Body of Christ Incarnate for You: Conceptualizing God’s Desire for the Flesh

One of the more startling ideas associated with Christianity is the notion that God has a body, and not just any body, but the very particular body of Jesus of Nazareth in whom, Christians believe, God’s Word was made flesh. Theologians refer to this notion as incarnation. The term conveys an enfleshing of something beyond flesh, as that which is transcendent to materiality takes on the matter of creaturely humanity. While some theologians have viewed incarnation-talk as a slightly embarrassing mythological holdover, for others, incarnation names the way in which the divine overcomes the divide between creator and creation, unites humanity with God in one person, and accomplishes salvation. Rarely have theologians paid much attention to the flesh itself that God becomes. But this theological emphasis is starting to shift. Thanks to increased scholarly attention across the humanities over the past several decades to bodies and embodiment, the incarnation is receiving renewed attention. What does it mean that Christians affirm a God made flesh – not just for beliefs about God or salvation – but for our understanding of human flesh? The most recent example of this line of inquiry is Adam Pryor’s Body of Christ Incarnate for You: Conceptualizing God’s Desire for the Flesh. As a concept at the heart of the Christian narrative, the incarnation invites a number of questions: what is the relation between Jesus’ incarnation and