I can suggest two related books: L. RULLA, Antropología de la vocación cristiana, Ed. Atenas, Madrid, 1990 (=Anthropology of Christian vocation), and IMODA, Sviluppo umano (=Human development). Both of them are excellent books, translated also into English. Both of the authors work(ed) in the Faculty of Phycology of The Gregorian University, and were foundational members.

Hmm..Thanks! I'm looking for something in a peer-reviewed journal from one of the journals on development

you can see this article. tq

Article Spiritual Intelligent Relationship of Elderly People with th...

Here you have got another article in Spanish...

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268800017_La_transformacin_del_imaginario_simblico

Article La transformación del imaginario simbólico

Donelson E. (1999). Psychology of religion and adolescents in the United States: Past to present, “Journal of Adolescence” 22(2), s. 187 - 204.

Goldman F. (1964). Religions thinking from childhood to adolescence, London.

Oksasen A. (1994). Religious conversion: a meta-analytical study, Lund.

Ostrowska K. (2000). Postawy wobec religii uczniów szkół podstawowych i ponadpodstawowych a inne cechy osobowości, w: Doktór T, Franczak K. (red.). Postawy wobec religii, s. 109 - 131.

Riccards M. P. (1978). The structure of religious development, “Lumen vitae” 1, s. 97 – 123.

Tamminen K. (1994). Religious experiences in childhood and adolescence: A viewpoint of religious development between the ages of 7 and 20, “International Journal for the Psychology of Religion” 4(2), s. 61 - 85.

 Labouvie-Vief G. (1984). Modes of knowledge and the organization of development, in: Commons M. L., Richards F. A., Beyond formal operations: late adolescent and adult cognitive development, New York.

Labouvie-Vief G. (1993). Ego processes in adulthood: a comment on Jane Loevinger, „Psychological Inquiry” 4, s. 34 – 37.

Labouvie-Vief G. (1994). Psyche and Eros. Mind and gender in the life course, Cambridge - New York.

Lovinger S. L., Miller L., Lovinger R. J. (1999).  Some clinical applications of religious development in adolescence, “Journal of Adolescence” 22 (2), s. 269 - 277.

for more information you can see....tq

Article Religious Participations Among the Older Persons In Malaysia

Article The Commitment of Older Persons in Nursing Homes in Religiou...

Marc, I answered your post, but for some reason the answer seems to be lost.  Briefly what I said was that you might find useful approaches in the web pages for university programmes in Spirituality.  There are a number of these in the US and I suspect you might find one or more of interest if you do searches on the area.  Some of these are doing research that borrows methodology from other areas in the humanities.  These include ethnography and survey work.  They also do some good work based on historical texts and holy books like the Bible and other wisdom literature.  I suspect the latter may not be of interest to you at the moment.  Both types of study are published in peer reviewed journals, but that does not mean they follow an empirical or science based methodology.  But they are peer reviewed and are regarded as good scholarship within their field.  Try searching for journals with spirituality in the title and check if they are peer reviewed.  This may give you a lead.  I could write much more, but this may give you a start.  Jim

Since no one has mentioned it yet, I'd add James Fowler's Stages of Faith

http://www.amazon.com/Stages-Faith-Psychology-Development-Meaning/dp/0060628669/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423150183&sr=8-1&keywords=stages+of+faith

see this article

Article Religion, Spirituality and Speech-Language Pathology: A View...

Mr. Stein,

I think as with most study, one needs to be as specific as one can to get the best information.  As I read your question, I see two instead of one.  The first question is about spiritual development, and the second is about religious development.  Further, it would be helpful to know what faith community with which you intend to work.  By faith community, I actually mean the larger view in religious studies such as eastern/western/nature based religion.  Too often one get less information than they wanted because the assumption may be that wesyern religion is the focus.  

My studies has largely been comparitive religions, and there are many good references for that discipline.  

Dear Marc,

Go to this link: http://en.bookfi.org/book/1035038 and http://en.bookfi.org/book/1284659

You may freely download those books. I hope you will find them helpful.

good suggestion....TQ EB

Goldman (1964) developed a stage theory of religious development based on Piaget's cognitive development theory. Pealting (1974, 1977) turned this into a test that he administered to children aged 4-12, although Goldman's original theory has been criticised. Hay and Nye (1998) also did some interesting research suggesting that children have relational consciousness up to about the age of 7-9 where it is replaced by possessive individualism  (a summary of both is here http://exhumator.com/00-200-00_esoteric-religious-spiritual-relational-consciousness.html). Also Fowler's work as has already been suggested. 

If you read German go to F. Schweitzer and H. Streib...also check their references. There is much peer reviewed material available. Also works in English that critique Fowler, eg. Dykstra

The inner most core is the spirit & spirituality deals with this spirit . This spirit needs defining . Essences of all the faiths is spirituality and spirituality is not a religion in itself it is a unifying factor for the humanity .

The spirit is divine it acquired the laws of nature as mind from the quantum field , as one of law is every action has equal & opposite reaction [as you sow so shall you reap]. The spirit as creative intelligence  that is connected to its divine source which is absolute intelligence and a capable force used the material available to create the first life on this planet earth. 

The life started as amoeba to graduate to the crown of creation the human body through evolution , having three basic components like,

1) SPIRIT that is divine creative intelligence having its outer expression as ATTENTION . The attributes of the spirit are love compassion mercy wisdom etc. 

This creative intelligence works on the principal of WHERE EVER THE ATTENTION GOES THE CREATIVE DIVINE ENERGY FLOWS.

2) MIND that is only information of time related to past & future  as per the laws of nature based on every action has equal & opposite reaction with probable FEARS & WORRIES for the future , it is only in the form of information  and nothing else .

The attributes of the mind are informations based on events & experience related to lust anger greed attachments ego 

3) BODY The creative intelligence as ATTENTION created this time bound material body by using the information provided by the mind regarding the laws of nature & their repercussions [ AS WE SOW SO SHALL WE REAP ].

The body deals with hunger clothes housing vanities of the world sex & sleep .

The spirituality is to delink attention from mind and body and link it to its source in meditation which is the technique of prayer to live in this time bound material creation with divine attributes. In peace and harmony .

This can be achieved by giving attention to the legitimate needs of the mind and body considering all life on this planet earth as divine. 

This resource might be of interest to you from the Center of Spirituality, Theology and Health at Duke University.

http://www.spiritualityandhealth.duke.edu/index.php/publications/crossroads

I attended Fordham with a BA in Theology and a MA in Religion and Religious Education.

glenn meuche MSW, MA, LCSW

Thanks everybody for responding. At this point I'm moving on to something else- the research on religion/spirituality scared me away! haha

Thanks everybody for responding. At this point I'm moving on to something else- the research on religion/spirituality scared me away! haha

James Fowler's theory on Faith development might help you

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Winnicott or Buber.

Here is a paper that compares their approaches.

Also, this book has both a survey and novel approach to religious structures in object relations - http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/R/bo3613645.html