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People With Disabilities In Nancy Eiesland's The Disabled God

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In The Disabled God, Nancy Eiesland articulates a persistent thread in the Christian tradition concerning how persons with disabilities are viewed. All too often, she notes, they are seen as either “divinely blessed or damned: the defiled evildoer or the spiritual superhero.” These polarizing portrayals do not emerge out of thin air, but rather can be linked to various texts in the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament which have helped form prevalent attitudes and assumptions regarding disabilities. John Hull’s “Open Letter from a Blind Disciple to a Sighted Savior” exposes the danger of interpreting Biblical texts without consideration for how those interpretations impact persons with disabilities. One example of this is when Hull takes issue with Jesus’ use of metaphors to diminish those with disabilities, a trend which often continues into the present day: …show more content…

Eiesland, Hull, and many others draw attention to the harmful side of Scripture’s disability imagery; while this imagery can be used to express spiritual healing and hope, it is all too often is at the expense of those living with disabilities. This, then, presents a crucial issue: how are modern people, particularly Christians, to interpret passages about disability? Especially passages persons with disability label as damaging and

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