Sofia Fahs Theory of Natural Religious Development

Sophia Fahs asserts that “natural religious development” in young children requires twelve experiences or explorations:

1. Experiences with the great forces of nature, such as rain, wind, snow, the sun, and the moon

2. Experiences with animate and inanimate things, sensing their differences and wondering at the mystery of life and at the power within a thing to grow, to feel, and perhaps to think

3. The discovery that living things have a beginning—that they are born—and the discovery of one’s own birth

4. The discovery of death

5. Experiences with sickness, suggesting constructive attitudes that may be developed in times of crisis

6. Play with one’s own shadow

7. Experiences with dreaming—the realization that the world of reality sensed during wakefulness is different from the reality sensed in sleep, leading to a feeling for what is invisible in the personality

8. Experiences in cooperation, first within the home circle and later in the larger community, from which feelings of security and love arise

9. Negative experiences in social relationships, challenging one to observe and consider social cause and effect

10. Experiences in making choices, weighing present good against future good

11. Experiences in overcoming difficulties alone, bringing a sense of inner strength

12. Experiencing personal achievement; creating something new and valuable or doing something original.

Source: https://www.uua.org/re/tapestry/children/chalicechildren/introduction