{"id":36384,"date":"2013-01-09T13:15:22","date_gmt":"2013-01-09T19:15:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?p=36384"},"modified":"2013-01-09T20:13:24","modified_gmt":"2013-01-10T02:13:24","slug":"heaven-on-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/01\/09\/heaven-on-earth\/","title":{"rendered":"Heaven on Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The Beatitudes of Jesus, found in Matthew 5:3-12, have had an enormous role in the history of the church\u2019s thinking both about Jesus and about Christian ethics and virtues. For many the Beatitudes are to be memorized as virtues toward which we strive, and as virtues that remind each of us what God expects for those who name the name of Jesus.<\/p>\n

There are, of course, alternative readings of the Beatitudes, including seeing them not so much as a list of virtues but as entrance requirements into the kingdom. Others see the Beatitudes as a manifesto, right up top of the Sermon on the Mount, of the sorts that make it into the kingdom as opposed to a group (see Luke\u2019s version at 6:20-26) who won\u2019t make it into the kingdom. In this view, then, Jesus immediately confronts his audience with the \u201cins\u201d and \u201couts\u201d of the kingdom.<\/p>\n

It is not the day to examine the options and sort out which view is the best, but instead to recognize that on almost any view there is a \u201clist of virtues\u201d theme that needs to be given attention.<\/p>\n

I am happy to recommend for such a reading the new book by Chris Seidman and Josh Graves, Heaven on Earth: Realizing the Good Life Now<\/em><\/a><\/strong>. This is a preacher\u2019s dream book for preaching the Beatitudes, while it is also eminently useful for the Christian who wants to be reminded of the concrete realities of the various virtues mentioned in the Beatitudes. Each chp \u2014 one for each Beatitude \u2014 dwells on the living realities in the here and now of these Beatitudes, and both of these preachers (both pastor\/preach in the Churches of Christ) bring to the table both practical realities and wonderful stories for each beatitude.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Beatitudes of Jesus, found in Matthew 5:3-12, have had an enormous role in the history of the church\u2019s thinking both about Jesus and about Christian ethics and virtues. For many the Beatitudes are to be memorized as virtues toward which we strive, and as virtues that remind each of us what God expects for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nHeaven on Earth<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Beatitudes of Jesus, found in Matthew 5:3-12, have had an enormous role in the history of the church's thinking both about Jesus and about Christian\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/01\/09\/heaven-on-earth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Heaven on Earth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Beatitudes of Jesus, found in Matthew 5:3-12, have had an enormous role in the history of the church's thinking both about Jesus and about Christian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/01\/09\/heaven-on-earth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-01-09T19:15:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-10T02:13:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/01\/09\/heaven-on-earth\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/01\/09\/heaven-on-earth\/\",\"name\":\"Heaven on Earth\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-01-09T19:15:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-10T02:13:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"The Beatitudes of Jesus, found in Matthew 5:3-12, have had an enormous role in the history of the church's thinking both about Jesus and about Christian\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/01\/09\/heaven-on-earth\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/01\/09\/heaven-on-earth\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2013\/01\/09\/heaven-on-earth\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Heaven on Earth\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/\",\"name\":\"Jesus Creed\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight on Jesus and orthodox faith in the 21st century\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\",\"name\":\"Scot McKnight\",\"description\":\"Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. 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