In Ask the Beasts: Darwin and the God of Love, Elizabeth A. Johnson, CSJ depicts the birth of God as an event in which the Creator enters into a new form of intimacy with each and every creature. Johnson observes that the gospel opens with the phrase “in the beginning,” which echoes the opening line of the book of Genesis, attuning the reader to the connection between the incarnation and the original generation of creation. As we read in John’s gospel, it is through the Word (Gr. Logos) that “all things came into being,” from the fiery unfolding of the Big Bang to the diverse patterns of matter that constitute the present moment. The mystery of the incarnation affirms that the infinite God takes on finite flesh (Greek sarx). The Word from which the entire cosmos has emerged actively becomes embodied, taking on a concrete and personal shape within creation in order to, in Johnson’s words, “shed light on all from within.”

Johnson highlights the significance of the specific language employed in the prologue, noting that the gospel writer does not assert that the Word became a human person (Gr. anthropos), let alone a man (Gr. aner), but flesh (Gr. sarx), which is “a broader reality.” In this respect, while the type of flesh that God takes on is specifically human flesh, the incarnation is not merely a human event, but a cosmic event with ramifications for all enfleshed beings. As Johnson has it, “the flesh assumed in Jesus Christ connects with all humanity, all biological life, all soil, the whole matrix of the material universe down to its very roots.” This perspective connects with the scientific insight that all human bodies are inextricable from and interdependent with a wider web of planetary and cosmic life.

Drawing on the work of Danish theologian Niels Gregersen, Johnson refers to the birth of Christ as the “deep incarnation,” a phrase which signals the cosmic implications of Christmas. Though God has ceaselessly indwelt and accompanied creation through its evolutionary unfoldment, the deep incarnation initiates a new intensity of union between Creator and creation: “a union in the flesh.” Jesus, the deeply incarnate God, embodies divine presence in a manner that impacts the entire cosmos. Just as the birth of Jesus has cosmic ramifications, so too does his passion and resurrection. The crucified Christ suffers, dies, and is buried in solidarity with all beings who suffer and whose lives come to an end. Expanding on the “deep incarnation,” Johnson ultimately proposes a vision of the “deep resurrection,” which accounts for the cosmic significance of the Easter event. She proposes that the resurrection of Jesus of Nazarath, who was embedded in the flesh of the cosmos, signals the coming of new life for all sarx. As Johnson has it, “the evolving world of life, all of matter in its endless permutations, will not be left behind but will likewise be transfigured by the resurrecting action of the Creator Spirit.”

Johnson’s theological vision empowers us to approach the birth of Christ, as well as his death and resurrection, as events with cosmic significance. By celebrating the birth of Christ, and by deepening our relationship with the deeply incarnate Jesus at Christmas, we might simultaneously celebrate our connectedness with the wider web of creation in which God takes on flesh. Just as the body of Jesus is interwoven with the entire web of life, we might sense our  own interdependence with this web. We might commit ourselves to live in imitation of Jesus of Nazarath, who was connected to all flesh, who loved all creatures, and who lived in special solidarity with the marginalized. As we turn toward Jesus, and toward the creatures to whom he and we are so intimately connected, we might more fervently turn away from the practices and systems that harm creation. We might, in a special way, turn away from theologies and spiritualities that denigrate the material world, the world of sarx in which God constantly meets us.

‍Dr. Elizabeth A. Johnson, CSJ, is Professor Emerita of the Theology Department at Fordham University and a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph. She has served as president of both the Catholic Theological Society of America and the American Theological Society. In 1981, Johnson became the first woman to receive a PhD in Theology from Catholic University. She has since received fifteen honorary doctorates. Johnson’s She Who Is: The Mystery of God in Feminist Discourse (1992) received the Grawemeyer Award in Religion. For more information, click here.

We invite you to spend some time praying with Johnson’s assertion that the Word became flesh to “shed light on all from within,” as well as her understanding that “the flesh assumed in Jesus Christ connects with all humanity, all biological life, all soil, the whole matrix of the material universe down to its very roots.”

Inspired by your engagement with Johnson’s insights, feel your way into a recognition of your own body’s embeddedness in the wider web of fleshly existence. Welcome the healing light of Christ into your body, sensing its presence in every part, from your feet to the top of your head. Welcome this light in a special way into places of tension, such as your shoulders. Relax into this gentle and healing light. Gradually envision the light of Christ flowing through your body into widening circles. The light fills your room, touching each of the walls and windows. The light fills your apartment or home, from the floors to the ceiling. The light fills your town, touching every tree and bird, every building and person. The light fills this planet, touching soil and plants, waterfalls and rivers, radiating out into the open sky. The light fills the entire cosmos, touching our Milky Way galaxy with its planets and stars, touching every galaxy, filling every centimeter of space. Through this light, and through your very flesh, sense your close connection with all other creatures. Bow before this light of Christ, and commit yourself to the love and care of every being that it touches.

Dr. Wangari Muta Maathai (1940-2011) was born in Nyeri, in Kenya, Africa. Maathai, the first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate, is the founder of the Green Belt Movement (GBM). The GBM is committed to the empowerment of women and girls, the building of community, the promotion of democracy, and the development of constructive responses to ecological degradation. The GBM is directly responsible for the planting of 51 million trees throughout Kenya since its founding in 1977. Maathai received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. “When we plant trees,” Maathai observes, “we plant the seeds of peace and hope.”

You can read more about Wangari Maathai and the Green Belt Movement here: http://www.greenbeltmovement.org

Agape Community is a lay Catholic community rooted on 34 acres on the ancestral homeland of the Nipmuc Nation, in the Quabbin Reservoir Watershed, in Hardwick, MA. Founded in 1982 by Suzanne Belote Shanley, Brayton Shanley, Nancy James, Steve James, and Fr. Emmanuel Charles McCarthy, the community moved to Hardwick in 1987. Agape is animated by commitments to antiracism, radical nonviolence, ecotheology, daily prayer, music and celebration, community service, and voluntary simplicity. The property consists of two homes: St. Francis House and St. Brigid House, a hermitage set apart for contemplative prayer, a writer’s hut named “Levertov” after the poet Denise Levertov, and a large organic garden which provides the majority of the vegetables that sustain the community’s vegan diet. Both St. Francis House (built in 1989) and St. Brigid House (built in 1999) are run entirely on solar power. St. Brigid House is insulated with straw bales, and includes a composting toilet. While rooted in the Catholic tradition, Agape is interfaith in its outreach and practice. The community is embedded in a wider web of communities and institutions including the New England Buddhist Peace Pagoda, Sirius Community, Pax Christi, and the Catholic Worker Movement.

Visit Agape Community here.

Sr. Bernadette Bostwick is a member of Green Mountain Monastery in Greensboro, VT, a Catholic monastery committed to incarnating ecotheological ideals. According to Bostwick, “Mary of the Cosmos” is an icon that “celebrates the sacredness of Earth and all beings in the community of life held inside her maternal embrace.”

View “Mary of the Cosmos” and read more about Sr. Bernadette Bostwick, the icon, and Green Mountain Monastery.