Brave and barmy new worlds
Mary Harrington is a contributing editor at UnHerd
THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, Jesus told his disciples, is like yeast; like treasure in a field; like a pearl of great price; like a mustard seed. While for Christians heaven (hopefully) awaits us after death, our sinful nature meant nothing in this life could reach perfection. Modernity, however, has scorned such defeatism, turning its finest minds to improving life in the here and now. Francis Bacon, a pioneer of modern science, dreamed in his 1620 Novum Organum of establishing an “Empire of Man over creation”.
Even as science sought to wrestle improvements from Mother Nature, we didn’t forget about, growing numbers imagined how we might perfect life before death. From the Puritan migrations to the New World, through the 300-odd attempts at “Fourierist” communities in 1840s America, the pursuit of heaven grew fiercer even as the grip of Christianity loosened.
