Discussing Amy Kenny, part 3

I

The discussion sessions for My Body Is Not a Prayer Request have finished, but I wanted to share some further resources for those who are interested in following up on topics we touched on. 

Anabaptist Disabilities Network: https://www.anabaptistdisabilitiesnetwork.org/

Christian Reformed Church Thrive: https://www.crcna.org/disability

(Episcopal) Deaf and Disabilities Ministry Exchange: https://www.facebook.com/DisabilityMinstryExchange

Presbyterians for Disability Concerns: https://www.facebook.com/PresbyteriansForDisabilityConcerns and http://www.phewacommunity.org/pdcdisabilityconcerns.html

RespectAbility: https://www.respectability.org/ and https://www.facebook.com/RespectAbilityUSA

UCC Disability Ministries: https://www.facebook.com/UCCDM/ and https://uccdm.org/ 

United Methodist Committee on Disability Ministries Ministries: https://umcdmc.org/ and  https://www.facebook.com/DisAbilityMinistriesUM. Deaf and hard-of-hearing ministries is a separate group, https://umdeaf.org

II

On 193, Kenny offers a reading list. I have expanded this into the other topics of this series, as well as a few updates that post-date her book, with a look at liberation theology and history, which forms the foundation of all the books. Links included for those I have written about.

Black, Kathy. A Healing Homiletic: Preaching and Disability. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996. Pioneering application of Eiesland’s principles in re-visioning the implications of healing in the gospels.

Bushman, Richard. The Refinement of America: Persons, Houses, Cities. New York: Vintage, 1993. A survey of one of the few trickle-down theories that have worked, chapter 3 traces the Enlightenment notion of a well-ordered body, but doesn’t carry through to disability (although that is not the topic of the book).

Cone, James. A Black Theology of Liberation (50th anniversary edition).  Maryknoll: Orbis Books 2020. With Wilkerson, important background for Kendi as well as the tone of the disability movement.

Davie, Ann, and Ginny Thornburgh. That All May Worship: an interfaith welcome to people with disabilities. Washington: National Organization on Disability, 1997. OP, available online: https://sacredplaces.org/uploads/files/462725613607030908-that-all-may-worship.pdf.

Davis, Lennard, ed. The Disability Studies Reader, 4th ed. New York: Routledge, 2013. Wide-ranging textbook, a more comprehensive version of the Nielsen history listed by Kinney.

Eiesland, Nancy. The Disabled God: Toward a Liberatory Theology of Disability. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1994. Groundbreaking application of liberation theology to disability that proclaims God as disabled. Includes a Eucharist that got me into trouble in seminary.

Gutierrez, Gustavo. A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics, and Salvation (15th anniversary) Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1988. From a Catholic priest who originated the term liberation theology.

Hiebert, Theodore. The Beginning of Difference: Discovering Identity in God’s Diverse World. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2019. http://flyingkittymonster.blogspot.com/2020/08/a-theology-of-diversity.html

Jordan, Winthrop. White Over Black: American Attitudes Toward the Negro, 1550-1812. Penguin, 1969. http://flyingkittymonster.blogspot.com/2020/05/white-over-black.html

Kenny, Amy. My Body is Not a Prayer Request: Disability Justice in the Church. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press. https://flyingkittymonster.blogspot.com/2022/08/sturmisch-bewegt.html

Melcher, Sarah, Mikeal Parsons, Amos Yong, eds. The Bible and Disability. Waco: Baylor University Press, 2017. More comprehensive than the Yong book that Kenny cites in her list. https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=51631

Rieger, Joerg and Priscila Silva, “Liberation Theologies and Their Future: Rethinking Categories and Popular Participation in Liberation” Religions 14 (7, 2023): 925 (https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14070925)

Walker, Robert L., ed., Speaking Out: Gifts of Ministering Undeterred by Disabilities. United Methodist Association of Ministers with Disabilities, 2012. Ecumenical, stories of people with disabilities called to ministries.

Wilkerson, Isabel. Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. New York: Random House, 2020. http://flyingkittymonster.blogspot.com/2020/11/a-caste-for-casts.html

III

News items that came up during the discussions.

Dingle, Shannon, “This is why disabled people were no devastated by the Christian silence on health care” Washington Post July 28, 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2017/07/28/this-is-why-disabled-people-were-so-devastated-by-the-christian-silence-on-health-care/: among the justice concerns that churches need address about disabilities.

Garson, Justin, “Seeing Depression as Having a Purpose Could Aid Healing” Psychology Today June 19, 2023. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-biology-of-human-nature/202306/how-seeing-depression-as-purposeful-may-promote-healing: on the question of why conditions are labeled “disorders”.

Kase, Em, “Make your local LGBTQ+ Pride Event Wheelchair Accessible” https://unitedspinal.org/make-your-local-lgbtq-pride-event-wheelchair-accessible/: far too few “inclusive” events are really inclusive

Velle, Elaine, “National Gallery of Art Apologizes for Removing Visitor with Disability” Hyperallergic July 25, 2023. https://hyperallergic.com/835400/national-gallery-of-art-apologizes-for-removing-visitor-with-disability/: “So many disabled people have had experiences being excluded at galleries and not being able to attend. A lot of times, disabled people get exhausted from having to ask over and over so they just stop.”