Proposed Levels of Christian Spiritual Maturity

Consideration is given to the ramifications of Lawrence Kohlberg's theory of moral reasoning for understanding Christian spiritual development. Utilizing Kohlberg's insights, four levels toward Christian spiritual maturity are identified: (a) accommodation to God's law, (b) respect for and obedience to God's law, (c) principle-centered commitment to a Christian worldview, and (d) Kingdom-centered commitment to God's glory. The discussion intends to challenge churches to foster an environment whereby people are more likely to reach a Postconventional level of spiritual maturity. ********** A primary task of the church is leading people to deeper levels of spiritual maturity. Ted Ward (1998) insists that the calling of the Christian educator is "to facilitate spiritual development and whatever other matters of learning and development are supportive to that end" (p. 12). One area of learning from which Christian educators can draw to facilitate increased spiritual development among church members pertains to the moral development theory espoused by Lawrence Kohlberg. Taking into consideration Kohlberg's theory of moral reasoning, this article seeks to present a paradigm toward better understanding levels of Christian spiritual maturity, and to suggest some practical ways the church might promote a Postconventional level of spiritual maturity in its members. KOHLBERG'S THEORY The cognitive development psychology described by Jean Piaget and Kohlberg suggests that individuals reach differing levels of moral reasoning. Piaget (1965) theorized that very young children operate from a heteronomous morality and base their moral judgments on unilateral respect for authority figures, such as the objective rules of parents and other adults. As individuals reach middle childhood to early adolescence, however, they develop the cognitive capacity to reason at more advanced, abstract levels. This reasoning capacity enables individuals to reach a state of autonomous morality. Kohlberg refined and extended Piaget's theory on moral judgments. He formulated three moral levels and six stages in the process of moral development (Kohlberg, 1984). These moral levels and stages depend on the development of cognitive abilities that follow an invariant sequence. Maintaining that moral development parallels cognitive development, Kohlberg concluded that an individual could advance intellectually without reaching higher stages of moral reasoning, but not vice versa. An overview of Kohlberg's (1984) levels and stages is provided in Table 1. The key principle in moral reasoning for Kohlberg is the concept of justice. Kohlberg (1974) believes that "there is a natural sense of justice intuitively known by the child" (p. 5). Notably, a person's understanding and application of justice depends on the stage of moral development at which he or she reasons. "Moral judgment is essentially a way of seeing and resolving moral conflicts. To know whether an action is moral or not we must know how the person judges the situation with which he or she is confronted" (Kohlberg, 1984, p. 516). When norms or rules conflict, individuals at the highest stage make moral judgments based on the greatest principle of justice--the sanctity of human life and a regard for individuals as ends in themselves rather than means for some other good. In essence, then, acting justly with respect for other persons becomes the highest standard of moral reasoning. Kohlberg explains, "My philosophic conception of moral judgment has been based on principles of justice and has depended upon the theories of Kant and of Rawls to justify the principles of the highest stages" (Kohlberg, 1984, p. 401). Stating a male bias in Kohlberg's research, Carol Gilligan (1982) observed that females based their moral judgments on the principle of care for persons--evaluating situations in terms of the needs of the persons involved--rather than justice. …