enfleshment

Enfleshment is a term describing the act or process of supplying flesh or taking on a bodily form. The word is formed from the prefix en- meaning "to cause to be" and flesh, and is used chiefly to discuss embodiment or incarnation—the transition from a non-physical or spiritual state to a concrete, living body.

In religious contexts, enfleshment is closely related to, and often used interchangeably with, incarnation. In Christian theology, the incarnation refers to the Word becoming flesh in the person of Jesus Christ; some scholars describe this as enfleshment to emphasize the concrete, physical reality of God taking on human flesh. The term also appears in broader debates about embodiment in philosophy and anthropology, where enfleshment denotes the lived experience of being in a body, as opposed to mind-only or disembodied thought.

In literary and cultural contexts, enfleshment may be used to describe the materialization or appearance of a being in a body, including myths, fantasy, or science fiction narratives where spirits, avatars, or consciousnesses assume physical form.

The term can be distinguished from incarnation in that enfleshment can stress the process or act of becoming flesh, whereas incarnation often denotes the theological event as a whole. Critics note that enfleshment is less common in doctrinal writing than incarnation, and may bear nuanced connotations about corporeality and materiality.