View
all articles
Materialism Versus Christian Dualism
We've been discussing materialism in all its forms. But what does it look like to be an immaterialist, and how do we as Christians live in a way that appreciates the seen and the unseen in ways that are honoring to God? Blake finishes up his series on materialism.
Christian Immaterialism
We finished our last article by noting that, on any intelligent use of the word, Al Gore is just as much of a materialist as, say, Paris Hilton. We then raised the question, if even Al Gore falls under the umbrella of materialism, then what does it look like to be an immaterialist?
While there are many ways to be an immaterialist, Christians are committed to a version of immaterialism I am going to call "dualism." Like materialism, dualism has two components: an ontological component (a component that tells us what exists) and an axiological component (a component that tells us what to value).
According to ontological materialism, only material things exist. If only material things exist, then spiritual things don't exist. Since God is a spiritual being, Christians can't be ontological materialists. That much is easy to see.
In rejecting ontological materialism, however, Christians can't go to the other extreme by saying only spiritual things exist. In addition to spiritual things like angels and souls, God created material things like trees and animals and the planet Earth. Christians, then, are committed to the view that there are two fundamentally different kinds of things: material things and spiritual things. Let us call this view "ontological dualism."
Ontological dualism rules out ontological materialism. If both material and spiritual things exist, then it's false to say that only material things exist. Ontological dualism does not rule out axiological materialism, however. According to axiological materialism, even if ontological dualism is correct, spiritual well-being isn't important; material well-being is really all that matters. But because Christians think relationship with God is the highest human good, and because God is a spiritual (rather than material) being, Christians can't be axiological materialists either.
In rejecting axiological materialism, however, Christians shouldn't go to the other extreme by saying that spiritual well-being is the only thing that's important. God created the material world, He declared that His creation was good, and He commanded us to care for it. God also commands us to care for our physical bodies, for example. The Christian, then, is committed to the view that spiritual well-being and material well-being are both important. Let us call this view "axiological dualism."
It is important to note a further point about ontological and axiological dualism, however. On the Christian view, spirituality comes before materiality in both the ontological and the axiological sense. God created the material world and He is a spiritual being. It follows that there would not have been anything material if there had not first been something spiritual. Material things depend ontologically on one of the spiritual things — namely, God.
Relationship with God is also the highest human good, however. Since relationship with God is also the primary source of spiritual well-being, it follows that spiritual well-being is more important than material well-being. Spiritual well-being should be prioritized above material well-being.
The Christian alternative to materialism, then, goes as follows:
Christian Dualism:
The view that spiritual things and material things both exist, and that the former are ontologically prior to the latter: the doctrine that, while spiritual well-being and material well-being are both important, spiritual well-being should be prioritized above material well-being.1
A Holistic Approach to Materialism
In previous articles we noted that ontological materialism leads logically to axiological materialism and that axiological materialism leads psychologically to ontological materialism.
If only material things exist, then material things are all there are to value. That's easy enough to see. On the other hand, if you can pursue what you value in life just fine without believing in spiritual things, you'll be more likely to doubt that there are spiritual things than someone who can't pursue what he values in life without believing in spiritual things. Since axiological materialists value only material things, they will be able to pursue their values just fine without believing in spiritual things. This is one of the many ways axiological materialism might lead to ontological materialism.
This is all review. The point I want to make now, however, has to do both with evangelism and keeping ourselves spiritually healthy.
Materialism is probably the most common way to put the created world above its Creator, and only the rarest of Christians do not struggle with it. In combination, axiological materialism and ontological materialism encompass belief, behavior and desire. The point of noting that axiological materialism and ontological materialism each lead to the other is that Christians will have little luck resisting materialism (both personally and in their efforts at evangelism) if they approach materialism piecemeal, as if it consists in nothing more than the love of material possessions.
Instead, materialism should be recognized as a full-blown worldview — not just in the philosophical sense but in the anthropological sense — and it should be dealt with holistically. When we recognize the signs of materialism both in ourselves and in our peers, we should expect to affect little positive change unless we are willing to address materialistic beliefs, materialistic desires and materialistic behaviors all at once. Because they are mutually supportive of each other, addressing materialistic desires, beliefs or behaviors in isolation will inevitably prove about as effective as trying to kill a weed by pulling up only a third of its roots.
Holism and Dualism
The antidote to materialism is dualism, and it too must be approached holistically.
Imagine, for example, winning a philosophical debate with a materialist and convincing her that, in addition to material things, spiritual things also exist. The moment she accepts the belief that spiritual things exist, she becomes an ontological dualist, and she is no longer an ontological materialist. Has she made any significant progress toward relationship with Christ, however? Not necessarily. It might well be that, even though she now thinks spiritual things exist, she is still unable to see why she ought to care about them. As we noted above, axiological materialism is logically compatible with ontological dualism. Believing that spiritual and material things both exist is one thing; believing that spiritual well-being and material well-being are both important (and that the former is more important than the latter) is something else entirely.
This illustrates the point that a lot more than beliefs are at stake. In addition to acknowledging that spiritual and material things both exist, we must value spiritual well-being and material well-being, and we must do so in the right proportion. We must also make sure that our beliefs and values manifest themselves in our behavior. The person who believes in God, values relationship with Christ above all else, and yet somehow manages to prioritize (for example) exercise above praying, reading his Bible and going to church clearly lacks something essential to Christian life.
Christian Dualism is Action
What does dualism look like in action, then? How can we maintain that spiritual and material things both exist, that spiritual and material well-being are both important, and yet that Christians should be more spiritually oriented than they are materially oriented? How can Christians steer clear of materialism without going to the other extreme and discounting the material world entirely?
By viewing and describing our efforts toward material well-being as expressions of our love for God and others, and by viewing people as neither wholly spiritual nor wholly material, but as a combination of the spiritual and the material.
So, for example, a Christian dualist might ride her bike to work rather than drive her car because she realizes that driving creates pollution and that pollution negatively impacts the health of human beings. Then, when someone asks her why she rides her bike everyday, instead of answering in the spirit of Al Gore and talking about the good she's doing the environment, she might say that her neighbors are children of God, that the pollution her car would have created would have been bad for her neighbors, and, thus, that while it's a small gesture, she expresses concern for people (irreducibly spiritual beings) by riding her bike.
C O F F E E S H O PDo you agree that we should filter our materialistic cares through our desire to help people?
Why or why not?
Join the discussion!
To abstract from this example, Christian dualism consists in valuing material well-being, making concrete efforts to increase material well-being, and so on, but always recognizing and describing material well-being as a means toward a much higher end: namely, spiritual well-being. The Christian dualist, then, should take actions to protect the environment, he should value and support the arts, he should exercise and eat healthy, and so on, but he must always view and describe his efforts toward these varieties of material well-being as expressions of his love for God and others.
Loving God and others, after all, is the point of all human life.
- Note that this variety of dualism isn't equivalent to mind/body dualism or any of the other varieties of dualisms that Christians might reject (though controversially) without forfeiting their right to call themselves Christians. Back^
Blake Roeber is a graduate student in philosophy at Northern Illinois University, but not for long. After completing his MA in the spring of '08, he'll start a PhD in philosophy at Rutgers.
© 2008 Blake Roeber. All rights reserved. International copyright secured.
Back to top