Cite
Yong, Amos. “Disability and the Renewal of Theological Education: Beyond Ableism.” In Theology and the Experience of Disability: Interdisciplinary Perspectives From Voices Down Under, edited by Myk Habets and Andrew Picard. London: Routledge, 2016.
Jeremy
Synth
Contribution::
Related:: @habetsTheologyExperienceDisability2016
Md
FirstAuthor:: Yong, Amos
~> FirstEditor:: Habets, Myk
Editor:: Picard, Andrew
~
Title:: Disability and the Renewal of Theological Education: Beyond Ableism
Year:: 2016
Citekey:: yongDisabilityRenewalTheological2016
itemType:: bookSection
Book::
Publisher:: Routledge
Location:: London
ISBN:: 978-1-317-01114-9
LINK
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Abstract
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Notes
# Reading Notes and Highlights from Disability and the Renewal of Theological Education: Beyond Ableism
250
Ableism, unlike its more widely recognized ‘cousins’ racism and sexism, might well be dismissed by some as no more than another political identity ideology that these same critics insist the others reduce to. However, for those who find at least some value in how the hermeneutics of suspicion retrieves marginalized and neglected perspectives amidst a dominant culture, ableism names the unconscious elevation of non-disabled experiences as normative for all human beings, as well as the resulting marginalization of those who are unable to live up to its expectations. Understood in this way, ableist biases have proven to be no respecters of people or institutions, as they happen also in churches and in institutions of theological education.
251
The Bible has long been read vis-à-vis disability experiences and realities. Part of the challenge is that it is anachronistic to apply contemporary notions of disability to the scriptural traditions. Yet the other extreme — of thinking that Bible does not directly address, and hence is irrelevant for, our present experience of disability — also misses the point.
253
Focusing the disability lens on the biblcal traditions has thus not only resulted in a deeper understanding of disability realities in ancient Israel and among the first-century Christians, but is also adding to our knowledge of the biblical world as a whole.
253
a disability reading of Scripture has religious and even theological benefits beyond the disability community. For some, for instance, reading St Paul in light of disability experiences and perspectives illuminates how his theology of weaknesses has much to say not only for people with disabilities, but for the church as the one body of Christ with many types of gifted members.
253
disability perspective illuminates not only the texts of ancient Israel - like that of the famous ‘Suffering Servant’ in Isa 53 - but also their reception history and interpretation, including how first-century Jews and their reception history and interpretation, including now first-century Jews and texts in ways that reflected what we might say are their ableist biases. My point here is that a disability reading of the Bible is not just for people with disabilities, but for all persons across the spectrum of abilities.
254
people with disabilities are less agents of historical change than they are more deterministically caught up in the currents of able-bodied actors. Thus they appear in the histories of hospitals as passive recipients of the charitable agency of others who are less impaired.
256-257
disability historiography thus reveals its potential to interrogate received traditions, with benefits not just for disability self-identities, but also for Christian self-understandings as whole. Disability perspectives thus applied to Christian history and historical theology are helpful in carving out a via media ‘between a survey of what “people in the past” thought, which would only be of antiquarian interest, and a project which just “mines” thinkers of the past for fresh concepts for use in the present, without letting the thought structures of these conversation partners emerge to challenge us.
258
The emergence of disability as a civil rights issue since the late 1960s in the USA has empowered people with disabilities to advocate for themselves. Rather than merely being recipients of the (welcomed) charity of able-bodied persons, people with disabilities have been saying since that the best intentions of others are nevertheless shot through with a paternalistic and ableist mentality.
- nothing about us without us
258
Of course, partiality of perspective is no respecter of persons, including people with disabilities, so that even in this community, even as broadly defined as possible, those with physical disabilities often ignore or even reject consideration of those with intellectual disabilities (who are unable to express themselves).
261
people with disabilities are indeed deserving of ministry, but so also are others without disabilities; that people with disabilities can also be ministering agents, and that the imaginative horizons of theologies of ministry and mission ought to be expanded in order that all people can expect and benefit from (be edified with) the gifts of those across the spectrum of abilities; and that even in the cases of those with severe and profound disabilities, the Scriptures indicate that they are more indispensable, honourable, and central to the church than able-bodied folk might rec ognize (cf. 1 Cor 12:14-26). In fact, people with disabilities may be unique conduits of the Spirit’s gifts (see also 1 Cor 12:4-13), even if those saddled with ableist assumptions are often incapable of (impaired from!) recognizing these charisms.
262
What I mean is that if a theological, divinity, or seminary education is designed to renew the church, then such renewal has to occur at the levels of both beliefs (theology) and practices (ministry and Christian life). Engaging with disability perspectives is central to such revitalization since they challenge both the traditional self-understanding and classical models of ministry and mission.
262
the goal is not just that there will be courses on disability ministry in our seminaries and theological and divinity schools, as important and helpful as these are, but that there will be integration of disability themes and perspectives across the course of practical theology in particular, and also the theological curriculum a whole.
263
The fact is that about one-fifth of any population experiences impairment in some way. Certainly, there is some truth to the motto that we are all only temporarily able-bodied: we come into the world dependent on others, and if are blessed to live long enough, we will exit this world in a similar state of dependence.