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Disability in Scripture
Scripture contains ableism — but we can wrestle out good news.
Disability in Torah
- Creation story and interdependence
- Jacob, Isaac, Moses
Elsewhere in Tanak:
- God's wheelchair
- Eunuchs (Esther, Isaiah...)
Healed in heaven?
Isaiah passages about mountains being leveled
Luke 14
READING BETWEEN THE LINES
“For the disabled person, a whole host of anonymous, often silent, people exist on the edges of the gospel story.
The twelve named male disciples are usually presented as a robust gang of young adults, called away from earning their various livings. What impairments did they live with? Fishing was a dangerous occupation then as it is now. How many fingers did Peter have? Living in occupied territory was a dangerous business then as now. How many scars did Andrew have? Leaving your job was risky then as now. How much stress did Matthew or Thomas have? …
We each have faith and imagination. If we could use that imagination to inform faith, how might discipleship challenge all of us again?”
- Janet Lees in This Abled Body
Peter's ADHD
DISABLED CHRIST
Incarnation as kenosis
Autistic Jesus
Disabiling crucifixion
“in the ancient world, a crucified person was the ultimate example of ‘disability.’ On the one hand [bio-medically], a crucified person was the ultimate symbol of ‘functional limitations’ – a person stripped of all ability to do anything for [themself]. With regard to the second [social] aspect of disability, a crucified person bore the ultimate in social stigmatization.” - Martin Albl (quoted in Yong)
PAUL
Thorn in side
God has chosen not the world’s wise but the world’s foolish (mōra), not those the world calls strong but rather the world’s weak (asthenē) (1 Corinthians 1:27-28).
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