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Jim Fowler receives honorary doctorate from University of Edinburgh

Center Director James Fowler traveled to Scotland this summer where on 16 July he was awarded the Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa, by the University of Edinburgh. In presenting Fowler, Professor Duncan B. Forrester, dean of divinity, said "Professor Fowler's identification of certain 'stages of faith' related to human growth and development is internationally recognized as a helpful and productive way of understanding the spiritual journeys of those who identify with a wide variety of religious traditions and with none....It is considered by man to stand alongside Erikson's work on emotional development and Kohlberg's on moral development."

Forrester pointed to Fowler's international contributions to "the current resurgence of interest in Practical Theology as an academic discipline promoting theological reflection on practice and practices. The most recent of his many books, Faithful Change: The Personal and Public Challenges of Postmodern Life (Abingdon, 1996), draws on his 'stages of faith' theory to illumine a variety of central contemporary issues."

In concluding his remarks, Dean Forrester linked Fowler's work with the Center for Ethics to a strong tradition in Scottish universities: "In recent years Professor Fowler has been instrumental in establishing the Center for Ethics in Public Policy and the Professions, of which he is now the director. This significant interdisciplinary initiative has the particularly strong support of the prestigious professional schools at Emory and has already attracted plaudits for the quality and relevance of its work and its research. In a real sense it represents a contemporary rejuvenation of the Scottish tradition that a theologically informed moral philosophy should be central to the university's task. This conviction that at the heart of the mission of the university lies a broad concern with values in practice and with moral excellence was long ago exported to many of the older American universities, and today flourishes there as a result of the visionary leadership of such as James Fowler."

[ Posted by Chance Hunter at September 1, 1999 07:02 PM | More General Center for Ethics News articles ]

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