"Materiality as Resistance" (Walter Brueggemann)

TITLE: Materiality as Resistance: Five Elements for Moral Action in the Real World
AUTHOR: Walter Brueggemann
PUBLISHER: Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2020, (120 pages).

Like many of Brueggemann's books, this book is a corrective against the excesses of the past. It is not about materialism which is bad. It is about materiality, which is the rightful understanding and constructive use of material things. There was a time where the Church has played a key role in "sanitizing" material things. In the sixth century, many people were overly preoccupied with all things spiritual to the detriment of material things. With dualism and gnostic beliefs, people were quick to segregate the material from the spiritual. Taken to the extreme, they consider all material things bad and all spiritual things good. "Materiality as Resistance" is about resisting such dualistic beliefs and to redeem the creative use of material things, without compromising on our spiritual beliefs. The five elements are: Money; Food; Body; Time; and Place.

On Money, Brueggemann begins with a push-back against John Wesley's popular maxim: "Earn all you can; give all you can; save all you can." While generally accepted by believers, especially Methodists and those from the Wesleyan tradition, this common saying about earning, saving, and giving has often been accepted without much critique. Yet, Brueggemann boldly pushes against this by asking three formidable questions:

1. How much is enough to earn?
2. How little is enough to save?
3. How might one invest one's savings?

He breaks down not only Wesley's points but helps us fill in the gaps by giving us a more holistic picture of stewardship. To date, I have not seen anyone as bold as Brueggemann who would challenge Wesley's teaching. Beware of the treacherous effects of consumerism, readers are shown an alternative that resists unbridled greed; endless accumulation; and erratic giving.

On Food, Brueggemann helps us meander through the perspectives of "scarcity and abundance" starting from the origin of our food sources, from food production to the distribution channels, and from the distributor chains to our homes. He reminds us that we are not mere consumers or the end-users, but a part of the entire community chain. We are not a food chain but a food network. Three things sum up Brueggemann's advice: Resist unethical practices in the industrial production of food; resist the food distribution practices that play according to our economic status; and to resist "indulgent domination."

On the Body, distinguish between "food and clothing" and "life and body." Prefer the latter. For "mature materiality" to happen, observe "healthy sexuality." This means fidelity. Resist self-gratification ways. Offer our bodies as a "spiritual worship" to God and to behave in a manner that honours our neighbours. This has other applications as well. Once we learn to practice "healthy self-care" and "healthy sexuality," we will naturally resist discriminative practices like racism, selfish behaviours like individualism, and practice "bodily sacrifice" to put the interests of others before ourselves.

On Time, Brueggemann reiterates his early work "Sabbath as Resistance" with a reminder to consider the kairos of God's time, rather than the chronos of human time. Resist the temptation to be endlessly busy. Learn to put time in perspective with the reminders from Ecclesiastes 3. Wait upon the Lord.

Finally, on Place, there is no better place than our heavenly home. Starting out with the parable of the Prodigal Son, the author reminds us about the negative effects of homelessness. Not only is he talking about physical locations, he extends it to the "homeless mind" and the "homeless body." Homelessness is a serious physical and spiritual matter. We can be too busy trying to make a living, even when it comes at the expense of increasing the causes of homelessness.

My Thoughts
The two key themes throughout the book are resistance and redemption. In resistance, Brueggemann offers an alternative way to look at the five elements of everyday life. This is important because many Christians are not critical enough about accepting the values of the world. Sometimes this is due to the growing comforts with the things of the world. Most likely, it is because of a lack of biblical foundation to help us resist these worldly influences. Jesus said that we are in the world but not of the world. Brueggemann takes what we are seeing in this world, exposes the flaws, opens up the Biblical truths, and then shows us what it takes to resist the temptations. This resistance motif is consistently applied throughout the book. In redemption, the author attempts to put back the sacred into materiality. Put it another way, it is about redeeming the five key elements of the world that some of our learned and pious predecessors had unwittingly dichotomized. For what God had created, God had called creation good. Who then are we to call God's creation anything other than good?

After separating materialism from materiality, Brueggemann urges us to move toward "mature materiality" in all of the five elements. Frankly, even though he entitles the book using materiality as a form of resistance, actually, redemption is a larger theme than resistance. Good judgment is always redemptive. The same applies to constructive criticisms and righteous punishment. In the same way, resistance is a powerful arm of redemption, though it may mean some painful corrective efforts in the beginning. In other words, we do not resist something for the sake of resisting. We resist because we care enough to redeem them. Any change needs to go through a period of breaking down the old so that we can form the new.

This is another great book that constructively engages modern culture from a biblical perspective. Filled with wisdom and experience, Brueggemann continues to bless us with great resources for the larger Christian community.

Walter Brueggemann is currently the William Marcellus McPheeters professor emeritus of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary. He has also taught at Eden Theological Seminary from 1961 to 1986. He is a recognized authority in Old Testament scholarship and has authored over one hundred books.

Rating: 4.75 stars of 5.

conrade

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This book has been provided courtesy of Westminster John Knox Press and NetGalley without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.