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In this episode Val and Nathan open up with a refresher courses on the theories of faith development that have impacted their growth the most and break down a theory that is less about stages of faith and more cyclical in nature. 

This stage theory breaks down 

1. Order 
2. Disorder 
3. Reorder. 

They give many examples in pop culture, nature, theology, and myth that illustrates that cycles of birth, death, and rebirth can be found virtually everywhere. This cycle reminds us that Jesus didn't begin the cycle of birth, death, and resurrection, but rather is one sublime manifestation of this pervasive phenomenon. 

Val and Nathan further talk about why we resist this cycle in our own lives, why this cycle is absolutely necessary to our growth and transformation, and how the cycles of order (birth), disorder (death/suffering), and reorder (rebirth/resurrection) can be found most significantly in our own lives as our own ideas, expectations, paradigms, and desires evolve ever upward.

Books referenced in this episode:

• Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning, by James Fowler
• The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Values, and Spiritual Growth, by M. Scott Peck
• The Different Drum: Community Making and Peace, by M. Scott Peck
• The Road Less Traveled and Beyond: Spiritual Growth in an Age of Anxiety, by M. Scott Peck
• Faith After Doubt: Why Your Beliefs Stopped Working and What to Do About It, by Brian McLaren
• The Hero with a Thousand Faces: The Collected Works of Joseph Campbell, by Joseph Campbell
• The Universal Christ: How a Forgotten Reality Can Change Everything We See, Hope for, and Believe, by Richard Rohr

Podcasts mentioned in this episode:

• Latter Day Struggles | Episode 33: Stages of Faith Development, Why We are Stuck, How to get Unstuck (for Valerie's Sunstone Symposium Lecture on Stages of Faith Development and Why we as a church are stuck). 

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