{"title":"Should We Escape Divine Judgement?","authors":"B. Brock","doi":"10.1080/23312521.2022.2049428","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23312521.2022.2049428","url":null,"abstract":"Calli Micale’s critical question of Wondrously Wounded very helpfully foregrounds a theme that will remain important in several of my replies to other respondents. She also helpfully describes the hermeneutic substrate of my theological approach, which may be unfamiliar to some, setting the stage for a rich interplay of further engagements in responses to come. Influenced by early modern and Reformation theologies of the word (Dickson 1995; Luther 1968, 32) my theological work critically engages contemporary theology and church practice by exploring contours of biblical language and imagery that have become dead in the academic semantic universe that Micale and I inhabit. My aim is to challenge the hold of different biblical images and stories that stabilize widely held yet problematic understandings of disabled people among Christians. There can be no predicting beforehand which metaphorical constellations will be most illuminating in our time and place, which biblical symbols and images, when reanimated in our time by way of spiritual discernment, will reveal what God is doing and saying among us. As I will discuss in my response to Sarah Barton, such a procedure is not properly called a method, as, at root, it is a work of spiritual discernment. Micale is in general supportive of my use of alternative metaphorical constructions in pursuit of ethical criticism. She takes issue, however, with my use of martial imagery and language. Drawing on the work of queer and black Pentecostal theologians, Micale suggests that it would have been better if I had used the language of excess and abundance to describe how people with disabilities destabilize a morally problematic status quo by bursting common categories of perception in order to catalyze a redemptive remaking of denuding social-symbolic systems. I take this criticism to be one that is widely shared in contemporary theology and has been echoed by other reviewers of Wondrously Wounded (Kahm 2020). Martial images “import logics of imperial conquest (often figured through injured and violated women’s bodies) [and] images of https://doi.org/10.1080/23312521.2022.2049428","PeriodicalId":38120,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Disability and Religion","volume":"16 1","pages":"130 - 134"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84668773","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Imitatio Christi and Violence to the Self","authors":"J. Heath","doi":"10.1080/23312521.2022.2039838","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23312521.2022.2039838","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract New Testament teaching on imitatio Christi has often been exegeted in ways that sound like a programme of violence to the self, particularly when focused on Christ’s crucifixion or kenosis. This essay explores the concept of ‘violence to the self’ and problematizes the role that pain plays in its definition. As an example of contemporary interpretation of ‘violence to the self’, I take the case of the ‘false self’ as defined by Winnicott (1960). Some psychiatrists observe a link between false self-behavior and religious commitment. This essay considers how Paul’s letters could encourage this kind of ‘violence to the self’. Often Paul’s vocabulary and concepts are similar to those in the psychoanalytic discussion. I argue that a fundamental difference, which prevents Paul from developing or suffering from a ‘false self’, lies in his sense of vocation. In a close study of 1 Cor 9-11, the essay argues that Paul’s ‘I’ is constituted both by the task laid upon him, and his awareness of his response to that task, through which his relationship to the Corinthians is also constructed. A coda takes a similar approach to Gal 2:19-20, which has been prominent in recent discussion of Pauline theology, anthropology, and exegesis.","PeriodicalId":38120,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Disability and Religion","volume":"2006 1","pages":"247 - 283"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86926529","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Resurrected to Heaven or Vegas?","authors":"B. Brock","doi":"10.1080/23312521.2022.2049430","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23312521.2022.2049430","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":38120,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Disability and Religion","volume":"21 1","pages":"162 - 164"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90924984","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Possible Models of Disability and Their Application in the Pastoral Care Ministry Practices of the Church","authors":"Olutayo Stephen Shodipo","doi":"10.1080/23312521.2022.2043219","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23312521.2022.2043219","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper discusses the current attempts of persons with disabilities to reclaim disability narratives and experiences farther away from various researchers and scholars who advocate social and medical models of disability because Adults with Developmental Disabilities (ADDs) claim these models do not represent them. Recently, scholars in disability studies are adopting different models to theorize disability. This paper reflects, seeks, and explores possible models of disability and their application in church pastoral ministry: The emancipatory model of disability, the partnership model of disability, and the equality model of disability.","PeriodicalId":38120,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Disability and Religion","volume":"23 1","pages":"307 - 322"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89545839","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"How Brian Brock’s Hermeneutic of Disability is Relevant to All Marginalised Bodies","authors":"Kate Bowen-Evans","doi":"10.1080/23312521.2022.2046526","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23312521.2022.2046526","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Normate hermeneutics is the interpretation of the Bible based on unconscious and implicit beliefs on what is “normal”. The label “disabled” is itself often contrasted with the idea of normalcy in biblical interpretation. A hermeneutic of disability allows the experience of those labeled disabled to frame biblical analysis. Building on Brian Brock’s hermeneutic of disability I show how the body imagery of 1 Corinthians 12 helps to understand the redeemed social dynamics of the church and how each member is understood to be part of Christ’s resurrected body in the world unrelated to their bodily form in life. God gives greater honor to those body parts or body types the world degrades. The relevance of this understanding reaches beyond the categories of abled or disabled. The vulnerable body of the crucified Christ is God’s chosen form to reveal God’s wisdom. In both his body and his actions Jesus subverted social norms that exclude. My concern is those whose bodies may not be considered disabled, but whose experiences of their bodies might be best understood in light of disability hermeneutics. I suggest that God creates all bodies fit for relationship, and God does not see some as more weak or unpresentable than others, which suggests that