Science and the Kingdom of God: Reflections on the Beatitudes
Biblical scholar John Walton offers a compelling meditation on Jesus' Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount.
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BioLogos initiated the Science is Good campaign to affirm that science is a God-given tool, one that helps us be closer to God by serving others and better understanding His world.
We have created an interactive resource center for this campaign that brings together personal stories, reflections, and simple actions that affirm the goodness of science.
Visit the Science is Good dashboard here.
As part of our “Science is Good” campaign, we at BioLogos are inviting the Christian community to reflect more deeply on how science can be a servant of God’s Kingdom. Too often, science is seen only through the lenses of controversy or conflict. But what if we began to see science not as a threat to faith, but as a powerful expression of Christian virtue? What if we saw scientists as allies in God’s redemptive work, even when they are not themselves people of faith?
In this spirit, biblical scholar John Walton offers a compelling meditation on Jesus’ Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount, and how these Kingdom values resonate with the very best of scientific inquiry. The Beatitudes are not abstract spiritual ideals; they are the blueprint for what life in the Kingdom of God should look like. When we read them with eyes open to the needs of the world—and to the possibilities of science—we can begin to imagine how faith and science can work together to serve God’s purposes.
—Editorial Team
The Master has said that the blessing of the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are “poor in spirit.” When we analyze this phrase, we learn that to be “poor in spirit” is to recognize the intransigent poverty of the human condition, our inherent sinfulness. That is, Kingdom thinking begins with the recognition of the problem, that both corporately and individually, we are prone to selfishness that actively works against the Kingdom of God. Rather than being overwhelmed with anxiety at this recognition, however, the call is to engage in both individual and corporate self-examination that results in regrets and sets the stage for action. It is worth noting that Science also recognizes this poverty neither as a claim to ontological insignificance nor to one of personal worthlessness. Instead, Science seeks to improve the human condition in ways that it can address. In that enterprise, Science can support the efforts of the Kingdom of God.
The Master has further said that the blessing of the comfort the Kingdom brings belongs to those who mourn, who lament the aforementioned poverty of the human condition. Along with God’s people, Science laments the pervasive results of this poverty in the world. That lament does not lead to apathy or defeatism, but to creativity and invention. Mourning moves into the mind, occupies the thoughts, and leads to action. People of the Kingdom care, as does Science.
The Master has said that the blessing of the Kingdom comes to the meek who will inherit the earth. Meekness is a virtue that adopts a posture born of wisdom, rather than one born of power. Aristotle described this Greek virtue well: The meek man is angry on the right occasion and with the right people at the right moment and for the right length of time (Nicomachean Ethics, Book IV). Now is the time for people of the Kingdom to be angry. Science can also be characterized by this meekness even as it stands against the tyrants of this world. Meekness is the opposite of tyranny and untamed anger. Science serves the Kingdom of God when its activities and energy bring relief to the poverty of the human condition. Power, greed, and self-absorption are the antithesis of that meekness and of the Kingdom of God.
In this threefold sequence—regret, lament, and repudiation of power—Science works hand-in-hand with the Kingdom, often unwittingly, though in history it was more intentional. This is a sequence that eventuates in and is driven by the hunger and thirst for righteousness that the Master declares will someday be satisfied. The craved Righteousness refers to the justice in society that brings honor to God’s name. Science can take the role of the hands and feet of the Kingdom, even when the scientists themselves are not citizens of that Kingdom. The Kingdom of God is served when Science provides technology to ease labor, when it brings healing or prevention of disease, when clean water is provided to a village or when food is brought to the starving and homes provided to the outcasts—even when those who provide it are not aware that they are serving the Kingdom of God.
As the Beatitudes continue, the Master then gives some examples of what will characterize such a Kingdom: mercy, purity, and peacemaking. Mercy calls for forgiveness and its opposites are vengeance and retribution. Purity, essential for being in the presence of God, allows for one to adopt God’s vantage point rather than be easy prey to our own desires. Science expresses this in altruism and good will to people everywhere. A peacemaker is not necessarily a pacifist, but the opposite of a warmonger. Science serves in this role as it engages in humanitarian efforts by entering war-torn areas and serving both sides in the conflict, doing what it can to bring reconciliation and order. When it does so, it is an agent of the Kingdom.
The Master then indicates that people should not expect the end result of acting to resolve the hunger for righteousness to be praise, but persecution, because such action undermines those who seek power. He calls his people to be salt and light in what is an intractably self-centered and power-focused world. Of course, his call to being salt and light is not about chemical compounds (NaCl) or the calculations of astrophysicists (186,000 miles per second). He employs them instead as metaphors based on the physical properties they were known to have. Science can also function as salt and light, and when it does, it serves the Kingdom of God. But notice that the Master does not explain how the salt and light metaphors operate; instead, his emphasis is on the result when they do not function effectively—when saltiness is lost or the light goes out.
As with disciples, so with Science. Science can fall short of doing its job when it becomes self-serving or an instrument of power and greed. Furthermore, it can be hindered, as it is today, by those who withhold its funding, decimate its workforce, and consolidate its benefits to the gain of a select few.
The Beatitudes, of course, are addressed to disciples, not to Science. My point is that the best work of Science coincides with the work of the Kingdom of God. Christians should recognize this and give their full support to Science, resist the constraints that are imposed by those who would monopolize or exploit its achievements, and encourage their sons and daughters who are so inclined to aspire to participate in this great enterprise. As we engage in such strategies, we can serve the Kingdom of God as the Master envisioned.
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