Disabled God Revisited, The: Trinity, Christology, and Liberation

by Lisa D. Powell

Lisa D. Powell strengthens and amplifies the claim that God is disabled, made by Nancy Eiesland in her ground breaking book The Disabled God (1994). She offers an alternative understanding of the doctrine of God and the Trinity, resulting in a God who is not autonomous and utterly independent. According to this view, God’s triune identity is established in God’s decision for covenant, and thus creation is a requirement for the fulfillment of God’s nature - not only is the Son always anticipating full embodiment and human nature, but more specifically is eternally anticipating an impaired body. Powell argues that God is not only interdependent within the immanent Trinity, but God experiences real dependency, risk and vulnerability from God’s “original” self-determination. Powell revisits Eiesland’s claim about Christ’s resurrected body and her conclusions about eschatological embodiment, arguing that it is the able-body that does not persist eschatologically, but all humanity journeys toward ever more transparency, vulnerability and interdependency as the Body of Christ.

Genres: Disability, Theology, Religion, Nonfiction, Faith

164 pages, Hardcover

Published May 18, 2023

Reviews

[Cody Bivins-Starr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clearly a contribution that furthers the field. Exactly what the field has needed for some time.

[Daniel Rempel · Rating 5 out of 5]

There have been many important recent texts in disability theology, and this book is just as good as any of them, traversing important methodological terrain that will certainly advance conversations within and beyond the discipline.

From a purely theological level, I remain (perhaps temporarily) unconvinced, but in the best way possible. Powell has come out and made bold claims that one is forced to wrestle with: paradigm-shifting claims that can neither be easily adopted or swatted away quickly. She takes undeveloped claims in Eiesland and reads them alongside McCormackian readings of Barth to develop a robust disability-informed systematics, although like Jon Coutts has mentioned, I too wonder about collapsing the Creator-creature distinction, and whether that is really the best way forwards. Regardless, she has given me much to wrestle with, and I will be pondering her claims for quite some time.

We’ve been waiting for a book like this for quite some time. Disability has been allergic to systematic engagement, and the same could be true of the systematics about disability. Powell, however, fearlessly weds the two together, and we cannot go back.

[Jon Coutts · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a brilliant explanation and substantiation of Eiesland's constructive theological claims. I'm on board with the move to root interdependence in God's eternal receptivity - I just find the polemic against divine aseity unnecessary. Implied in the view that God makes an eternal decision to "need" creation is the free and abundant perfection from which to do so. Indeed it is this infinite perfection which is claimed by the book as the basis for the ever-transforming eschaton to come. Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see this as a bad thing. In fact I think it provides a surer footing for the substantive claims of the book; namely, that creaturely differences are not to be indexed to power hierarchies that enable control, but are to be joined in the interchanges of mutual need. Barth made some missteps in his ascription of divine-human asymmetry to the realm of gender, but to my mind that's corrected by reasserting the Creator-creature distinction rather than blurring it. With Jesus as Lord, no one else is.

[Jesse Hershberger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think Dr. Powell just solved one of the biggest problems in disability theology? She's also the only person I ever want to explain Barth to me every again. Easy 5 stars.

[Ryan Turnbull · Rating 5 out of 5]

A worthwhile read! Accessible to those new to, or wanting to catch up on the state of disability theology and also offers an intriguing constructive proposal on how queer, crip, and disability theologies can help us think through categories of vulnerability and receptivity as core to the doctrine of God. Prepare to be stimulated and challenged in this masterpiece.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a solid evaluation and critique of The Disabled God by Nancy Eisland. I don't know if I agree with Powell's conclusion about kenosis and Barthian Christology, but I really liked the way she brings queer theology and disability theology into conversation. The last chapter of the book is my favourite, and it more than makes up for my doubts about the middle of the book.

[Alli · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you’re relying on Barthian critique then you’ve already lost me