Download or read book A Constructive Theology of Intellectual Disability written by Molly Claire Haslam and published by Fordham Univ Press. This book was released on 2012 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Responding to how little theological research has been done on intellectual (as opposed to physical) disability, this book asks, on behalf of individuals with profound intellectual disabilities, what it means to be human. That question has traditionally been answered with an emphasis on an intellectual capacity--the ability to employ concepts or to make moral choices--and has ignored the value of individuals who lack such intellectual capacities. The author suggests, rather, that human being be understood in terms of participation in relationships of mutual responsiveness, which includes but is not limited to intellectual forms of communicating. She supports her argument by developing a phenomenology of how an individual with a profound intellectual disability relates, drawn from her clinical experience as a physical therapist. She thereby demonstrates that these individuals participate in relationships of mutual responsiveness, though in nonsymbolic, bodily ways. To be human, to image God, she argues, is to respond to the world around us in any number of ways, bodily or symbolically. Such an understanding does not exclude people with intellectual disabilities but rather includes them among those who participate in the image of God.
Download or read book A Constructive Theology of Intellectual Disability written by and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This book asks, on behalf of individuals with profound intellectual disabilities, what it means to be human. That question has traditionally been answered with an emphasis on an intellectual capacity--the ability to employ concepts or to make moral choices--and has ignored the value of individuals who lack such intellectual capacities. The book suggests, rather, that human beings be understood in terms of participation in relationships of mutual responsiveness, which includes but is not limited to intellectual forms of communicating. The book supports its argument by developing a phenomenology of how an individual with a profound intellectual disability relates, drawn from clinical experience as a physical therapist. The book thereby demonstrates that these individuals participate in relationships of mutual responsiveness, though in nonsymbolic, bodily ways. To be human, to image God, it argues, is to respond to the world around us in any number of ways, bodily or symbolically. Such an understanding does not exclude people with intellectual disabilities but rather includes them among those who participate in the image of God."--Publisher's abstract.
Download or read book A Constructive Theology of Intellectual Disability written by Molly C. Haslam and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Responding to how little theological research has been done on intellectual (as opposed to physical) disability, this book asks, on behalf of individuals with profound intellectual disabilities, what it means to be human. That question has traditionally been answered with an emphasis on an intellectual capacity--the ability to employ concepts or to make moral choices--and has ignored the value of individuals who lack such intellectual capacities. The author suggests, rather, that human being be understood in terms of participation in relationships of mutual responsiveness, which includes but is not limited to intellectual forms of communicating. She supports her argument by developing a phenomenology of how an individual with a profound intellectual disability relates, drawn from her clinical experience as a physical therapist. She thereby demonstrates that these individuals participate in relationships of mutual responsiveness, though in nonsymbolic, bodily ways. To be human, to image God, she argues, is to respond to the world around us in any number of ways, bodily or symbolically. Such an understanding does not exclude people with intellectual disabilities but rather includes them among those who participate in the image of God.
Download or read book Disability and Christian Theology Embodied Limits and Constructive Possibilities written by Deborah Beth Creamer and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2009-01-05 with total page 167 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Attention to embodiment and the religious significance of bodies is one of the most significant shifts in contemporary theology. In the midst of this, however, experiences of disability have received little attention. This book explores possibilities for theological engagement with disability, focusing on three primary alternatives: challenging existing theological models to engage with the disabled body, considering possibilities for a disability liberation theology, and exploring new theological options based on an understanding of the unsurprisingness of human limits. The overarching perspective of this book is that limits are an unavoidable aspect of being human, a fact we often seem to forget or deny. Yet not only do all humans experience limits, most of us also experience limits that take the form of disability at some point in our lives; in this way, disability is more "normal" than non-disability. If we take such experiences seriously and refuse to reduce them to mere instances of suffering, we discover insights that are lost when we take a perfect or generic body as our starting point for theological reflections. While possible applications of this insight are vast, this work focuses on two areas of particular interest: theological anthropology and metaphors for God. This project challenges theology to consider the undeniable diversity of human embodiment. It also enriches previous disability work by providing an alternative to the dominant medical and minority models, both of which fail to acknowledge the full diversity of disability experiences. Most notably, this project offers new images and possibilities for theological construction that attend appropriately and creatively to diversity in human embodiment.
Download or read book Theology and Down Syndrome written by Amos Yong and published by Baylor University Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "While the struggle for disability rights has transformed secular ethics and public policy, traditional Christian teaching has been slow to account for disability in its theological imagination. Amos Yong crafts both a theology of disability and a theology informed by disability. The result is a Christian theology that not only connects with our present social, medical, and scientific understanding of disability but also one that empowers a set of best practices appropriate to our late modern context"--Publisher description.
