Why MAHA needs a Theology of the Body

The Make America Healthy Again movement (MAHA) calls out the reality that many Americans feel: we are more diseased than ever, despite unprecedented access to wellness tools, medical technologies, and medication.

MAHA focuses on an important question: How do we get healthier as a nation?

No doubt this is a good and necessary question. But for Christians, this question isn’t our starting point. And it can’t be the only one we ask.

Before we can talk about how to care for the body, we must answer a more fundamental question.

This is where a Theology of the Body (TOB) is essential. It asks the question: Why does the body matter at all?

MAHA needs a TOB. Because caring for the body doesn’t matter if you don’t know why your body matters.

Let me explain.

MAHA asks how. TOB asks why.

The MAHA movement focuses on outcomes like lowering rates of chronic disease, improving metabolic health, cutting healthcare costs, and shifting from disease management to prevention. Don’t get me wrong. These are good and much-needed goals.

But MAHA seeks to improve the body without addressing the deeper meaning behind physical health.

TOB focuses elsewhere. The Bible does not start with health strategies but with the truth that the body is created by God. It has value. It belongs to God. Therefore, your body matters (1 Corinthians 6:12-20).

Without this foundation, health issues become a problem to solve rather than a responsibility to care for your body to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31).

Two Views of the Body

MAHA often treats the body as something to improve or optimize. Health is largely defined by measurables like weight, blood pressure and cholesterol numbers, preventing disease, and increasing longevity.

TOB provides a different purpose. The Bible teaches that the body:

Belongs to God and is not disposable (1 Corinthians 6:20). It is meant to glorify Him (1 Corinthians 10:31). It will be resurrected for eternity (John 5:29).

This difference matters because how we think about the body shapes how we treat it.

Health vs. Stewardship

One of the most important differences between MAHA and a TOB is the ultimate goal.

For MAHA, the goal is health itself. Decreasing disease rates, lowering medical costs, and reaching better outcomes. Health is the ultimate aim.

For Christians, health is never ultimate. Living faithfully to the glory of God is.

Obviously, this doesn’t mean health is unimportant. After all, half of the YBM content regards physical health. A TOB says that health is a form of stewardship, or responsibility to care for what God has entrusted to us. Christians will not receive perfected bodies until eternity and shouldn’t obsessively seek that in the present.

When health becomes our greatest pursuit, it can easily turn into an idol. But when health is grounded in theology, it becomes a meaningful but limited pursuit, held in tension with our ultimate devotion to God.

Policies Cause Change but Only Scripture Transforms People

MAHA rightly pushes for policy changes, transparent research, and incentivizing a healthy lifestyle. These efforts can bring good change and remove obstacles to better health.

But policies don’t form convictions. The spiritual truths we read in Scripture do.

A TOB works from the inside out. It shapes how Christians think, what we value, and why we make daily choices about food, movement, and rest. Lasting physical change happens when our health practices are shaped by our Christian beliefs.

That’s because health habits flow from theology. On one end of the spectrum, if you don’t value your body, you won’t care well for it. On the other end, if you idolize your body, you’ll be consumed with caring for it. Christians should land in the middle.

A Realistic View of Limits and Disease

Another key distinction is the way MAHA and TOB understand human limitations.

MAHA seeks to eliminate disease wherever possible. While prevention is preferred, Christians recognize that we live in a fallen world where aging, illness, and death are part of life.

A TOB does not promise perfect health or bodily functioning. Rather, it calls for wise, faithful care within realistic limits. It encourages Christians to pursue health without despairing when health goals fall short. Ultimately, we rest in the promise that God will redeem us from limitations and disease in future resurrection.

Where MAHA and a TOB Overlap

It’s important to say that Christians can affirm much of what MAHA highlights. Both agree that:

The state of American health is concerning
Chronic disease is not inevitable
Lifestyle choices matter
Prevention is better than passive acceptance of decline

These points coincide with body stewardship. But agreeing on the practice of health does not eliminate the need for a biblical and theological foundation.