Autism and the Image of God: on Becoming a Mobile and Reproductive Church
Disabilities like autism invite the church to reconsider the meaning and grammar of the gospel message. The reality that most people with disabilities do not feel positively welcome in churches has several root causes, some of which may trace back to truncated Christian accounts of the image of God....
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Institution
2021
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| In: |
Cultural encounters
Year: 2021, Volume: 16, Issue: 2, Pages: 5-20 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Disabilities like autism invite the church to reconsider the meaning and grammar of the gospel message. The reality that most people with disabilities do not feel positively welcome in churches has several root causes, some of which may trace back to truncated Christian accounts of the image of God. The paper suggests that churches who want to become more open to the gifts of people God has for them through people with disabilities should ask: "How do we image God toward those with disabilities?" It was this latter question that oriented the interest of Christians during the patristic period in the social outcasts in their societies, as it continues to motivate some Christians in the non-Western world as they enact love in very practical ways for people their own society discards. I conclude with a personal example of how this new theological perspective reshapes Christians' ways of living as church. |
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| ISSN: | 1550-4891 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Cultural encounters
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