Crippled Grace

Crippled Grace is a book in the Studies in Religion, Theology and Disability series by Baylor University Press. The series will include books that discuss disability in all of the faith traditions. The author is a theology professor at Alphacrucis College in Sydney, Australia. Readers note that both the author and this blogger have mobility impairments.

The author, Shane Clifton, had my utmost attention from the first paragraph of the Introduction. I knew that I would be buying this book which I had taken out of my local library. He struck a cord with this statement "We are told by charismatic preachers and motivational speakers that to concede to the constraints of disability is to fail in faith; to give in to doubt rather than be positive... " Boy, have I heard that fail in faith message over and over.

He also brought up a touchy subject that people with disabilities are set up to be used as inspirational, something we in the disability community call inspiration porn.  The purpose of inspiration porn is to make nondisabled people feel better about their life circumstances. The author states his intention in the Introduction to show in his book that disability, happiness and faith are not self-contradictory.  I had never thought of this viewpoint before but can see that he is right.

Clifton was already a theology professor when he became a quadriplegic. The experience caused him to reevaluate his thoughts on Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas' viewpoints toward virtue. For example, Aristotle believed that ill health was not only undesirable but restricted the full exercise of virtue and the good life. He also believed women and slaves were inferior and therefore incapable of virtue.  You can make a similar application of these thoughts toward disabled people and discern that Aristotle would not have considered disabled people capable of living a good life. Likewise, Aquinas felt that happiness could be impeded by illness, ie, disability.

There is much more theology from both of these men and other theologians as well as the Bible on issues such as suffering, pain, happiness, and grace.  This is, after all, a theology book. Where necessary, Clifton shows how the theology has been incorrectly interpreted to the detriment of people with disabilities. When he shows a different, or correct, interpretation I am emotional; gaining new knowledge, but emotional. In addition, there are several chapters discussing the psychology of happiness and friendship and one chapter on sexuality.

I must admit that the theology and philosophical theories did not sink in because the communion of experiences among people of disabilities tugged at my emotions. I will read the book at a later date to pick up what I missed.

The book made me feel better as a person with a disability. For me, it has now been 32 years since I became disabled. There was some camaraderie from hearing similar life stories from other persons with disabilities and their families and also the identification of feelings I had toward God and the local church that I was not always consciously aware of. I wanted to get out a yellow highlighter to mark sections that were important to me but this is a library book so I could not do that!

When I picked up this book from the library I thought I would be giving a review of its theology on disability. However, it touched me personally and that is all I can say.