The Geography of God’s Incarnation

Book excerpt: What does geography have to do with the incarnation of God and with our spiritual lives as Christians? We will embark on a theological road trip that explores how geographies are at the heart of understanding of God's incarnation in the world. It is no surprise to Christians that the center of the incarnation is the person of Jesus Christ--God in flesh made manifest. However, it might be a stretch for some Christians to imagine that the promise that God has become flesh is not only in a person but also in a place: in the creation. Christians need to expand what incarnation means and what it means to be created in the image of God so that the scope of God's creative and redemptive action and work indeed reaches to the scope of all things: from the outer reaches of space to the inner reaches of our hearts. To be the creatures of God that God calls us to be requires a kind of dual citizenship: within the details of our daily life, attending to the needs of our neighbors, simultaneously knowing we are part of a greater cosmos whose future is still unfolding.