Learning

"Gnosticism and neo-Platonism, with their denigration of the material and lauding of the 'spiritual' and esoteric, introduced into the early church an unhealthy asceticism that undermined an important foundation for the moral life. Over the years asceticism has denigrated a positive holistic view of sex, hearaled the monastic life over physical or mental work, and debased the calling to live in the midst of culture and society."

Dennis P. Hollinger, Choosing The Good, Baker Academic