Autism Spectrum Disorders and the New Testament: Preliminary Reflections

Macaskill, Grant

doi:10.1080/23312521.2017.1373613

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Grant Macaskill likewise addresses 1 Cor 1-2 in his discussions of the Bible and ASD. 66 Paul articulates a contrast between his message and dominant values of strength and wisdom, which can fund a countercultural interpretation of the cross still today. In Macaskill's comments, however, neither Paul's affirmation of weakness nor that of strength plays a role.…”

Section:  Hauerwas On Disabilities: the Question Of Sufferingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fleshing Out the Strength of Weakness: Intercorporeality in the Theological Discourse on Disability

Massmann

2024

H. Theolo. Review

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In the context of theological interpretations of disabilities, I am arguing for the concept of “strength in weakness.” So far, a “theology of weakness,” which portrays people with disabilities as pointedly illustrating universal human weakness, has played a very prominent role in the field. I argue that this theological interpretation of disabilities should not be the dominant one. I trace the alternative model of “strength in weakness” in discussing writings by the apostle Paul and describe how it is supported by the anthropological concept of intercorporeality. Yet first, the article discusses Stanley Hauerwas’s theology of disability, which is not only a very pointed theology of weakness but also repeatedly associates disabilities with suffering. Since at least the latter aspect is in contrast with widespread self-perceptions among people with disabilities, a theology of weakness amounts to a “narrative prosthesis” (David Mitchell and Sharon Snyder). By contrast, Paul suggests that weakness can allow for distinct strengths. To flesh out distinctive competences of people with intellectual disabilities, I then discuss Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s concept of intercorporeality. Intercorporeality denotes a human competence more generally, but I suggest that it is often partly eclipsed by social norms. However, people with intellectual disabilities often pay less attention to social norms, which helps explain a distinctive intercorporeal competence among people with intellectual disabilities. Reduced attention to social norms can imply a distinctive strength.

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Section:  Hauerwas On Disabilities: the Question Of Sufferingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fleshing Out the Strength of Weakness: Intercorporeality in the Theological Discourse on Disability

Massmann

2024

H. Theolo. Review

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“…To describe the church as meeting in the house of Prisca and Aquila is to assign ownership of the house to both of them, a fundamentally anti-patriarchal move. In my own work on how the biblical material might bear on autism, the cultural subversiveness of the text, understood within its historical context, is an important element, particularly in my reading of 1 Corinthians (see, e.g., Macaskill, 2018a).…”

Section: Practice 3: We Respect the Historical Particularities Of The Biblementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since moving to the University of Aberdeen in 2015, I have dedicated a significant part of my research to thinking about autism (Macaskill, 2018a(Macaskill, , 2019b. Specifically, as the Chair of New Testament Exegesis, I have explored the question of what it means to "think biblically" about autism, recognizing that I ask this question in a distinctively Christian register, with a distinctively Christian definition of "Bible."…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Bible, Autism and Other Profound Developmental Conditions: Regulating Hermeneutics

Macaskill

2021

Journal of Disability & Religion

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Almost every church or Christian community is affected by the presence of autism, as it is now understood. Christians who consider the Bible to be the normative guide for matters of thought and practice turn to this body of Scripture as they seek to deal Christianly with this recently-labelled reality. Because the condition of autism was not known as such in the ancient world, the attempt to "think biblically" about it cannot be reduced to the exegesis of texts that obviously describe it, and this quickly exposes the limitations of the exegetical methodologies practiced within the discipline of Biblical Studies, even by faithful scholars and pastors. Christians may develop well-intentioned and creative attempts to apply biblical teaching to autism, but if these are not regulated by good interpretative and theological principles, such accounts can be inappropriate and pastorally destructive. Autism, moreover, does not stand alone, but exemplifies a range of developmental conditions not known as such in the ancient world, particularly those involving cognitive development.

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“…This article was first conceived as a follow-up to an essay published in this journal in 2018, which was, in its own terms, a work of preliminary reflection on how biblical studies (particularly the part focused on the New Testament) might be related to autistic experience (Macaskill, 2018). I had expected this essay to extend the "exegetical" elements of that essay, either by analyzing the texts in more detail or by considering further texts that might be considered relevant.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Autism and Biblical Studies: Establishing and Extending the Field beyond Preliminary Reflection

Macaskill

2021

Journal of Disability & Religion

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This article considers core issues of practice, method and hermeneutics, as they bear upon the development of a scholarly field concerned with "Autism and Biblical Studies. " A small body of scholarship has begun to bring biblical studies into dialogue with research into autism, and to reflect on the pertinent methodological issues; this article acknowledges the preliminary character of this and reflects upon what might be necessary for this emergent area of interest to be established as a mature field of research. The extending of the discussion to incorporate a range of sub-disciplines, each operating with different core "identifications" of the biblical material, is crucial to this, as is the careful use of insights from postcolonial and ideological critical approaches. Pivotally, however, research must also be shaped and led by those who are themselves autistic, so that autism is properly the subject and not merely the object of research.

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Autism Spectrum Disorders and the New Testament: Preliminary Reflections

Cited by 8 publications

References 34 publications

Fleshing Out the Strength of Weakness: Intercorporeality in the Theological Discourse on Disability

Fleshing Out the Strength of Weakness: Intercorporeality in the Theological Discourse on Disability

The Bible, Autism and Other Profound Developmental Conditions: Regulating Hermeneutics

Autism and Biblical Studies: Establishing and Extending the Field beyond Preliminary Reflection

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