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Who Is the God We Worship? Theologies of Disability; Challenges and New Possibilities

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Who Is the God We Worship? Theologies of Disability; Challenges and New Possibilities AUTHOR’S COPY | AUTORENEXEMPLAR 1 Research Report 2 3 4 5 6 Who is the God We Worship? 7 Theologies of Disability; Challenges and New Possibilities 8 9 John Swinton 10 11 School of Divinity, History and Philosophy, King’s College, University 12 of Aberdeen, GB-Aberdeen, AB243UB, [email protected], http://www.abdn.ac.uk/divinity 13 14 15 16 For the God we Christians must learn to worship is not a god of self-sufficient power, a god who in self-possession needs no one; rather ours is a God who 17 needs a people, who needs a son. Absoluteness of being or power is not a 18 work of the God we have come to know through the cross of Christ1. 19 20 One of the interesting things about the field of disability theology is that 21 there are very few people engaging with the issues who formally identify 22 themselves as practical theologians. It is true that disability theologians 23 draw heavily from practical theology method. However, those who 24 would formally designate themselves as practical theologians are thin on 25 the ground. This observation is worthy of deeper reflection. It is not coin- 26 cidental that even those who specifically claim to be doing systematic the- 2 3 27 ology still find themselves guided by a performative dynamic which res- 28 29 30 1 Stanley Hauerwas, ‘Suffering the Retarded: Should We Prevent Retardation?’, in: Suffering 31 Presence. Theological Reflections on Medicine, the Mentally Handicapped, and the 32 Church, Notre Dame (University of Notre Dame Press) 1996, 104. 33 2 Amos Yong, Theology and Down Syndrome: Reimagining Disability in Late Modernity, 34 Waco (Baylor University Press) 2007. John Gillibrand, Disabled Church: Disabled Society: 35 The Implications of Autism for Philosophy, Theology and Politics, London (Jessica Kingsley Publishers) 2010. 36 3 Yong. Theology and Down Syndrome (n.2), 13. This performative dynamic is also fre- 37 quently tied in with a mutually critical correlative method that seeks to draw theology into 38 conversation with other sources of knowledge. So, for example, Yong who is a systematic 39 theologian, states that: “The credibility of any contemporary theology of disability rests in 40 large part on its capacity to engage both the broad spectrum of the humanities – and the 41 various social, cultural, economic, political and philosophical discourses on disability – and the wide range of medical, biogenetic, and evolutionary sciences, all of which continue 42 to shape our understandings of disability. A pneumatological imagination alerts us to seek 43 out, listen to, and discern the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit even in the “tongues” 44 of the sciences, of modern technology, and of humanistic scholarship. Yong. Theology and 45 Down Syndrome (n.2), 12. Again, we see that practical theology method seems to become IJPT, vol. 14, pp. 273 – 307 DOI 10.1515/IJPT.2011.020 Walter de Gruyter 2011 AUTHOR’S COPY | AUTORENEXEMPLAR AUTHOR’S COPY | AUTORENEXEMPLAR 274 John Swinton 1 onates with the general ethos of practical theological enquiry. It seems that 2 when we think about issues of disability the obvious fact that all theology is 3 practical and intended to enable the church to practice faithfully becomes 4 apparent. To distort Karl Rahner4 a little, when it comes to disability, we 5 are all anonymous practical theologians!5 What follows is not intended 6 as a review of the literature. Nor is it intended as a critical conversation 7 with the historical theological traditions. Rather it should be read as an ex- 8 tended practical theological reflection on the development, aims and goals 9 of this particular theological movement which has particular significance 10 for practical theology. 11 12 13 What is disability theology? 14 15 Disability theology is the attempt by disabled and non-disabled Christians to un- 16 derstand and interpret the gospel of Jesus Christ, God, and humanity against the 17 backdrop of the historical and contemporary experiences of people with disabil- 18 ities. It has come to refer to a variety of perspectives and methods designed to give voice to the rich and diverse theological meanings of the human experience of 19 disability.6 20 21 Disability theology is contextual insofar as it emerges from theological re- 22 flection on quite specific forms of human experience. However, as we will 23 see, this contextuality is not necessarily the driver for theological construc- 24 tion. For some it is, but for others human disability is a way of shaping, 25 forming and reforming theology within the boundaries of historical doctri- 26 nal thought. It would therefore be a mistake to suggest that disability the- 27 ology is nothing other than political or contextual theology. Some strands 7 28 are but others clearly are not . 