the disability hermeneutic is relevant to all marginalized bodies. I argue that this disability hermeneutic has a liberating effect for more than just those labeled disabled, but provides affirmation for anyone whose body is considered weak or inferior, disabled or deviant in their society.","PeriodicalId":38120,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Disability and Religion","volume":"63 1","pages":"165 - 175"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83711889","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Attending to Aging and Decline: Insights from Disability Theology","authors":"Michael Mawson","doi":"10.1080/23312521.2022.2043803","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23312521.2022.2043803","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article reflects on the relationship between disability and aging. In particular, I explore how insights from disability studies and disability theology can contribute to a richer account of and response to aging and its associated complexities. In the first section, I set the context by overviewing the modern emergence and consolidation of the category of “disability”. Second, I undertake a close reading of two prominent disability theologians, Deborah Creamer and Thomas Reynolds, whose work provides rich insights into the relationship between limits, vulnerability, and relationality. Finally, I return to and reflect on how these insights can assist with attending and responding to lived experiences of aging and decline.","PeriodicalId":38120,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Disability and Religion","volume":"22 1","pages":"323 - 341"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86974995","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Mary Schaefer Fast, God, Suffering, and Disability a Trinitarian Theodicy of the Cross","authors":"Lazare;Lazare Elenge MpakalaElenge Mpakala","doi":"10.1080/23312521.2022.2043220","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23312521.2022.2043220","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":38120,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Disability and Religion","volume":"7 1","pages":"331 - 332"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78427507","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Dyslexia and Reading the Bible","authors":"Z. Strong, A. L. Van Ommen","doi":"10.1080/23312521.2022.2041531","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23312521.2022.2041531","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Personal Bible reading is considered to be highly important in many Christian communities. This can pose significant challenges for Dyslexic Christians who often struggle to read. This article explores the under-researched topic of dyslexia and the Bible through the analysis of interviews with 15 dyslexic Christians. We consider the difficulties faced by dyslexic Christians, the unique ways in which they engage with the Bible, and the need for churches to respond to and engage with the dyslexic experience of the Bible without causing guilt and shame. This exploratory study begins necessary conversations about dyslexia, the Bible, and the Church.","PeriodicalId":38120,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Disability and Religion","volume":"39 1","pages":"284 - 306"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75701020","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Ministry with the Forgotten: Dementia through a Spiritual Lens","authors":"Wen-Pin Leow","doi":"10.1080/23312521.2022.2035298","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23312521.2022.2035298","url":null,"abstract":"weakness and interdependence. Kasonga embodied this as he traveled from one village to another on a stretcher, proclaiming Christ while held up by others. Disability, Deuel argues, was no impediment to Kasonga’s ministry effectiveness: God worked through, not despite his disability. The story of Paul Kasonga is the oldest in the volume, yet his story best captures a radical vision of disability in mission. Paul is weak in every sense of the term: he is disabled, he comes from a remote village under colonial rule, and he remains a cultural outsider in his denomination. Kasonga’s story stands apart from the volume’s other stories because his weakness is so much more pronounced. While the other stories are shaped by the experience of disability, they center on the perspectives of westerners who have greater choice, opportunity, and resources than those they serve. The contrast suggests that disability is not the only marker of weakness that matters in telling the story of disability in mission. While disability reduces the barrier between western missionaries and locals, it does not eradicate differences in perspective that stem from their social and material backgrounds. This is not to deny the contributors’ sacrifices or their valuable perspectives, but it raises some important questions when reading the volume: how would the stories in Disability in Mission be told differently if spoken by disabled missionaries from the global south? How would their readings of the Bible cohere or differ from the contributors? Where would their contextualization of the Gospel open divergent avenues for theological reflection on disability? These questions highlight the need to seek out and listen to the stories of disabled missionaries from the global south in learning the power of God in weakness. The benefit of the volume is that it challenges western-based missions to follow this path deeper into weakness. The volume is not a destination, but a signpost directing the way to a mission ethos that celebrates weakness in its manifold forms. Disability in Mission is an important text for mission agencies, missionaries, ministers, and lay leaders by contributing a crucial perspective that is often marginalized by western evangelicals in global missions.","PeriodicalId":38120,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Disability and Religion","volume":"69 1","pages":"338 - 340"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90901496","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Was Mother Teresa Depressed? A Look at Catholic Configurations of Depression and Holiness in View of Mental Health Stigma","authors":"Jessica Coblentz","doi":"10.1080/23312521.2022.2036296","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23312521.2022.2036296","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract When the 2007 publication of Mother Teresa’s private papers revealed her struggles with sadness, despair, and the absence of God, some asked: Was Mother Teressa depressed? This essay analyzes some Catholic responses to this question and argues that they reflect and perpetuate mental health stigma. Furthermore, these commentaries contribute to mental health stigma in a distinctly Christian fashion by casting depression and holiness as mutually exclusive. In response, the essay draws on Pope Francis’s Gaudete et exsultate to correct the impoverished notion of holiness that underpins this expression of mental health stigma in Catholic and other Christian communities.","PeriodicalId":38120,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Disability and Religion","volume":"43 1","pages":"223 - 246"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-02-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78628786","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}