Disability and the Way of Jesus is a must-read for anyone who has wrestled with questions around the way God looks to heal people and the world. In particular, for Christians who are looking for an account of healing that takes the Bible seriously but also listens closely to the lives and experiences of people who experience disability.
Understanding Joseph as an individual on the autism spectrum helps to illuminate not only the text of the Torah but also many comments and teachings about Joseph found in the classical Jewish sources I had previously studied.
In his honest wrestling with God along a journey of surprise, despair, faith, and aching joy, Jason leads his readers through key Biblical truths, important psychological reflections, and deeply personal insights.
In the winter of 1999, I found myself on a Greyhound bus travelling from Three Rivers, Michigan to Richmond Hill, Ontario. I was moving to L’Arche Daybreak, one of the many communities of people considered intellectually disabled and nondisabled who share life and faith together. A little excited and a little frightened, I went looking for Christian community and a way to live the Gospel. I wound up finding both those things – and a whole lot more.
The strength of this book is the way in which it portrays people with all kinds of disabilities so that various differences in appearance and ability may not seem so strange. It suggests that we should look with our hearts and that the desire to understand someone's appearance or abilities should be motivated by kindness. This principle is reminiscent of (insert Scripture reference?) Which says, "people look at the outward appearance but God looks at the heart."
Suffering isn't always to be identified with disability, but in many cases it is a real part of the lives of people with disabilities and their families. Timothy Keller, pastor at Redemer Presbyterian Church in New York City published a book this month titled Walking with God through Pain and Suffering. There are many books on suffering [...]
