Theology and Down Syndrome: Reimagining Disability in Late Modernity

Studies in Religion, Theology, and Disability

by Amos Yong

While the struggle for disability rights has transformed secular ethics and public policy, traditional Christian teaching has been slow to account for disability in its theological imagination. Amos Yong crafts both a theology of disability and a theology informed by disability. The result is a Christian theology that not only connects with our present social, medical, and scientific understanding of disability but also one that empowers a set of best practices appropriate to our late modern context.

Genres: Theology, Disability, Faith, Nonfiction

462 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Amos Yong is the J. Rodman Williams Professor of Theology and Director of the Ph.D. in Renewal Studies program at Regent University Divinity School in Virginia Beach, VA. He is the Co-editor of Pneuma, the journal of the Society of Pentecostal Studies.

Reviews

[Jared Mcnabb · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some helpful chapters and ideas. Especially benefited from the discussion on the social, economic and political aspects of disability. The strength of the book was the last chapter on eschatology, in which Yong explored the nature of redemption and disability, in terms of continuity and discontinuity.

On the whole the book used disability perspectives of defend a range of what I consider to be fairly radical theological proposals; from the emergentist anthropology, to the Kenotic christology, denial of historical Adam, some flirtations with universalism, and a critique of biblical passages as being "ableist." Critical theories were never far from Yong's proposals.

[Joel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Too often people with disabilities and in particular people with intellectual disabilities are overlooked in disciplines like theology. These disciplines tend to deal with man, or more recently, men and women and ignore any special issues that arise for people who do not have the full set of capabilities typically ascribed to these abstract categories. Yong's book is an attempt to rectify this omission. No small task.

The work devotes large sections to disability in the bible, medical conceptions of disability, disability studies and disability theory applied to systematic theology. Each topic could sustain a large volume on its own and it is to Yong's credit that none of the topics feel as if they have been given short shrift. Each chapter begins with a story about Yong's brother who has down syndrome. This grounds what could otherwise be an airy exercise in academese in the daily dilemmas of life.

As someone new to working with people with disabilities and who sees much of their world through the lens of theology, I found much that was helpful in this work. The last section, on the resurrection, rung particularly true as I have spent much time worrying about how someone simply being 'cured' of a disability at that time devalues the unique and fascinating person they've become in virtue of that disability. I was also struck by his suggestion that we need to use the same care in talking about God's will concerning disability as we would in talking of the nature of the Trinity. There's many other such insights in this work and much will be gained from it by any and all concerned with these issues. Lest the 450 pages be intimidating, be encouraged, over a hundred of those are notes. This is a well crafted introduction to this topic and an excellent framework for future investigations into this field.

[Susan Windley-Daoust · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has some theologese in places, but overall this is a very lovely, well-conceived book on what people with Down Syndrome have to offer us by their presence, and how that should inform theological discourse on many things from ecclesiology to anthropology. Occasional stories about his adult brother with DS make the text come alive, and feel very human. It sounds like Yong is Assemblies of God, but he explains that tradition when necessary to a broader audience, and clearly reads across the Christian tradition. Very very nice book that makes you think, without sentimentality, about the beauty of all God's people.

[Major Treadway · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amos Yong asks questions in this book that are as unsettling as they are important for the church - among them: If the gospel being preached/practiced by the church does not have room enough for persons living with disabilities to be full participants, is it really the gospel? What in our theology needs to change so that our theology does not deny the full humanity of those who live with a physical and/or mental handicap?

[Stephen Bedard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best books on Disability Theology that I have read. despite the title, it is not just about Down Syndrome. It is helpful for looking at all intellectual disabilities and even disabilities in general. Plus it is just a really helpful theology book.