Abstract

The topic of intelligence involves questions that cut deep into ultimate concerns and human identity, and the study of intelligence is ideal ground for dialogue between science and religion. This volume investigates the notion of spiritual intelligence (SI) from a variety of perspectives, bringing together contributions from theology, philosophy, artificial intelligence, computer science, linguistics, psychology, biology, and cognitive science. It considers a definition of SI as "processing things differently, not processing different things" and aims to describe SI in naturalistic terms. Spiritual intelligence is not regarded as a separate mental module or a magical ability to interact with the supernatural but rather as a specific, more spiritual way of engagement with reality, which has observable cognitive, phenomenal, or linguistic characteristics. The book is valuable reading from those working at the interface between science and spirituality.