ABSTRACT
Literature on the relation between science and society has focused on how science and society shape each other and how values and personal preferences influence the construction of scientific knowledge. Steve Shapin describes in The Scientific Life the godly vocation of science as natural theology in which inquires into the study of God’s created order, hence developing the scientist’s virtues beyond other vocations. An external vocation or calling, as opposed to an internal or spiritual vocation, is related to the religious realm in a limited sense. One of the major shifts that took place during the Reformation was the connection between vocation and the spiritual life. The best life is a “kind of life” directed toward the ultimate good, that being God. Science was a calling within a set of other callings, as was meant to live the Good Life, to be closer to God or to simply be part of a more comprehensive body of knowledge.
