Christian materialism
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Christian Materialism is the combination of the theology, concepts and holy writings of Christianity with the philosophy of materialism, which places primary importance on material objects and their interrelationships.
Historically, materialism and Christianity have generally been at odds. This is due on the one hand to anti-materialist passages in Christian scripture; and on the other to the denial by most materialist thinkers of the existence of the kinds of spiritual realities that were fundamental to the traditional Christian church. Despite these discrepancies, however, they are not always viewd in opposition.
The most visible use of the term is found in the writings of a Spanish Roman Catholic saint of the twentieth-century Josemaría Escrivá, who wrote of the need to invest the material realities of everyday life with a spiritual sensibility. As such, it is associated with Escriva's controversial Catholic movement Opus Dei.
The term is also used by some as a critical assessment of the eagerness of many modern American churches to adapt or adopt aspects of mainstream American material culture --a trend typified by the popularity of religious-themed material goods such as tee-shirts, bumper stickers and magnets.
See also
- prosperity gospel
- The Prayer of Jabez
- fundamentalism