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Special Offer from Wipf & Stock Publishing

The Kindle version of this Wipf & Stock book will be available on Amazon for FREE ($0) Summer, 2025. Take advantage of this special deal and tell your friends. Buy a copy for a friend.

More Details on the Discourse Behind the Book: https://ubcgcu.org/coming-soon/

Gordon E. Carkner’s Towards an Incarnational Spiritual Culture: Grounding Our Identity in Christ (2024, Wipf and Stock Publishers) is a philosophical and theological exploration of human identity in late modernity. Drawing on thinkers like Charles Taylor, Hans Urs von Balthasar, and James Davison Hunter, Carkner critiques contemporary cultural trends and proposes an “incarnational spirituality” as a robust alternative. The book argues that grounding personal and communal identity in the Incarnation of Christ fosters flourishing amid fragmentation, offering both intellectual rigor and practical wisdom for engaging culture.

Main Points: Here are the core arguments and themes, distilled from the book’s structure and key contributions:

1. Diagnosis of the Late Modern Identity Crisis:
   Carkner identifies a pervasive “cultural identity crisis” driven by modern revivals of ancient Gnosticism, such as expressive individualism, the “will to uniqueness,” and a disembodied quest for autonomy. These lead to fragile, truncated selves vulnerable to manipulation, isolation, and nihilism. Influenced by Taylor’s analysis of authenticity and the buffered self, the book unpacks how these ideologies prioritize self-expression over relational depth, resulting in fragmented communities and a loss of transcendent meaning.
2. The Incarnation as the Epicenter of Identity:
   At the heart of the book is the Christian doctrine of the Incarnation—God entering embodied human life in Christ—as the foundation for a “thick” identity. This contrasts Gnostic dualism (spirit over body) by affirming the integration of spiritual and physical realities. Identity is rooted not in isolated autonomy but in an I-Thou relationship with a speaking God, where grace nurtures resilience, perspective, and moral depth. The Incarnation provides explanatory power for personal flourishing, reading “backwards into history and forwards into our future.”
3. Six Pillars of Incarnational Wisdom:
   Building on von Balthasar, Carkner outlines six interconnected pillars that embody this wisdom:
   • Embodied Relationality: Marrying spirit and body in covenantal bonds, rejecting disembodied spirituality. 
   • Transcendent Speech and Dialogue: God’s communicative action through Christ invites ongoing moral conversion and “moral language skill.” 
   • Faithful Presence: Echoing Hunter, this calls Christians to incarnate wisdom in culture through humble, engaged witness rather than withdrawal or dominance. 
   • One-Anotherness: Shifting from individualism to embodied communities that foster stability, hospitality, and mutual sacrifice. 
   • Grace-Circulated Vitality: The Holy Spirit as the source of dynamic goodness, enabling love of self and world despite inherent brokenness. 
   • Sacramental Outlook: Viewing creation and human life as signs of divine glory, participating in re-creation.
4. Practical Implications for Spiritual Culture:
   Incarnational spirituality demands radical praxis: self-sacrifice for community, hospitality rooted in transcendent goodness, and a “resounding yes to life” (per Jürgen Moltmann). It equips readers for cultural critique and engagement, promoting moral intelligence, resilience, and epiphanic encounters with grace. Carkner emphasizes “infrastructure” for faith—plausibility conditions like dialogue and presence—that counters reductionism and fosters flourishing in personal, communal, and societal spheres.
5. Vision for Human Flourishing:
   The book culminates in a hopeful alternative to postmodern fragility: an incarnational ethos that restores dignity, vitality, and purpose. By rooting identity in Christ, individuals and communities access “abundantly more” through arts, ethics, and relationships, ultimately glorifying God amid late modern challenges.

Carkner’s dense, provocative style—packed with philosophical dialogue—makes the book ideal for reflective readers seeking intellectual and spiritual depth. It positions the Incarnation not as abstract doctrine but as a transformative horizon for 21st-century life.

If you like this book, you will also treasure David P. Gushee & Glen Stassen, Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in Contemporary Context; and also Life Worth Living by Miraslov Volf et al https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5cnbY6xO0U

Never Stop Reading and Thinking!