Library Guides: Theology and Disability: Articles

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This page contains articles about theology and disability from the library databases. This is only a sampling of the many options. Most require a NetID to access.

Journal of Disability & Religion "The Journal of Disability & Religion provides an interfaith, interdisciplinary forum for people interested in the intersections of religion, disability, human services, and academic research to come together, meet, and learn. The aim of this exchange is to support people with disabilities and their families as well as those who are working with them in the purview of their faith communities and traditions. It addresses religious and spiritual practices and beliefs from the perspective of inclusive communities for people with disabilities."

Articles

"A Feminist Theology of Disability" by Doreen Freeman "Disability and long term incurable illness still attract a variety of demonisation and prejudice. This includes many of the same kinds of hostility that have faced women. Disabled people are blamed for their condition, regarded as bestial, grotesque and unclean. They are excluded from ritual spaces by Levitical law, modern prejudice and practical indifference. Feminist Theology has sometimes contributed to prevailing hostility, or at least, failed to counter it, in its insistence on the sacredness of the body. On the other hand, Feminist Theology can provide a method of deconstructing the religious texts and imagery that make devalued people effectively invisible. Feminist critique of patriarchal structures, campaigns for full human rights, and consciously inclusive communities may offer a route for wider inclusivity and celebration of diversity. Eco-feminism is built on a framework within which scientific and medical advances may be properly and critically examined."
"Beyond Ramps and Special Seating: Practicing a Black Liberation Theology of Disability" by Kendrick Kemp "The biggest blow to my progress has not been the two strokes or the limitations I now live with; what is most debilitating is the cultural reception that limits my identity. In response to having my identity shift from the plural to the singular, I have adopted a framework that fuses Black Liberation Theology and a Theology of Disability. A Black Liberation Theology of Disability acknowledges that we all navigate limitations and live with disabilities. Our challenge is to find a way to succeed in spite of them."
"Disability, Impairment, and Some Medieval Accounts of the Incarnation: Suggestions for a Theology of Personhood" by Richard Cross "Drawing on insights from the medieval theologians Duns Scotus and Hervaeus Natalis, I argue that medieval views of the incarnation require that there is a sense in which the divine person depends on his human nature for his human personhood, and thus that the paradigmatic pattern of human personhood is in some way dependent existence. I relate this to a modern distinction between impairment and disability to show that impairment—understood as dependence—is normative for human personhood. I try to show how medieval theories of the resurrection of the body can provide, within this context, plausible accounts of what it might be for human persons to be redeemed."
"Disability Theology" by Deborah Creamer "Disability theology explores the ways in which religious traditions have engaged (or failed to engage) notions of disability and impairment, and offers constructive possibilities for inclusive theological work in the future. This essay reviews four primary models of disability (moral model, medical model, social model, and limits model) and explores how these relate to religious understandings and practices. The image of the Disabled God is highlighted, as are the ways this field has come to engage varieties of disability experience (including cognitive disabilities and autism) and diversity more broadly. Philosophical notions (such as those around normalcy or human flourishing) are explored alongside advocacy and access issues (particularly with regard to religious practices such as preaching, religious education, and biblical interpretation). Future possibilities and directions for disability theology are also proposed."
"Disabled Motherhood in an African Community': Towards an African Women Theology of Disability" by Sinenhlanhla S. Chisale "The politics of culture, motherhood and mothering in some African communities highlight the tensions that exist in the broader feminist theology agenda. There are emerging politics between the able and disabled feminist theologians where the binary of ability or disability is ambiguously theologised. Written from a feminist theology of disability, this qualitative study sought to understand and describe the struggles women with visual impairment face to be accepted as being fit for motherhood. Emerging qualitative themes are used to develop towards an African women theology of disability that responds to the plight of women with disabilities. The findings indicate that women with disabilities are constantly challenging and protesting ableism perceptions of motherhood by falling pregnant, giving birth and nurturing their children. They argue that the binary perceptions of ability and disability are informed by patriarchal ideologies and able-bodied women’s fears of being associated with the vulnerability of disability."
