| This study explored the development of spiritual identity in gay men at midlife. Because most theories of midlife development are based on heterosexist assumptions, little is known about midlife development for gay men. Two research questions informed this study. The first question was, "How do midlife gay men see the development of their spiritual identity over their lifecourses?" The second question was, "How do midlife gay men describe their spiritual identities?";Fowler's theory of faith development (Fowler, 1981) undergirds this study. Thirty-two participants were interviewed using the Faith Development Interview. Narrative analysis suggested five developmental patterns, or channels, of spiritual identity: addiction, kinship, mortality, humanism, and dogma. Interview responses were also sorted into six lifecourse domains: affective, behavioral, physiological, cognitive, experiential, and social to investigate the dynamics that shaped the development of spiritual identity among participants.;Based on the findings, a system for gay spirituality was proposed. Participants leveraged lifecourse episodes to enter a field of faith. During this period of significant spiritual identity transformation, channels led participants to a higher state of gnosis. Participants then exited the channel and altered their lifecourse dynamics to support their transformed spiritual identities.;Results have methodological contributions for the faith development and the midlife human development literatures. The findings have implications for therapists and spiritual advisors and also provide a spiritual development resource for gay men.;Keywords. development of spiritual identity, midlife development of gay men, gay spirituality, generativity, faith development theory... |
