Disability and Christian Theology: Embodied Limits and Constructive Possibilities

by Deborah Beth Creamer

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 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 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.

Genres: Disability, Theology, Religion, Nonfiction, Christianity

156 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2008

Reviews

[Jake DeBacher]

An excellent work that collects several prominent models, and contributes Creamer's own Limits Model.

[steds]

Really good treatment of disability in conversation with theology. Wish she had delved more into her own model and its theological implications.

[Niamh]

A very interesting book but feel that it is too short. The case for considering a God with limits from a very particular perspective was different and as someone who is a classical theist found aspects compelling. But I would loved more than ten or so pages on it to really think through what this model would mean.

[Jon Coutts]

The foray into McFague's modified panentheism is fascinating but ends up suggesting that this renovation of theological anthropology is more fringe than it needs to be. For me, reading this with Bonhoeffer makes the lights go on.

[Sarah]

Dry but important.

"[The limits model of disability] highlights the fact that we all experience limits, that these limits differ, and that these limits are accepted, rejected, accentuated, complicated, degraded, and lived in many different ways. It offers us the ability to think of the presence of limits as a natural and good aspect of being human that at the same time is inherently difficult and challenging. ... This perspective of limits does not universalize, relativize, or minimize individual experiences..."

"Key to the limits model is the recognition that "disability" is actually more normal than any other state of embodiedness." (32)