A Theology of Incarnation from Within Dis-Abled Minds: Our Wounds are Not for Healing

2017 | Philosophy, Psychology & Social Sciences

Too frequently, theology has addressed issues of mental health from a largely pastoral and detached observational perspective. This book asks whether the model of an embodied and experiential theology of disability, championed by theologians such as Nancy Eiesland, can more powerfully and insightfully apply to those who are described as suffering from severe and enduring mental health problems. A Theology of Incarnation from Within Dis-Abled Minds is an auto-ethnographic journey into a question that is both deeply personal and theo-therapeutic. Utilising the author's own experiences, it explores whether there can be an applied theology, rooted in the living 'tradition' of feminist and queer theology, that begins to question classical definitions of the 'sane' and 'insane'. Can certain contemporary theological models of chaos, in creation and cosmology, offer a valorised place for those whose psycho-chaos is usually deemed to be of little value in western capitalist economies, except as the recipients of 'professional compassion'?

This book offers a transgressive theology of healing and wellbeing based on radical feminist Christological understanding which speaks as much of anger, chaos, and resistance as it does of peace, healing or reconciliation. Therefore, it will be of keen interest to scholars of Religion and Theology, as well as those working in Psychiatry, Mental Health and Disability Studies.

Christopher Newell (Author)