What do you think?
Rate this book
Studies in Religion, Theology, and Disability
The Bible and Disability: A Commentary
The Bible and A Commentary (BDC) is the first comprehensive commentary on the Bible from the perspective of disability. The BDC examines how the Bible constructs or reflects human wholeness, impairment, and disability in all their expressions. Biblical texts do envision the ideal body, but they also present visions of the body that deviate from this ideal, whether physically or through cognitive impairments or mental illness. The BDC engages the full range of these depictions of body and mind, exploring their meaning through close readings and comparative analysis.
The BDC enshrines the distinctive interpretive imagination required to span the worlds of biblical studies and disability studies. Each of the fourteen contributors has worked at this intersection; and through their combined expertise, the very best of both biblical studies and disability studies culminates in detailed textual work of description, interpretation, and application to provide a synthetic and synoptic whole. The result is a close reading of the Bible that gives long-overdue attention to the fullness of human identity narrated in the Scriptures.
The BDC enshrines the distinctive interpretive imagination required to span the worlds of biblical studies and disability studies. Each of the fourteen contributors has worked at this intersection; and through their combined expertise, the very best of both biblical studies and disability studies culminates in detailed textual work of description, interpretation, and application to provide a synthetic and synoptic whole. The result is a close reading of the Bible that gives long-overdue attention to the fullness of human identity narrated in the Scriptures.
511 pages, Paperback
Published October 1, 2017
5 people are currently reading
94 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 23, 2019
I really enjoyed this commentary. Of course each section was by a different author, so there are different styles. But it was a thoughtful reflection on what the Bible says about disabilities. This should be required reading for disability theology.
December 31, 2019
Rather than a general disability theology, this useful academic book looks at various books and genres and attempts a disability theology reading of the Bible. There are excellent contributors well-known in the field of disability theology, e.g. Sarah Melcher covers Genesis and Exodus and wisdom literature, Jeremy Schipper takes Joshua-2 Kings, and Candida Moss covers Mark and Matthew.
Not only do they raise important questions about ableist interpretations of scripture, they also present a more positive reading of scripture from a disabled viewpoint. My only quibble is that it is too brief to be called a commentary proper, and I would love to see a book that’s even more in-depth than this selection. However, this is the only one of its kind and is a thoroughly helpful book that I would recommend to every preacher or aspiring Bible teacher.
Not only do they raise important questions about ableist interpretations of scripture, they also present a more positive reading of scripture from a disabled viewpoint. My only quibble is that it is too brief to be called a commentary proper, and I would love to see a book that’s even more in-depth than this selection. However, this is the only one of its kind and is a thoroughly helpful book that I would recommend to every preacher or aspiring Bible teacher.
December 11, 2018
This is an extremely well written book. It is a great resource for analyzing problematic passages in the Bible and understanding how disability is viewed in biblical times as well as today. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in studying the Bible. Clergy should especially use this commentary when preparing sermons.
July 21, 2020
A very thorough and helpful book that I found insightful in some parts and challenging in others. Sometimes the application of some books to disability insights were a bit of a stretch but others were creative and positive. There is a real mix of interpretations and difficulties with the biblical perspective on disability and not all of it serves people with disabilities well in our times, or perhaps in any time. But, I find a lot of positive perspectives and understanding the context then and now is helpful.
July 3, 2019
An important volume. The amount of work on disability in the Hebrew Bible clearly shows as the chapters on the Old Testament I find are personally more insightful than those in the NT. The chapters on the gospels are very good but the work on the rest of the NT leaves something to be desired.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews