The Bible and Disability

Scholarship that employs a disability studies lens to interpret the Bible is vigorous and increasingly important today. The editors of The Bible and Disability—Sarah Melcher, Mikeal Parsons, and Amos Yong—have themselves been important contributors to recent research on embodiment and disability in Scripture and theology. For this project, they have gathered an impressive team of scholars to join them in probing a wide range of biblical texts from the perspective of disability. This commentary consolidates much of the wisdom on offer in recent disability studies approaches to the Bible. It will offer an especially helpful resource for readers—whether temporarily able-bodied or not—who are not yet familiar with this way of engaging Scripture. This is a welcome addition to my library.

~John Carroll, Harriet Robertson Fitts Memorial Professor of New Testament, Union Presbyterian Seminary

Our society has been slow to acknowledge and take up responsibility for the wellbeing of disabled persons among us. We have been slower still in grasping the urgent theological dimensions of the issue of disability. For these reasons this book is a most welcome one. This impressive roster of contributors breaks new ground in exploring the interface of biblical testimony and the reality of disability and in seeing in the biblical text the inescapable reality of disability. For many readers, this collection of fine essays will constitute a steep learning curve for seeing what we had not seen in the text, and thinking what we had not thought as a result of new seeing. The writers and editors are to be congratulated on this impressive and instructive study.

~Walter Brueggemann, William Marcellus McPheeters Professor of Old Testament Emeritus, Columbia Theological Seminary

The Bible and Disability: A Commentary offers groundbreaking work in linking two distinct areas of scholarship: biblical studies and disability studies. The authors read the Bible’s narratives, oracles, and letters while asking how the categories of ‘temporarily abled,’ ‘ill,’ ‘possessed,’ and others are framed in Scripture. Their overriding question is: what counts for ‘normal’ human experience in the Bible? Anyone interested in the fields of biblical studies and disability studies will need to engage with this volume.

~Kathryn Greene-McCreight, author of Darkness Is My Only Companion: A Christian Response to Mental Illness

…A valuable teaching and research resource for years to come.

~Susannah Cornwall, Reading Religion

This groundbreaking volume brings the perspectives of disability studies to the interpretation of the Bible. Conceived and written by a team of scholars, the essays in this work scan the entirety of the Bible, zeroing in on key passages and motifs with special relevance for the topic.

~John R. Barker, The Bible Today

An exceedingly valuable collection.

~Tim Vermande, H-NET Reviews

A stimulating collection of diverse essays, which are suggestive and engaging for anyone who is fairly new to this field.

~Jane Heath, Journal for the Study of the New Testament

The Bible and Disability: A Commentary will be an invaluable resource for biblical scholars, who cannot afford to remain ignorant of disability in the Bible, as well as for disability scholars who seek insight about disability in the ancient world, and for students and lay readers of the Bible.

~Kirsty Jones, Catholic Biblical Quarterly

The combined enthusiasm and insights of its contributors provide an encouraging starting point for additional scholarship of this kind, especially as future interpreters explore other subject positions and methodologies relevant to disability perspectives. I strongly recommend this text as both required reading in religious studies courses and a personal resource for research and homiletics.

~David N. Scott, Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology