Encountering the Disabled God - Nancy Eisland

1. Name of author, name of essay/chapter reporting on:

Nancy Eisland, Encountering the Disabled God

2. Your articulation of their thesis:

            Eisland argues that the church has become inaccessible to those with disabilities – it treats them with pity and inhospitality instead of respect, inclusion, and acceptance. Sometimes the leaders even spin the theology to ostracize and outright reject disabled persons. The author comes up with some examples of this problem – passages in the Bible say to exclude disabled people, yes, but also to help them – with monetary aid, medical aid, etc. – yet we ignore the second command and carefully obey the first one. This is wrong. Disabled people aren’t being punished, and they aren’t “special” – it’s simply the way they are, and there’s nothing wrong with them. It’s a part of them. The key to treating disabled people right is to remember Christ’s injuries when He was resurrected – remember that He is a disabled God.

3. At least three links or images that illustrate the ideas of the article:

1. Eisland mentions the “sip-puff”wheelchair and how it symbolizes a “survivor.” A survivor (a person in a “sip-puff”) is not totally helpless, but not free, either. They aren’t completely miserable, but not truly happy – they’re suffering because of the disability at the same time as having joy at the freedom and ability to do things because of the mobility the wheelchair gives them.

2. This painting of Jesus with the stab wound he suffered at the hands of the Romans symbolizes a “disabled God.” Jesus is so rarely portrayed with these wounds, yet it’s so integral to who He is and what He did for us – I think it’s really important that we remember that Jesus Himself is disabled, and that He chose to become so for us.

3. This short little article really showed to me that every religion struggles with disabled people and how to treat them. While they all have a slightly different theology, they all agree that the religious community should draw together to support and love disabled people – that, at least, is something everyone should be able to agree on, both within and among different religions.

4. At least two discussion questions that will help your reader develop the ideas of the article:

1. The most important thing Jesus ever did was die for our sins, yet He is almost never portrayed with the wounds He suffered doing so. Why do you think this is? (Random offshoot: Do you think Jesus, in Heaven, has his nail/stab/crown of thorns wounds?)

2. What is it in our modern society that tells us that disabled people are weird/abnormal/subpar in some way? Why do parents tell children not to stare at them? Should they?