Download or read book God Beyond Words written by Jill Harshaw and published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers. This book was released on 2016-07-01 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Shortlisted for the Michael Ramsay Prize 2019* In this groundbreaking book, Jill Harshaw explores the spiritual experiences of people with profound intellectual disabilities with regard to their capacity to enjoy life-giving spiritual experiences in their own right. The author expertly argues that our thinking of spiritual life needs to start not with our assumptions about people who are unable to speak for themselves, but with what we can know about God. Stimulating a much-needed discussion, this book explains why we need to respect individuals with profound intellectual disabilities as spiritual persons, and stop seeing them simply as care-receivers or uncomfortable reminders of human vulnerability. Calling for a more critical approach in practical theology, this book invites a deeper, genuinely inter-disciplinary dialogue between new and traditional theological fields, and asks why, after more than 30 years of intellectual disability theology, the impact on church life remains minimal so that debates around the right to basic inclusion continue to dominate. The questions raised in this book not only move the discussion forward, but will spark a change on how the Church approaches inclusiveness.
Download or read book A Kind of Upside Downness written by David Ford and published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers. This book was released on 2019-11-21 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the great prophetic figures of our time was Jean Vanier, founder of the L'Arche communities, where those with and without disabilities share life together. This book tells the story of a new, practical development, inspired by Vanier, and taking further both his thought and the practice of L'Arche. Lyn's House is a small Christian house of hospitality and friendship in Cambridge, set in an open community of volunteers and supporters. Its story told here contains moving accounts of its origins and development, and of the friendships it enables. The contributors, all members of the wider Lyn's House community, also reflect on its meaning, and explore the implications for both church and society of this creative response to Vanier's call. Not only does the book convey the spirit of Lyn's House and its transformative effects on those who participate in it, it also offers inspiration and a practical guide to any who wish to begin something similar.
Download or read book Healing in the Gospel of Matthew written by Walter T. Wilson and published by Fortress Press. This book was released on 2014-12-01 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although healing constitutes both a major theme of biblical literature and a significant practice of biblical communities, healing themes and experiences are not always conspicuous in presentations of biblical theology. Walter T. Wilson adopts an interdisciplinary approach to the healing narratives in the Gospel of Matthew, combining the familiar methods of form, redaction, and narrative criticisms with insights culled from medical anthropology, feminist theory, disability studies, and ancient archaeology. His focus is the New Testament’s longest and most systematic account of healing, Matthew chapters 8 and 9, which he investigates by situating the text within a broad range of ancient healing traditions. The close exegetical readings of each healing narrative culminate in a final synthesis that pulls together what can be said about Matthew’s understanding of healing, how Matthew’s narratives of healing expose the distinctive priorities of the evangelist, and how these priorities relate to the theology of the Gospel as a whole.
Download or read book Body Parts written by Michelle Voss Roberts and published by Fortress Press. This book was released on 2017-12-01 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christians have traditionally claimed that humans are created in the image of God (imago Dei), but they have consistently defined that image in ways that exclude people from full humanity. The most well-known definition locates the image in the rational soul, which is constructed in such a way that women, children, and many persons with disabilities are found deficient. Body Parts claims the importance of embodiment, difference, and limitation-not only as descriptions of the human condition but also as part of the imago Dei itself.
Download or read book Other person ness and the Person with Profound Disabilities written by Pia Matthews and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2022-10-13 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many people think that profound disability presents us with a real problem, often because it seems difficult to connect with someone who does not seem to think or act like us. Positioning profound disability in this way immediately sets up a ‘them’ and ‘us’, where the person with profound disability becomes the problematic ‘other’. Attempts to bridge the ‘them’ and ‘us’ risk reducing everyone to the same where disability is not taken seriously. In contrast to a ‘them’ and ‘us’, and negative connotations of the other found in the existentialist philosophies of writers like Sartre and Beauvoir, Pia Matthews argues for a return to a positive view of the other. One positive approach to the other, based on an ethics of relationship as championed by Levinas, seems to mitigate the other-ness of profound disability. However, this still makes the person with profound disability dependent on the ethical concern of the more powerful other. Instead, this book argues for return to a personalist philosophy of being offered by Mounier, Marcel, and Wojtyła, and deepened by participation, belonging, and the possibility of contributing to the good of all. This deepened philosophy of being gives a more solid foundation for people who are especially at the mercy of others. It will be of interest to all scholars and students of disability studies, philosophy and anthropology.
Download or read book Chikamoneka Gender and Empire in Religion and Public Life written by Lilian Siwila and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2022-03-21 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a pioneering volume that emerges from the voices of women scholars who belong to the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians in their response to the subjection of women and children in religion and public life. The book uses the metaphor "Chikamoneka" literally meaning, it shall be seen, to demonstrate resistance to all forms of oppression by empire to humanity, especially those inflicted on women and children. Some of the themes that addressed in this book are drawn from women's lived experiences. This demonstrates the power of narrative theory as a tool for academic discourse. The book makes a vital contribution to academic, religious and secular society in the field of Gender, Religion, Development and Sociology. It is also the first publication by the Zambian Women of Circle.