29 Disability theology begins with the recognition that people with disabil- 30 ities have been at best a minority voice in the development of Christian the- 31 32 necessary when dealing directly with issues emerging directly from experience, even for 33 those whose natural disciplinary inclination is to theorise and systematise. 34 4 Karl Rahner, Theological Investigations, 22 Volumes, Trans. by Cornelius Ernst et al., London (Darton, Longman & Todd) 1965–1991. 35 5 For a deeper reflection on the implications of this suggestion see John Swinton, ‘Practical 36 theology and disability theology,’ in: Bonnie McLemore (ed.), The Blackwell Companion 37 to Practical Theology (in press). 38 6 John Swinton, ‘Disability Theology,’ in: Ian McFarland, David Fergusson, Karen Kilby, 39 and Iain Torrance (eds.), Cambridge Dictionary of Christian Theology, London (Cam- 40 bridge University Press) 2010 (in Press). 41 7 By contextual theology I refer to approaches that assume theology can be constructed directly out of particular experiences. With Bevans, I recognise that there is a real sense in 42 which all theology is contextual. (Stephen B. Bevans, Models of Contextual Theology, 43 Maryknoll, NY (Orbis Books) 1992) Here I am contrasting contextual theology with those 44 who assume theology emerges from the Christian traditions and in particular the creedal 45 traditions rather than from any particular human experience. AUTHOR’S COPY | AUTORENEXEMPLAR AUTHOR’S COPY | AUTORENEXEMPLAR Theologies of Disability; Challenges and New Possibilities 275 1 ology and practice and at worst have been completely silenced within the 2 conversation. In listening to such voices and reflecting on the life experien- 3 ces of people with disabilities, it hopes to re-think and recalibrate aspects of 4 theology and practice that serve to exclude or to misrepresent the human 5 experience of disability. Its theological roots are rich and diverse: Libera- 6 tionist,8 Reformed,9 Feminist,10 Lutheran,11 Methodist,12 Process theolo- 7 gy,13 Roman Catholic,14 Anglican15 and Pentecostalist.16 8 As well as being denominationally ecumenical, disability theology also 9 traverses the theological disciplines. Theologians writing in this area have 10 roots in biblical studies, systematic theology, Christian ethics, church his- 11 tory and practical theology. It is interesting to note that some of the key dis- 12 ability theologians are not in fact formal theologians. Rather they are so- 13 ciologists, ethicists, educationalists, parents, psychologists and philoso- 14 phers who do theology from out of their own perspectives and disciplines. 15 The methods of disability theology are similarly diverse, ranging from 16 story-telling to social scientific analysis, through to systematic theological 17 reflection on the nature of Christian doctrine. It is therefore clear that the 18 field is wide, complex and has a variety of different interlocking methods 19 20 21 8 Nancy Eiesland, The Disabled God: Toward a Liberatory Theology of Disability, 22 Nashville (Abingdon) 1994. John Swinton, Resurrecting the Person: Friendship and the 23 care of people with severe mental health problems, Nashville (Abingdon Press) 2000. 24 Hannah Lewis, Deaf Liberation Theology. Explorations in Practical, Pastoral and Em- 25 pirical Theology, Aldershot (Ashgate) 2007. 26 9 Hans S. Reinders, Receiving the Gift of Friendship: Profound Disability, Theological 27 Anthropology, and Ethics, Grand Rapids (Eerdmans) 2003. Brett Webb-Mitchell, God Plays Piano, Too: The Spiritual Lives of Disabled Children, New York (Crossroad Pu- 28 blishing Company) 1994. Burton Cooper, “The Disabled God.” Theology Today 49:2 29 (2006), 173–182. 30 10 Deborah Creamer, Disability and Christian Theology Embodied Limits and Constructive 31 Possibilities, New York (Oxford University Press) 2009. ‘Roundtable on ‘Women with 32 Disabilities: A Challenge to Feminist Theology,’ Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 33 10:2 (1994). Nancy Eiesland, “Encountering the Disabled God,” The Other Side (2002), 10–15. Doreen Freeman, “A Feminist Theology of Disability,” Feminist Theology: The 34 Journal of the Britain and Ireland School of Feminist Theology 29, 71–85. 35 11 Stewart Govig, Strong at the Broken Places: Persons with Disabilities and the Church, 36 Louisville (Westminster/John Knox Press) 1989. 37 12 Frances Young, Face to Face: A Narrative Essay in the Theology of Suffering, London 38 (Epworth) 1986. 39 13 David Pailin, A Gentle Touch: From a Theology of Handicap to a Theology of Human 40 Being, London (SPCK) 1992. 14 Jean Vanier, Community and Growth, New York (Paulist Press) 1989. Jennie Weiss Block, 41 Copious Hosting: A Theology of Access for People with Disabilities, New York/London 42 (Continuum) 2000. 43 15 Gillibrand,
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