Enabling Grace: Towards Pauline Perspectives on Disability

People with disabilities can face unique challenges across the globe, particularly in places where there is a lack of awareness and community support for them and their families. Dr. Susan Mathew, a distinguished biblical scholar and mother of a child with special needs, presents this disability reading of the Pauline letters with a focus on 2 Corinthians 12:7b-10, in which the apostle presents a paradox of healing as he asserts that God's grace and power are made sufficient in the face of human weakness.

In this timely work, Dr. Mathew explores the theme of disability, emphasizing the enabling and transformative power of grace in the lives of persons with disabilities. She brings thorough biblical exegesis and theological insight together with her extensive experience in the ministry of support, care, and empowerment of children with special needs to present a new understanding of power in weakness. Moving towards a holistic vision of grace in the context of affliction and disability, Dr. Mathew's reading provides encouragement to those with disabilities and their caregivers, as well as highlighting the importance of our mutual response and responsibility as the church and in society.

SUSAN MATHEW has a PhD in biblical studies from Durham University, UK, and currently serves as a professor of New Testament at Faith Theological Seminary, Kerala, India. She is also the founder and director of the Project for Children with Special Needs and their Families, where she lives out her passion to empower and uplift those on the margins of society.