The Bible says that God is a Being with intellect (Romans 11:34), and He has made a well-ordered universe in which truth can be known and logical rules applied. God is the Creator of the human intellect, giving us the ability to comprehend, think, reason, and remember. In Isaiah 1:18, God invites us to “reason together” with Him (ESV)—the Creator and the creature involved in a rational discussion about sin and forgiveness.

In considering the human intellect, we must avoid two extremes: rationalism and anti-intellectualism. Rationalism, for the purpose of this article, is the promotion of reason as the supreme authority and the answer to all of life’s problems. The rationalist believes that, given enough time, he can always “figure things out” for himself—that human intellect can surmount any problem. The mind of man is capable of understanding all reality, solving any problem, and producing whatever we need. Philosopher Immanuel Kant praised the power of the human intellect in his Critique of Pure Reason: “All our knowledge begins with the senses, proceeds then to the understanding, and ends with reason. There is nothing higher than reason.”

Anti-intellectualism, for the purpose of this article, is the rejection of reason as a remedy for what ails the world. The anti-intellectualist downplays academic pursuits and instead promotes feelings, intuition, and spontaneous action as much more useful in engaging reality and solving problems. Poet William Wordsworth reacted against rationalism by promoting a more sentimental, anti-intellectual view of life in his poem “The Tables Turned”: “Enough of Science and of Art; / Close up those barren leaves; / Come forth, and bring with you a heart / That watches and receives.” Wordsworth’s command to “come forth” is an invitation to leave the study and step outdoors ready to learn, instinctively, from nature.

Continue reading; How should a Christian view the intellect?

A great temptation in our humanistic era, is to believe that we by our own power can rise to any height of knowledge if we simply find the correct method. But the Bible tells us that we have limited power and that even our intellect is marred by sin (Romans 12:2). We can't circumvent God and still attain truth (John 14:6).