Human Disability and the Service of God

A living religious tradition continually reassesses its practices. In our contemporary situation, the task of reassessment must attend to the presence of persons with disabilities who are increasingly taking part in public life and therefore in the worship and work of the churches. What questions, insights, and perspectives should be advanced if people with disabilities, in all their diversity, were placed at the center of religious life and education?

The fourteen contributors to this volume address this multi-faceted question. Drawing upon various disciplines and diverse experiences, the authors explore how human disability bears upon the service of God. In turn, the chapters examine how the participation of people with disabilities relates to interpretation of biblical and other sacred texts that speak of sin, disability, and healing; what theological vision is necessary to integrate the disabled into Christian life and worship; what the socio-cultural context is within which people with disabilities press for full inclusion; and how worship, as a theological act, can form communities in a more relevant spirituality of inclusiveness.

Congregations are challenged by these writers to re-envision their actual practices of communal life and worship. This collaborative work shows that the "service of God" as liturgy and as communal accountability can deepen and mature only as the diversity of human capabilities is honored.

Nancy L. Eiesland is Assistant Professor of Sociology of Religion at Candler School of Theology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia. Her recent publications include The Disabled God (Abingdon Press, 1994) and Contemporary American Religion (1997, with Penny Becker).

Don E. Saliers is William R. Cannon Distinguished Professor of Theology and Worship at Candler School of Theology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.