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Disability & Faith Resources

This page is a work in progress. If you have suggestions that fit under one of these sections, please email me at queerlychristian36@gmail.com.​

 

For "secular"/non-faith-specific resources, go to the bottom of the Disability Basics page.

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Note: While reading, I often compile my excerpts from a book into a Google doc. Books for which I have done this include an (excerpt) link that will lead you to that doc.

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Finally, most of the sources shared here could fit under multiple of the "Theology," "Biblical Interpretation," and "Ecclesiology / Church Life" sections. I did my best to sort each source according to which section I believe it is most useful for.

Click here to return to the Disabled AND Blessed homepage.

Theology

ACADEMIC RESOURCES

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  • The Disabled God by Nancy Eiesland (1994)​
     

    • The foundational work of disability theology, arguing that Christ on the cross and resurrected with wounds is disabled, which exemplifies the vital role of disabled persons in the Body of Christ

    • Honesty, I only recommend it to academics who want to dig as deep as possible; otherwise, its key concepts are frequently summarized and expanded on in other, more recent works​​​​​​​​​

MORE ACCESSIBLE RESOURCES​

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  • Loving Our Own Bones: Disability Wisdom and the Spiritual Subversiveness of Knowing Ourselves Whole by Rabbi Julia Watts Belser (excerpts)

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  • ​My Body and Other Crumbling Empires by Lyndsey Medford (2023) (Excerpts)
     

    • ​Chronic illness and the sickness at the heart of Western Empire; the compulsory abled-ness of the Protestant work ethic; disabled persons as the "canaries in the coal mine" warning others that they too will burn out, that no bodymind was meant for these conditions​

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  • ​This Here Flesh by Cole Arthur Riley (2022) (excerpts)
     

    • Explores the goodness of embodied life and intersections between disability, Blackness, queerness, womanhood…

Biblical Interpretation

ACADEMIC RESOURCES

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  • This Abled Body: Rethinking Disabilities in Biblical Studies, edited by Hector Avalos, Sarah J. Melcher, and Jeremy Schipper (2007)

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MORE ACCESSIBLE RESOURCES

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  • The Bible, Disability, and the Church: A New Vision of the People of God by Amos Yong (2011)
     

    • Especially worthwhile are Part 4 on Paul, Acts, and the Epistles and Part 5 on disability in heaven

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Ecclesiology / Church Life

ACADEMIC RESOURCES​
 

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  • "'THROW YOUR BREAD UPON THE WATER!' A practical theology of ‘wastefulness’ as a key for inclusion in pastoral care of people with intellectual disabilities" as well as "Wise Wastefulness in a Post-COVID World" by Samuel Wan

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cover page of My Body is Not a Prayer Request by Amy Kenny. On a yellow bacground, a wheelchair is surrounded by different colorful flowers

MORE ACCESSIBLE RESOURCES

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  • Disability: The Inclusive Church Resource by John M. Hull

    • A lot of fantastic anecdotes by disabled clergy & other church leaders
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  • Disability and the Church by Lamar Hardwick (excerpts)

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  • How Ableism Fuels Racism: Dismantling the Hierarchy of Bodies in the Church by Lamar Hardwick (excerpts)

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