A Critical Evaluation of the Incarnational Model for Mission and a New Proposal for the “Embodied Agency” Incarnational Model

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the current controversy regarding the so-called “incarnational” model for ministry and mission and to propose a crucial dimension of “embodied agency” which can help enhance the overall vision of this model. In the past, the concepts, such as “incarnational life,” “incarnational ministry,” and “incarnational mission,” have generally implied the imitative principles of contextualization or enculturation based on Christ’s incarnated life. The primary critique against such a position questions whether Christ’s unique experience of incarnation can actually serve as a model for Christian ministry and mission in general. However, it can be argued that there are clear Scriptural teachings which would warrant the necessity of following the examples of Christ and being Christlike in all our ways of life, ministry, and mission. But it also needs to be acknowledged that what is often advocated as “incarnational” model in the contemporary church and mission contexts may seem quite superficial an imitation of some stereotypical understandings of culture or behavior pattern related to Jesus.
What is proposed in this thesis is that the focus of the incarnational model should not primarily be on the principles of contextualization or enculturation, but on the concept of “embodied agency,” which is the essential understanding of Christ’s incarnation.
We must remember that the incarnation of Christ meant firstly and literally that “the Word became flesh,” in the sense that Christ became a living, animated, bodily human being. Thus, Christ became a truly dynamic human “body-in-action” for the purpose of embodied agency of God. This means that only in terms of this bodily (somatic), actional (kinetic), and intentional (teleologic) pattern of incarnational model should we engage in talks about contextualization or enculturation. The implication for ministry and mission, and life in general, then, is that the incarnational model should be understood as following the examples of Christ as the premier embodied agent of God having the grace and agility to perfectly adapt to all kinds of contextual and cultural settings for the sake of God-ordained ministry and mission.

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