Materialism and the Mind

Christianity has historically embraced a dualist interpretation of the mind/body problem inherited largely from the Greeks (Plato, Aristotle, etc.). There are two main reasons for this embrace: the first is explanatory, and the second is ontological. The explanatory power of dualism is intuitive to many (if not most) people. Thought does not appear to be physical, and reason appears to ascertain truths far more abstract than any material substance. It seems intuitively plausible that reason itself must be the product of a non-material substance. Along these lines an even more compelling case can be made for the non-physical existence of the will, which, if separated from the mind, constitutes perhaps yet a third "substance" in addition to the mind and the body. The ontology of dualism (or trio-ism?) is probably even more important to the Christian than this explanatory power. It typically helps explain the image of God in man, the ability for human beings to spiritual, and the significance of human life over and against plant and animal life.