When the Message is Embodied

Abstract

This study puts the spotlight on McLuhan’s concept “the medium is the message,” situating it within the body of scholarly work on media ecology. This paper probes the question, “How does the human body as a medium communicate the message of Christ?” Why this study? In a higher education institution like St. Paul University Iloilo where the University’s vision explicitly states its identity as a Catholic University rooted in the love of Christ, the question that it always faces is, how is this vision manifested and embodied by its administrators, faculty, staff, students, and alumni? The major concept that underpins this question is, how can the human body, particularly a student, an administrator, a staff or faculty member, communicate its foundational belief and identification in Christ, the center of the University’s engagement and formation as a Catholic University? This paper is qualitative in nature that seeks to provide a conceptual framework in examining the body as a medium and raises key questions on how the human body can communicate the Christian message of the Incarnation in general, and how a particular body that subscribes to this tradition exhibits and manifests its foundational mission rooted in the love of Christ.