Marilyn Takes Me For A Walk
I am having a bad day at the group home, the sort of day where I find myself drafting resignation letters in my head. There is too much to do, and [Read More]
Uniquely Equipped
He didn’t seem to me to think that Moses’s challenges or limitations were worth focusing on. Instead, he emphasized their relationship. Since Aaron did not focus on his older brother’s challenges or limitations, he caused me to wonder, why should I?
The Least of These
A kingdom vision is one without hunger, thirst, sickness, loneliness or imprisonment. Rather than, wasting time trying to determine who among us belongs to what category of "the least of these", can we work together and with God toward that vision instead?
Mephibosheth at the table of the King
Are we deliberate in our own lives to welcome someone with a disability to our table? Are we careful to recognize that person by their name, who they are, rather than their disability?
A world without Down syndrome? (video)
In a recent BBC documentary, Sally Phillips explores the potential ramifications of a new, less-intrusive screening test for Down syndrome.
Challenges to Personhood 3: Sociology
The Globe and Mail reported a recent Danish headline that reads “Plans to Make Denmark a Down syndrome-free perfect society”. In Denmark the discussion is taking place regarding aborting fetuses with Down Syndrome so their society will be “free of” such people around 2030.
Challenges to Personhood 2: Bioethics
Utilitarianism forms the backbone of Singer’s theories. For him, ethics and the question of personhood should be rooted in ‘quality of life’ rather than in hypothetical ideas about ‘sanctity’. Much of his thinking revolves around the question “can they suffer?” As such, animals and humans are placed on equal terms. For him the question is not between human and animal, but between ‘person’ and ‘non-person’.
Created in the image of God (Imago Dei)
One cannot think about theology of disability without soon wrestling with the notion that each human being is created in the image of God (Gen 1:27-28). Found in all "religions of [Read More]
Challenges to Personhood 1: Philosophy
One important idea that has been resonating in philosophical circles over the past two decades is a growing conversation regarding the difference between what is ‘human’ and who is a ‘person’. The ideas of what constitutes a ‘person’ are certainly not new. We find the roots of these controversial discussions in the writings of the Greek philosophers Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Many of the new ‘ideas’ are simply a repackaging of very old ones.