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| (Photo by Artaxerxes) |
Note to parental theologians: Where in Scripture does it say that?
Although this longstanding belief has been attributed to the Puritans, cleanliness and “godliness” were not always such cozy bedfellows. In
fact, first-millennium Christianity tells quite a different story.
According to Lauren F. Winner, many Christians back then “castigated a preoccupation with cleanness” and were viewed by practitioners of other religions as being “peculiarly indifferent to bodily
hygiene.” Early
Christians often equated washing with the “pagan licentiousness” of Roman baths. There was even a special term that ascetics gave to the “holy” practice of remaining assiduously unwashed after
baptism: alousia.
Saint Melania (who swore off bathing in order to assist her husband with his vow of chastity) notwithstanding - there’s a movement afoot to get today’s kids on their feet and into the great outdoors. This inevitably means that they’re going to get (gasp) somewhat dirty.
However, God’s great dirt (remember Adam… what was he made from?) is
not just the soil from which the Garden of Eden arose.
Dirt remains with us today as a life-giving gift that keeps on giving. The National
Wildlife Federation offers some facts and figures that “ may have you throwing your kids into the nearest mud puddle.” These
include the following: direct contact with the soil “has been shown to improve mood, reduce anxiety, and facilitate learning”; playing in the dirt introduces kids to biology (especially when building
a “worm hotel”), gardening, and even cooking (mud pies, anyone?); and exposure to microorganisms within the soil can “benefit the heart, skin, and immune system.”
In other words, grime can
pay… big time.
Resources
http://www.nwf.org/~/media/PDFs/Be%20Out%20There/Dirt_Report_2012.ashx
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/Cleanliness+is+next+to+godliness
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