Is Spirituality an Intelligence? Motivation, Cognition, and the Psychology of Ultimate Concern

In this article, I advance the argument that spirituality might be conceived of as a type of intelligence. Evidence for spirituality as a set of interrelated abilities and skills is considered. I contend that a serious consideration of the overlap between intelligence and spirituality may yield previously neglected theoretical and practi­ cal dividends. A spiritual intelligence framework has the potential to both integrate disparate research findings in the psychology of religion and spirituality and gener­ ate new research yielding fresh insights into the spiritual basis of behavior.