious development as well as the scale of values. Results of the analysis show that Fowler's model is applicable in case of multicultural sample of middle-aged individuals. Results also show that correlation between religion, stage of religious development and some values does exist. Furthermore the research showed different stages of religious development among different religions. From the results we concluded that Fowler's model is biased in favor of more liberal views of religion and religious practice. However the problem of validity of instruments for measurement of religious development remains.

Key words: religious development, middle-adulthood, values.