"Dissolving Boundaries - An Analysis of Threshold Concepts Within Disability Theology" by Zachariah Duke and Peter Mudge "This article focuses on an analysis of threshold concepts (TCs) within disability theology. It explores a range of ideas linked to TCs and the experience of people living with a disability (people LWD). The world in which Christian parishioners encounter people LWD (the focus of this article), could be described as a ‘liquid world’ which is fuzzy, uncertain, unstable and marked by ‘dissolving boundaries’. The authors argue that, despite such boundaries, or perhaps because of them, certain thresholds need to be crossed by members of faith communities in order for a person LWD to feel as if he/she genuinely belongs to a community. Nevertheless it is acknowledged that some people involved might be both people LWD and parishioners. The three interrelated thresholds examined within this article are — empowerment, hospitality and neighbourliness. The article links these thresholds with TC theory, and also addresses two related topics — a definition of disability within the discipline of theology, and Jesus as the model for threshold crossing within the Christian tradition. Reflections on TCs in this article are deliberately grounded in the most recent collection of TC theory. Finally, the article considers some relevant, practical responses which, it is argued, members of Christian faith communities ought to consider, so that people LWD feel that they genuinely belong to that particular community. It concludes with a summary of key insights and some possible future research directions."
"Do Not Hinder Them: Educating Children with Mental Disabilities in the Church" by Cristina Richie "Developmental disabilities in children can be challenging to the family who desires a spiritual home for their family. Parents may hesitate to bring a special needs child to a church service, uncertain of the outcome. While public schools have amazing support for the differently abled, the Church very rarely has assistance in place for the families of handicapped individuals, let alone theology for the parents of mentally disabled children. This paper will examine possible ways for a local church leader or volunteer to educate children with mental disabilities, drawing on a variety of texts for support. The paper will conclude by offering resources for the teachers of special needs children in church education."
"Embracing Limits, Queering Embodiment: Creating/Creative Possibilities for Disability Theology." by Deborah B. Creamer "I am grateful for Sharon Betchers reflections, particularly the ways in which she honors Nancy Eieslands legacy while simultaneously encouraging us to imagine new directions for feminist disability theology. Not only does she provide a rich center point for this roundtable discussion but she also invites conversation that I hope will go far beyond this set of essays. My reflections here focus on Betcher s distinction between flesh and body, which I find full of possibility in at least three significant and interrelated ways: as a foundational challenge to the idea of "normal," as a point of contact with other academic discourses (particularly queer theories), and as a site of potential for engagement around pain."
"Expanding the Theological Classroom People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities as Theological Learners" by Sarah Barton
"From Dependence to Interdependence: Towards a Practical Theology of Disability" by Paul Leshota "Disability has remained on the fringes of research in Africa in general and Southern Africa in particular, especially in the field of theology. Its glaring absence constitutes an indictment against both church and society, revealing in the process both the church's and society's penchant for a dependence paradigm which has been the paradigm with respect to issues of disabilities and people with disabilities. Using the participatory method with its proclivity for bringing to the fore the voice of the 'other' and the marginalised, both the dependence and independence paradigms within the context of disability are put under scrutiny. In the process and through the voice of people with disabilities, the practical theological paradigm of interdependence emerges as the most appropriate and friendliest one, as it resonates with both the New Testament notion of koinonia through love and the African notion of botho through interconnection. The practical theology of holding each other in arms resonates with the theology of embrace that has been popularised by Volf within the context of much hatred and alienation. All these different dimensions of the theology of interdependence become the bedrock for inclusive and respectful treatment of each other irrespective of race, gender, religion, ability and social class."
"How Pastoral Care Providers Can Help People with Disability in Claiming Their Sexuality" by Tristan English "We are constantly bombarded with images in print advertising, videos, and daily television of what is attractive. This constant bombardment has shaped the American ideal of body in which we are told that to be sexy we must be young, athletic, and extremely fit. We have let others create for us an ideal of what is attractive that does not fit most people with disabilities, let alone most Americans. Similarly, because people with disabilities are seldom associated with being sexy, we often fail to recognize that they too desire to be wanted and have a rewarding sex life. In this paper I will argue how pastoral care providers, and churches, can assist persons with disabilities in (re)claiming their sexuality."
