The German philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach wrote, "Wonder is the outer face of faith - faith is the inner soul of wonder."
I had to think about that for a while... because I don't believe they are necessarily so closely related as he seems to think. I believe we can experience wonder without faith, for example. Many non-religious people would say that they can feel a sense of wonder about such matters as the size of infinite space, or the beauties of nature. But they would deny that their wonder had any component of faith in it.
But sometimes, if we are people of faith, it can perhaps make it easier for us to feel a sense of wonder. l don't think I'd make much more of it than that.
I have blogged before about faith and wonder here, as recently as January. I don't think Feuerbach's quote has added much to my understanding...
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ReplyDeleteBad typing day! Trying again... have you read Esther de Waal or Thomas Troeger on wonder? For me it's very deeply connected to faith in a way that they describe well. I'm not sure it had occurred to me that this might not be so for all religious people.
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