Stages of (Theological) Consciousness

The book I'm currently reading (and the last one left in my summer independent study class, thank The Lord), is in essence a systematic theology textbook for the postmodern era in which we live.

Modernism ran for about 250 years (from roughly 1700), beginning to crumble after the atrocities of two world wars and the advent of the atomic bomb. It was characterized by scientific ideals from the Enlightenment, and put a high value on individual autonomy (both politically and religiously).

The Premodern era was the preceding period of antiquity running all the way back to ancient Greece. It was characterized by philosophic ideas from Aristotle, Augustine & Aquinas, and put a high value on the authority of law, king, and bishop over the individual.

Postmodernism is only recently born, and is still developing its own ideas from various current sources, while reacting to the failure of Modernism with disillusionment. It places a high value on synergy, the search for meaning, and on community among individuals.

The book in question is "God: The World's Future", by Ted Peters, and in it he mentions three stages of consciousness that we as individuals traverse over time. He also suggests that theology is also going through these same stages. I found them interesting on an individual level as well as theologically.

Stage 1: naive world-creation
Stage 2: critical deconstruction
Stage 3: postcritical reconstruction

In the first stage, we are new at life and are developing organizing principles about it as we go along. We are creating a worldview innocently as life unrolls before us. We come easily to conclusions and beliefs about things, lock them in and hold them, even in the face of sometimes harsh realities.

In the second stage, we discover life is more complex than we thought, and find that our worldview is inadequate and our beliefs have failed us. We then begin to critically tear down what we thought was true, finding the weaknesses and strengths to various beliefs, and make decisions about what is valid and what is not.

In the third stage, we stop the criticism and rebuild our worldview, but no longer from a position of naivete', rather from one of experience and deeper understanding of the world around us and where we fit in it. We take the fragments of stage two and holistically assemble parts together to a synergistic whole that we can sustain (and which can sustain us).

The author relates these stages to the premodern, modern, and postmodern eras, and how theology has developed during each. By way of analogy, he also describes his own personal and theological development. This got me thinking about my own.

Peters says that his first stage of naive world-construction lasted until he hit university, where he began a long period of deconstruction. For me, I think my first stage lasted until roughly age 40, then began to come apart until, at age 45, I began a long period of deconstruction, which I believe I'm still in. It may be nearly over, or may run another 3-5 years, but I think that I'm beginning now to assess the good and bad amongst the fragments of my original naive world-construction. Soon I may be able to see how to put a new worldview and belief system together from the pieces.

It would be great to be able to hit that stage of postcritical reconstruction before I endeavor to enter a classroom and teach anyone anything of eternal consequence.