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

(Hardback)

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Incarnation has always been an important concept within Christian theology. For centuries theologians have wrestled with how best to conceptualize the vexing problem of what it means that Jesus the Christ is fully God and fully human. In this book, Adam Pryor explores how the incarnation has intersected corresponding issues well beyond the familiar question of how any one person might have two natures. Beginning by identifying four critical themes that have historically shaped the development of this doctrine, Pryor goes on to offer a constructive account of the incarnation. His account seeks out the continued meaning of this doctrine given the increasing complexity that characterizes our understanding of human bodiesbodies that can no longer be understood as the locus of distinct subjects separated from the world of objects with the skin as an impenetrable boundary between the two. Making use of contemporary phenomenologies of the flesh and the erotic, Pryor develops an understanding of the incarnation that seeks to go beyond classical issues presented by two natures christologies. Incarnation, in guises as various as Jesus the Christ, cyborg bodies, and sacramental practices, becomes a way that God is diffused into the world, transforming how we are to be-with one another.

Reviews

Pryor has chosen a topic that is relevant to a world in which the treatment of bodies, particularly marginalized bodies, is a pressing concern. . . . There is. . . much to learn from here, and particular chapters will no doubt appeal to different audiences in the areas of continental philosophy and theology, constructive theology, and historical theology. The chapters are thoroughly referenced, and the typology of Part I may be particularly helpful for seminary or graduate students in theology. Pryors theological interpretation of Merleau-Ponty will help expand our understanding of the flesh that the Word was made. * Body and Religion *
Adam Pryors work makes incarnation relevant in new and original ways. This is a profound and wide-ranging study, informed by the Christian tradition and contemporary thinking alike. For those looking for how the doctrine of incarnation may be related to issues in contemporary thought, this is an excellent place to start. -- Jan-Olav Henriksen, MF Norwegian School of Theology
In this book Adam Pryor offers a fresh view on the Christian notion of the incarnation of God in Christ. Pryor boldly connects Christian notions, concepts and insights from the fields of Constructive Theology, Biblical Studies, Feminist Theology and Phenomenology in his account of incarnation in itself as a wild thing. Incarnation is, he argues, a wild, intimate and transformative event that we should act according to. -- Johanne Stubbe T Kristensen, University of Copenhagen

Author Bio

Adam Pryor is assistant professor of religion and director of the Varenhorst Center for Discovery, Reflection, and Vocation at Bethany College.