Every so often there is a line in a book, play or article that makes you reexamine what you think about a certain topic. In The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, the conversation between El-Fayoumy and the famed psychologist, Sigmund Freud, forced me to look at the link between intelligence and faith and evaluate my opinion of the combination. Here's the excerpt of the conversation:
EL-FAYOUMY: He wasn't wrong like you either, was he? Was he??!!
SIGMUND FREUD: Intelligence and Faith are two different things!
EL-FAYOUMY: Are they, Doctor Freud? Because I would say that you can't have one without the other. But, of course, I'm not a brilliant genius expert like you, am I?
SIGMUND FREUD: I had a wonderful vibrant mind and my intellectual curiosity was boundless.
Some people, such as academics like Freud, have a tendency to believe that you can have an infinite intelligence and no faith. Others, such as theologians, might believe that faith is a necessary part of developing intelligence. After looking at the two separately, I feel that both can exist on their own. There are plenty of people that I know that are intelligent, but have zero faith in anything remotely close to a higher power. There are plenty of people I know that have a lot of faith, but lack any sort of intelligence.
With that said, the understanding of each can be enhanced when they are utilized together. Supplementing intelligence with faith provides an entirely different perspective. It offers an explanation for events, people and things that cannot be explained by scientific facts, numbers or research. On the other hand, faith is better understood with intelligence. There are theological concepts that require much examination and interpretation, which are made possible by a higher level of intelligence.
But back to El-Fayoumy's statement-You can't have one without the other. He might not be 100% wrong, but he's also not 100% right.
That's just something we'll have to leave to Judge Littlefield to rule on.
With that said, the understanding of each can be enhanced when they are utilized together. Supplementing intelligence with faith provides an entirely different perspective. It offers an explanation for events, people and things that cannot be explained by scientific facts, numbers or research. On the other hand, faith is better understood with intelligence. There are theological concepts that require much examination and interpretation, which are made possible by a higher level of intelligence.
But back to El-Fayoumy's statement-You can't have one without the other. He might not be 100% wrong, but he's also not 100% right.
That's just something we'll have to leave to Judge Littlefield to rule on.