"On Christ and Healing: Eiesland, Tillich, and Disability Theology" by Courtney Wilder "The existentialist interpretation of the biblical texts offered by Protestant theologian Paul Tillich is deeply problematic in its treatment of disability, especially mental illness. Theologian Nancy Eiesland argues against a conflation of sin and illness, and proposes the symbol of the disabled God as a source for a liberation theology of disability. Reading the biblical texts existentially, as Tillich suggests, can advance Eiesland's Christology, while her critique of Christian teaching on disability offers a correction for Tillich."
"On Not Operationalizing Disability in Theology" by Peter Capretto "Informed by debates on the reductionism of defining disciplinary concepts in disability studies and religion, this article argues that theology faces a unique ethical and methodological challenge in whether to operationalize experiences with disability into anything theologically significant or useful. Analyzing how some scholarship in disability theology has problematically appropriated disability even for liberatory purposes, it contends that theology struggles methodologically to distinguish itself from ideological rhetoric that deliberately marginalizes persons with disability. However, rejecting operationalization not only threatens the collaboration between theology and the social sciences afforded by operationalizing shared inquiries, but risks suggesting that disability is not worthy of sustained theological attention. The article proposes that this double-bind forces theology to critique operationalization by scrutinizing its relationship to usefulness itself. This means resisting the methodological compulsion for all persons and things to become useful, and retaining the theological possibility that interpersonal experience—disabled and otherwise—may be useless."
"Returning to Flesh: A Jewish Reflection on Feminist Disability Theology" by Julia Watts Belser "Disability theologians have critical testimony to bear about the violence implicit in cultural efforts to sever and distance dangerous, unruly flesh from the rest of the more holy and wholesome body. As both Betcher and Eiesland underscore, disability names an identity created and reinforced through the experience of social exclusion and stigma. When Eiesland calls for the body's portrait to represent both bones and braces, she intends it as an explicit critique of "the unexpressed agenda of 'normal' embodiment." Likewise, Betcher emphasizes the ways in which global capitalism's incessant demand for cheap labor intersects with its power to fuel the aesthetic expectation for beautiful bodies as sites of consumption. Numerous studies have chronicled the sociological fact that disability is correlated with poverty and vulnerability to violence. This vulnerability results not so much from our physical experience, but because of the social and structural marginalization scripted on disabled bodies. Just as culture creates stigma, paradigms of normalcy, efficiency, productivity, and consumerism manufacture the physical and social experience of disability."
"The Gospel of Luke: A Framework for a Theology of Disability" by Kathy McReynolds "A disability is anything that puts one at a disadvantage. This article will argue that Christ’s ministry to the vulnerable and the outcast provides a model and a mandate for the church to reach out to those with disabilities. In Luke, Jesus highlights those with disabilities as "unexpected” disciples, as examples of true humility—a hallmark of discipleship—and as those who will be most welcome into the kingdom of God."
"Theological Accessibility: The Contribution of Disability" by Deborah Creamer Religious institutions and communities that have embraced the cause of disability have invested a great deal of energy in struggles against architectural barriers, including the elevated pulpit. Valuing this engagement but also recognizing that access to physical space is only a first step in a project of accessibility, this paper claims that it is time to open the entire breadth of religious traditions to an "accessibility audit." Not only does such an examination highlight potential barriers — challenges of scripture and metaphor, for example — but it also suggests new theological possibilities in which disability is not simply a consumer or an evaluator of tradition but rather a constructive element that offers new options for theological reflection. This paper briefly reviews the disability theology models that have been offered to date (the Accessible God by Jennie Weiss Block, the Inclusive God by Kathy Black, and the Disabled God by Nancy Eiesland), highlighting ways in which these proposals make significant contributions to the breadth and depth of Christian theological reflection. This analysis shows that the value of disability theology is confined neither to people with disabilities nor to the arena of religion, but rather, as has been the case with other liberation theologies, has the potential to affect wider worlds and fields of study as well.
"Why Theology Needs Disability" by Tim Basselin "This article explores the emerging field of theology and disability studies, beginning with an introduction to disability studies before moving on to consider what significance a disability perspective may have for theology. The author argues that in the same way disability studies critiques cultural ideals of autonomy and self- sufficiency it can likewise critique theology’s participation in these cultural ideals. Using the theological term “image of Christ” and a case study of the L’Arche communities, the author shows in particular how relationality, and not autonomy, more rightly defines what it means to be human."

Finding More Articles

To find more, simply search for "theology" and "disability," and use the limiters on the left to select articles, full-text online, and peer-reviewed journals.