Abstract:
This study seeks to articulate the universality of the eschatological expectation, in its specifically
Christian form, by interpreting it from the perspective of a radical embodiment. This can be
understood in a twofold manner. Firstly, the mysterious reality of the eschatological reign of
God is rooted in – and thus can be more adequately grasped through the lens of – Jesus’ own
body seen as distinct yet not separate from his risen body and, mutatis mutandis, from his
extended body, both ecclesial and cosmic. Secondly, for the eschatological expectation to be
lived out in an incarnational way, it must be ‘enfleshed’ in actions aimed at social and ecological
liberation.
The article consists of four sections. Firstly, we explain in what sense body – and more
specifically Jesus’ body – is used in our analysis as a hermeneutic key to notions such as ‘risen
body’, ‘spiritual body’, ‘extended body’, ‘social body’, ‘ecclesial body’, ‘cosmic body’, basar/kol
basar (‘flesh’/‘all flesh’), and ‘life’. Then, the universality of the eschatological expectation is
being articulated on two levels, namely, (1) with regard to the social, and in particular the
ecclesial, body, and (2) with regard to the cosmic body, with ecological implications inherent in
such perspective. Finally, we close the loop by briefly revisiting the notion of Jesus’ body.
Description:
Jakub Urbaniak and Elijah
Otu are participating in the
research project, ‘Roman
Catholic History in the
modern era: Vatican II and
beyond’, directed by Prof. Dr
Graham Duncan, Department
of Church History and Church
Polity, Faculty of Theology,
University of Pretoria.
