Mid-term Concept Audit 2: Disability Theology and Key Concepts

Comprehensive practice flashcards covering key terms and concepts from Mid-term Concept Audit 2, including scripture interpretation, ecclesiology, time, spirituality, Deaf culture, theological sources, and models of disability.

Four senses of scripture

The traditional framework of biblical interpretation comprising four levels of meaning: literal (the plain sense of the text), moral (how one ought to act), allegorical (how passages connect to Christ and the Church), and anagogical (the eternal or eschatological reality).

Coding disabilities in scripture

The interpretive practice of projecting modern diagnostic categories (such as diagnosing the Apostle Peter with ADHD) back onto biblical figures, carrying both opportunities for modern identification and risks of anachronistic misrepresentation.

Theology of Access

A theological framework articulated by Jennie Weiss Block that views accessibility not merely as architectural accommodation, but as a core gospel requirement rooted in divine hospitality and justice.

Copious Host

Jennie Weiss Block's theological image of God, who generously welcomes, makes room for, and lavishly hosts all people, especially those who have been marginalized or excluded.

Holy Spirit as advocate

In Jennie Weiss Block's ecclesiology, the understanding of the Holy Spirit as one who stands alongside marginalized persons with disabilities, pleading their cause and empowering them to advocate within the church community.

Spirituality of friendship

Jennie Weiss Block's concept highlighting the fundamental difference between physical 'access' (being permitted entry) and true 'belonging' (being known, valued, and in reciprocal relationship).

Hypercognitive Culture

John Swinton's concept describing modern society's tendency to value human worth and personhood primarily on the basis of intellect, speed of thought, productivity, and analytical capability.

Benedictine Time vs. Standard Average European Time (SAET)

The contrast between liturgical/monastic time centered on slow presence, prayer, and divine rhythm versus industrialized, synchronized clock time focused on punctuality, measurement, and economic output.

Disability as a disorder of time

John Swinton's perspective that society labels people with disabilities as 'disordered' because their bodies and minds do not conform to the accelerated speed and rigid pacing required by standard economic time.

Temporarily able-bodied (TAB)

A designation highlighting that able-bodiedness is an impermanent state, recognizing that illness, injury, or the natural process of aging will eventually make all people experience bodily or cognitive limitations.

God as Timeful vs. Timeless

A theological comparison in Swinton (chapter 4) contrasting the philosophical view of an impassible, static God outside of time (timeless) with a biblical God who enters into, creates room for, and walks alongside creatures within creaturely duration (timeful).

"Love has a speed"

A principle discussed in John Swinton's work stating that love moves slowly, requires patience, and cannot be hurried according to modern productivity standards, pointing to how to live in God's time.

Neurodiversity

A framework (from Claire Williams' lecture) conceptualizing neurological differences (such as autism and ADHD) as natural and normal variations of the human genome rather than individual pathologies.

Double empathy problem

A theory challenging traditional deficits by asserting that communication breakdowns between autistic and non-autistic people are mutual, stemming from bidirectional differences in communication style and experience rather than a one-sided autistic flaw.

Identity-conferring disabilities

Conditions so deeply intertwined with a person's personality, perspective, and core selfhood that their removal would erase that person's identity, raising key questions for theological eschatology and the afterlife.

Autistic prayer tendencies

Distinct approaches to prayer observed by Matthew Schneider among autistic believers, often marked by structured repetition, logic, directness, and sensory stimming rather than conventional emotionalized prayer.

Stimming

Self-stimulatory, repetitive body movements or vocal sounds used by neurodivergent individuals to regulate sensory overload, manage emotions, or express internal states.

Voluntary institutionalization

The personal choice, as detailed by Kathryn Greene-McCreight, to admit oneself into psychiatric hospital care as an act of survival, seeking safety and stabilization during severe mental illness.

DEAF-WORLD

A cultural, linguistic, and social sphere defined by the shared use of sign language, shared norms, traditions, and kinship among Deaf people, distinct from mainstream hearing society.

