Justo Gonzalez on Matter-Spirit Dualism

Justo Gonzalez opens chapter 11 of his book Mañana: Christian Theology from a Hispanic Perspective by identifying what he calls a “malaise” around Protestantism. Many have tried to address this malaise with reorganizations, new programs, and marketing tactics. But in Gonzalez’s mind, the malaise has to do with something fundamental in the life of the church. He proceeds in this chapter to identify what he thinks is wrong. Although I was skeptical of much of the rest of the book, I resonated with him at every turn in this chapter’s diagnosis.

He begins with the question of the contrast between spirit and matter, which in many Christian churches is portrayed as central to the faith. He argues that it is an idea alien to Christianity, or that it is at least not meant to be emphasized as we emphasize it. Rather, the contrast in the Bible is between old and new. These two emphases lead to distinctly different eschatologies. The first is a spatial eschatology, in which the believers will be removed from the material world into a spiritual heaven. The second is a temporal eschatology, in which the present reign of Satan over the material world will be replaced—and is now being replaced—by the future reign of God over the material world. The former view Gonzalez says leads us to set aside material concerns like hunger, violence, and oppression. The latter leads us to see the elimination of such “material” injustices as central to our life as the people of God living in his “Mañana” reign today.

Mañana of course means tomorrow, and is used by Gonzalez to describe the reign of God that is both future and also in a way already present among us. The mañana reign will be here on earth, though it will be radically different from the rule we see around us here today.

The critique of the contrast between spiritual and material things connects well to chapter 9, where Gonzalez says that it is wrong to overly distinguish between body and soul. He criticizes the notion that the soul is “the true being of the human creature, temporarily dwelling in a body.” A disembodied soul, he says, is not a human being. Why should we give up this life for a dubious life to come? Clearly, our view of the human person is closely tied to both our values and our eschatology. If we are looking forward to a mañana kingdom on earth, then we will see the human person in terms of a unity of the spiritual and physical components, and we will serve people holistically.