It seems one is missing: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness”.
And it is worth noting that there are, of course, many previous expositions on the Beatitudes, which, along with the expected focus on eternal rewards as outranking earthly ones, often provide additional insights, like how the “pure in heart”merit to “see God” because “purity” here means something like “singular focus”, which has analogical application to being single-mindedly devoted to a cause, etc.
As you say (and I alluded to as a footnote) there are a lot of interpretations of what the beatitudes mean.
My personal feeling is that those who emphasize the “spiritual” interpretations are often doing it as a dodge, to avoid the challenge of having to follow the non-spiritual interpretations.
That said, I make no claim that my interpretations are what most Christians believe. They are definitely what some Christians believe, and they are the interpretation of the Beatitudes that I find personally valuable today, as a non-Christian.
My personal feeling is that those who emphasize the “spiritual” interpretations are often doing it as a dodge, to avoid the challenge of having to follow the non-spiritual interpretations.
That feels a bit contrived. Do you really suggest that the most natural reading of something like “poor in spirit” is… non-spiritual? Turning away from materialism may sure derive from that, but to claim that it was the main focus seems quite a stretch.
Urgh. So you are right. Not sure how I missed that one. Probably because I counted to eight and the last one isn’t always included in the list. I’ll do a revision.
It seems one is missing: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness”.
And it is worth noting that there are, of course, many previous expositions on the Beatitudes, which, along with the expected focus on eternal rewards as outranking earthly ones, often provide additional insights, like how the “pure in heart” merit to “see God” because “purity” here means something like “singular focus”, which has analogical application to being single-mindedly devoted to a cause, etc.
As you say (and I alluded to as a footnote) there are a lot of interpretations of what the beatitudes mean.
My personal feeling is that those who emphasize the “spiritual” interpretations are often doing it as a dodge, to avoid the challenge of having to follow the non-spiritual interpretations.
That said, I make no claim that my interpretations are what most Christians believe. They are definitely what some Christians believe, and they are the interpretation of the Beatitudes that I find personally valuable today, as a non-Christian.
That feels a bit contrived. Do you really suggest that the most natural reading of something like “poor in spirit” is… non-spiritual? Turning away from materialism may sure derive from that, but to claim that it was the main focus seems quite a stretch.
Urgh. So you are right. Not sure how I missed that one. Probably because I counted to eight and the last one isn’t always included in the list. I’ll do a revision.
Now fixed—missing beatitude added. That was awkward.