Download or read book Searching for the Future in the Past written by Keun-joo Christine Pae and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2024-11-14 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Inclusive and progressive theological and religious perspectives have an important and distinctive contribution to make to an analysis of the critical issues facing women-identified persons in the 21st century. This incisive collection of essays recovers the missing theological voices, grounded in those religious communities and traditions, which gender and sexuality studies often overlook. Feminist theologies have, from their beginnings, aspired to be the communal production of women-identified persons who critically reflect on their experiences in the contexts of culture, social standpoint, religious practices and beliefs, and imagination of the Feminine Divine. Pae and Talvacchia draw from this heritage to engage the critical issues of today to create new perspectives. They create an intellectual and discursive space where feminist theologians in all of their diversity renew and reclaim the rich legacies of the feminist theological tradition through inter-generational, racially diverse, and transnational conversation.
Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Theology Sexuality and Gender written by Adrian Thatcher and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 737 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Oxford Handbook of Theology, Sexuality, and Gender presents an unrivalled overview of the theological study of sexuality and gender. These topics are not merely contentious and pervasive: they have escalated in importance within theology. Theologians increasingly agree that even the very doctrine of God cannot be contemplated without a prior grappling with each. Featuring 41 newly-commissioned essays, written by some of the foremost scholars in the discipline, this authoritative collection presents and develops the latest thinking in these areas. Divided into eight thematic sections, the Handbook explores: methodological approaches; contributions from neighbouring disciplines; sexuality and gender in the Bible, and in the Christian tradition; controversies within the churches, and within four of the non-Christian faiths; and key concepts and issues. The final, extended section considers theology in relation to married people and families; gay and lesbian people; bisexual people; intersex and transgender people; disabled people; and to friends. This volume is an essential reference for students and scholars, which will also stimulate further research.
Download or read book Included and Valued written by Bridget Hathaway and published by Langham Publishing. This book was released on 2019-06-30 with total page 171 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our ignorance of the truth can wreak terrible havoc in people’s lives and in communities. Without a solid biblical understanding of disability, how can church leaders combat harmful attitudes and beliefs both within the church and the community to which they minister? Without a basic understanding of common disabilities, how can churches equip those with a disability and encourage greater inclusion in church and community life? This comprehensive guide to disability and the church will give theology students, pastors and church leaders the introduction they need to effectively minister in their churches and communities. Focused on the African context, but with lessons and information that are useful in many regions, this book is a valuable resource to help churches and practitioners grow in maturity and effectiveness.
Download or read book Voices from the Edge written by Michelle Panchuk and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book addresses the various ways in which key social identities--for example, race, gender, and disability--intersect with, shape, and are shaped by traditional questions in analytic theology and philosophy of religion. The book both breaks new ground and encourages further analytic-theological work in these important areas of research.
Download or read book The Social Contexts of Disability Ministry written by Albert A. Herzog and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2017-09-29 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides pastors, seminarians, and interested laity with the background necessary to understand the need for disability ministry and the contexts out of which the church’s ministry among people with disabilities must emerge. This is true not only for descriptions of ministries over the past sixty years, but also the challenges disability poses for biblical studies, church history, Christian theology, and ethics. Insights are gained not only from mainstream secular and religious sources but from evangelical and other conservative materials. The blending of items from different religious resources reveals just how ubiquitous disability is and the need for disability ministry—now and for many years into the future. The book’s format is such that either it can serve as a text for courses on disability ministry, or individual chapters can be employed in various courses on selected topics in biblical studies, history, theology, and ethics. Pastors and lay leaders will enjoy the depth of coverage for each topic. This is a book about a serious subject, for serious readers. Its materials are designed to inform, stimulate, and promote disability ministry as a topic worthy of serious study.
Download or read book The Disabled Church written by Rebecca F. Spurrier and published by Fordham University Press. This book was released on 2019-10-01 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How do communities consent to difference? How do they recognize and create the space and time necessary for the differences and disabilities of those who constitute them? Christian congregations often make assumptions about the shared abilities, practices, and experiences that are necessary for communal worship. The author of this provocative new book takes a hard look at these assumptions through a detailed ethnographic study of an unusual religious community where more than half the congregants live with diagnoses of mental illness, many coming to the church from personal care homes or independent living facilities. Here, people’s participation in worship disrupts and extends the formal orders of worship. Whenever one worships God at Sacred Family Church, there is someone who is doing it differently. Here, the author argues, the central elements and the participation in the symbols of Christian worship raise questions rather than supply clear markers of unity, prompting the question, What do you need in order to have a church that assumes difference at its heart? Based on three years of ethnographic research, The Disabled Church describes how the Sacred Family community, comprising people with very different mental abilities, backgrounds, and resources, sustains and embodies a common religious identity. It explores how an ethic of difference is both helped and hindered by a church’s embodied theology. Paying careful attention to how these congregants improvise forms of access to a common liturgy, this book offers a groundbreaking theology of worship that engages both the fragility and beauty revealed by difference within the church. As liturgy requires consent to difference rather than coercion, an aesthetic approach to differences within Christian liturgy provides a frame for congregations and Christian liturgists to pay attention to the differences and disabilities of worshippers. This book creates a distinctive conversation between critical disability studies, liturgical aesthetics, and ethnographic theology, offering an original perspective on the relationship between beauty and disability within Christian communities. Here is a transformational theological aesthetics of Christian liturgy that prioritizes human difference and argues for the importance of the Disabled Church.
