ABSTRACT
Christian theology, spirituality and social commitment are rooted in a belief in the importance, significance and sanctifying potential of matter. This belief is expressed formally in the doctrines of creation, incarnation and resurrection, and is manifested visibly in the materiality of the Church's sacramental celebrations, and in Christian action in the world. In contrast to the Platonist tradition, which lacked any real historical concern and saw the world in static terms, Christian theology is rooted in the historical and material realities of the flesh of Christ and of the community which grew out of his life, death and resurrection. Yet, although the opposition of soul and body, which we find in such writers as Plato, is alien to the orthodox Christian incarnational tradition with its emphasis on the central place of the body and of matter in the work of salvation and sanctification, it can hardly be denied that such dualistic ideas have influenced the Christian movement, Eastern and Western, at many levels, not least in its attitudes to sexuality and politics. A fear of flesh and politics has haunted the Christian tradition from its early days.
