Missiology and deep incarnation

Abstract

Much as the concept of missio Dei has shaped missiological thinking and the theology of mission, the growing interest in God's incarnation and embodiment may play a very formative role in missiological reflection in the future, and is already evident in the World Council of Churches' mission affirmation Together Towards Life: Mission and Evangelism in Changing Landscapes (ttl; 2013). In this research, "deep incarnation" has been introduced as an important concept in the theology of mission, in terms of the recent work by a number of leading theologians under the title Incarnation - On the Scope and Depth of Christology (Gregersen 2015). "Deep incarnation" has been summarized as the coming-into-flesh of God's eternal Logos. In the process of incarnation, God the creator and the world of the flesh are conjoined in such depth that God links up with all vulnerable creatures. In Christ, God enters into the biological tissue of creation in order to share the fate of biological existence. In the incarnate One, God becomes Jesus, and in him God becomes human, sharing the life conditions of the least in creation. The most high and the very lowest are united in the process of incarnation. This research emphasizes the importance of the concept of "deep incarnation" for theology of mission, and how it may inform missiology, with brief reference to ttl and how the major themes of "deep incarnation" (such as an orientation towards life in the broadest sense, the importance of suffering and marginality, the nature of unity and community) are already present in ttl.