





































Ecclesial Futures
2024 – Volume 5 – Issue 2

90
Ecclesial Futures – DOI: 10.54195/ef20157

B O O K  R E V I E W

DOI: 10.54195/ef20157

Bargár, Pavol. 2023. Embodied Existence: 
Our Common Life in God

Eugene OR: Cascade, Wipf and Stock
ISBN: 978-1-6667-4408-8

Reviewed by Nigel Rooms

Theological anthropology is foundational for a sound understanding of Christian 
mission in, from and with the local church. Who are those in whom God is at work 
both inside and outside of the Christian community? How does a theological under-
standing of the human person contribute to the crossing of boundaries in Christian 
mission which encompasses all of creation? It is no surprise that missiologists Bevans 
and Schroeder (2004) make anthropology one of their six ‘constants’ that have to be 
negotiated in contextual mission in every age and context. However, the theological 
relationship of the Judaeo-Christian tradition with the body is not a happy one as 
Adrian Thatcher has shown in his recent review of the field, with the aptly named 
book Vile Bodies (2023). We need a much more positive approach to body theology, 
especially in mission, which I believe is provided by the work under consideration 
here.

Pavol Bargár, the author of this book, is well-qualified to write on the subject since 
he works at the Protestant Theological Faculty of Charles University in Prague as 
well as being a member of and significant contributor to the International Asso-
ciation of Mission Studies – especially from his base in Eastern Europe. The book 
arises from a wider ecumenically-based research project conducted by Bargár and 
other colleagues at Charles University (xvii). This ecumenical perspective is clear in 
how Bargár interacts with documents from the World Council of Churches and its 
Faith and Order Commission throughout the book. It is also true to say that Bargár 
is widely read and draws together an amazing number of sources and interlocutors 
in the work as a whole.

Many other theological anthropologies have been written, such as David Kelsey’s 
(2009) massive two-volume magnum opus. What is unique about this work is the 



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direct theological engagement with missiology and its dialogical approach to the 
subject from popular (mainly, but not wholly) western cultural artefacts (or poiesis) 
– especially cinema in the form of film. In fact, the book begins with a description of 
a film by the director Wim Wenders (1) and each chapter has a film or two to illus-
trate the argument – both positively and negatively. Largely this works: even though 
I was not that familiar with many of the particular films Bargár utilises, he gives a full 
description and carefully explains the connections to the subject matter. Perhaps 
therefore it is cinema itself which has influenced Bargár to write as he does about 
theological anthropology from six perspectives in each of the six chapters – story, 
body, imagination, transformation, relationality and feast. This approach, the author 
claims, “enables us to seek and pursue a common life for the whole creation in the 
force field of God’s radical and transformational reign – our common life in God” 
(129).

What I appreciated here was the bringing together of several themes, which while not 
original in themselves are helpfully explicated together in one place. Thus, narrative 
theology, particularly the storied human being, is a good place to start and embod-
iment has recently seen a resurgence of interest especially in practical theology. 
I have long thought that the gift of human imagination is much underused in the 
Christian Church and its mission and no serious commentary on humanity these 
days could ignore themes of transformation and relationality in community. I really 
enjoyed the final chapter on ‘feast’ as, while I know receiving and offering hospitality 
is key to the life of mission, I hadn’t quite seen it related to the breadth and depth of 
the celebratory feasts in Scripture.

Inevitably I have a few quibbles. Bargár wishes to reframe the kingdom of God to the 
‘kin-dom of God’ (56) which I am not against, but in the exchange of one metaphor for 
another I would have expected a greater critique of the newer image, but it is rather 
taken for granted. Siblings might be more equal than the citizens of a kingdom, but 
that doesn’t stop deep fissures and rivalries emerging between them. Then I’d like 
to have seen a bit more on the relationship between the two hemispheres of our 
brains, spirituality, sexuality, prayer, theosis and transfiguration (rather than only 
transformation), particularly in the light of the work of Iain McGilchrist, Maggie Ross, 
Sarah Coakley and others. Finally, I’d also like to have read a concluding chapter 
which brought all the others together and maybe some examples from the field of 
how the proposals made can be embodied in practice, but perhaps these are avail-
able elsewhere in the wider research project.

Overall, I would thoroughly recommend this affordable book, it will make you think 
again about the human person and Christian mission, give many avenues for deeper 



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reflection and offer wider reading on the subject. It may even change your mind and 
how you inhabit your relational body in God’s good creation.

About the Reviewer
Rev Canon Dr Nigel Rooms, Co-Editor Ecclesial Futures. Honorary Research Fellow; the 
Queen’s Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education, Birmingham, UK; Depart-
ment of Christian Spirituality, Church History & Missiology, University of South Africa 
(UNISA). Contact: nigel@praxisworks.uk

References
Bevans, Stephen B., and Roger P. Schroeder. 2004. Constants in Context: A Theology of Mission for 

Today. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis.
Kelsey, David H. 2009. Eccentric Existence: A Theological Anthropology. 2 vols, Louisville KY: West-

minster John Knox.
Thatcher, Adrian. 2023. Vile Bodies: The Body in Christian Teaching, Faith and Practice. London: 

SCM Press.

mailto:nigel@praxisworks.uk