Oralist vs. Manualist

The historical divide in deaf education between forcing deaf individuals to lip-read and speak orally (often justified theologically through 'faith comes by hearing') versus using natural visual sign language (manualism).

1880 Milan Conference

The historic international congress of deaf educators in Milan, Italy, that declared the superiority of speech over signing, banned sign language in educational institutions worldwide, and resulted in widespread marginalization of Deaf culture.

Phonocentrism

The unexamined bias that assumes vocal speech is superior to visual or tactile language and treats auditory communication as the only valid human norm.

A "Hearing" God

The theological assumption or mental imagery held by some deaf individuals that God operates as a hearing entity, often formed due to mainstream hearing theological instruction and biblical translations.

Liturgical accommodation vs. inculturation

The distinction in Seah's work between merely translating a hearing service via an interpreter (accommodation) versus reimagining liturgy entirely from within the linguistic and visual richness of Deaf culture (inculturation).

Shared-signing communities

Villages or regions (documented by Kusters, such as Adamorobe) where a high incidence of hereditary deafness leads hearing and deaf residents to share a common sign language without sharp segregation.

Theological sources

The traditional quadrilateral of resources used to formulate and critique theological beliefs: Scripture, Tradition, Experience, and Reason.

Disability Theology

An academic and pastoral field that critically reflects on the nature of God, church, and society through the lived experiences, epistemologies, and embodiment of people with disabilities.

Moral model of disability

A historical model that links disability directly to moral failing, sin, or divine judgment, interpreting an impairment as a consequence or badge of guilt.

Medical (biomedical) Model / Normalization Model

A model that locates disability entirely within the individual biological body as an anatomical pathology or personal tragedy requiring cure, rehabilitation, or medical correction to reach 'normal.'

Social model of disability

A framework that distinguishes physical/biological impairment from disability, arguing that disability is social oppression and exclusion constructed by physical and attitudinal barriers in the environment.

Limits model of disability

A theological model introduced by Deborah Creamer asserting that experiencing physical, cognitive, and emotional limits is a standard, universal dimension of the human condition rather than a defect.

Bodies of knowledge

Nancy Eisland's concept in Chapter 2 denoting the authoritative, valid theological and practical wisdom that is generated directly from disabled bodily experiences.

Supercrip

A contemporary cultural perception and stereotype where an individual with a disability is celebrated as heroic or extraordinary for overcoming biological adversity or performing ordinary human tasks.

Camp Jened

A summer camp in New York State for teenagers with disabilities that fostered radical empowerment, community, and leadership, helping catalyze the American disability rights movement.

ADA (1990)

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990; landmark federal civil rights legislation in the United States prohibiting discrimination against individuals with disabilities across public life.

The Dignity of Risk

A core philosophical principle of the disability movement asserting that persons with disabilities must have the right to take risks, make mistakes, and experience the natural consequences of self-directed choices.

Universal Design

The architectural and instructional philosophy of designing spaces, products, and learning environments from the outset so they are fully usable by all people, without the need for specialized retrofit accommodations.

Sin-disability conflation

A historical and theological error (critiqued by Nancy Eisland in Chapter 4) that falsely correlates physical or cognitive impairment with individual or ancestral moral transgression.

Disabled God

Nancy Eisland's central theological motif depicting the resurrected Christ revealing his wounded, impaired hands, feet, and side to his disciples, fundamentally reframing disability as intrinsic to divine revelation.

Resymbolization

The theological process (Nancy Eisland, Ch. 5) of reclaiming, redefining, and transforming traditional Christian symbols, images, and practices from the perspective of disabled embodiment.

Church as communion of struggle

Nancy Eisland's ecclesiological vision (Ch. 6) defining the church as a fellowship that works, laments, and actively struggles together against structural exclusion, rather than a passive or idealized collective.

DisArt

An arts and culture organization and movement that utilizes public contemporary art exhibitions to challenge stigmas and cultivate cultural belonging around the disability experience.