 It is important not to go to the opposite extreme and reject materialism as being altogether evil and corrupt. This would, of coursem be Manicheanism or Gnosticism - God created the material world, and saw that it was good. This, I think, is why Augustine was very careful in his commentary on Matthew 0:00-00 not to condemn the material world as such, referring to it as "silver" rather than "gold". Augustine had been a Manichean in his youth, before converting to Christianity, and was acutely aware of the dangers of that particular heresy. 