Disability and the Bible
Guest editors: Eleanor Vivian, Isaac Soon and Tom de Bruin
Grant F. Gates, “Davidic Kings with Disability: Illness, Disability, and Ideal Monarchs,” 1–20.
KEYWORDS: 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, Disability Studies, David, Mephibosheth, Asa, Azariah, Hezekiah
Royal illness and disability recur as motifs within the accounts of the Davidic monarchs provided in the books of Samuel and Kings. Recent work done on the intersection of disability studies and the Hebrew Bible provides a framework for tracing this motif throughout the history of the southern kingdom in 1 and 2 Kings. Under this framework, kings who are identified as acting righteously in the eyes of YHWH like their father David—Asa, Azariah, and Hezekiah—are kings who experience royal illness and disability. This paper considers how these instances of royal illness and disability informs the ideal for ancient Israel and Judah’s monarchs.
Matthew J. Korpman, “Epilepsy as Punishment from God: A Disability Reading of 2 and 3 Maccabees,” 21–40.
KEYWORDS: 2 Maccabees, 3 Maccabees, Philopator IV, Heliodorus, Temple, Seizure
A surprising consensus among scholars working on 3 Maccabees is that the story of Philopator’s supernatural intervention appears strikingly similar to an epileptic seizure. Likewise, the same observations have been made by others about Heliodorus’s episode in 2 Maccabees. Surprisingly, none of these scholars appear to be self-aware that this is a consensus, nor do any of them attempt to investigate either ancient perceptions of the medical phenomenon or the impact that the disease could have on the meaning of the stories. It is simply noted in passing and then promptly forgotten or ignored. Connecting the depictions of Philopator and Heliodorus to ancient descriptions of epilepsy, this paper attempts to flesh out an approach to the stories that focuses on interrogating the depictions of epilepsy as a divine punishment. This study then provides a way to better understand what some in early Judaism believed about the people with epilepsy living within their communities. It will be argued that the epileptic characterisation of both leader’s divine punishments serves to underscore and reinforce notions within the community that isolate and ostracise people with epilepsy in and around the early Jewish community.
Emma Swai, “A Metanarrative of Disability in John 5,” 41–61.
KEYWORDS: Metanarrative of disability, Impaired mobility, John 5:1–15, Recovering agency
Within Johannine texts, impairment carries associated meanings to the point that the narrative figure is reduced to the impairment rather than having an independent and/or complex identity. A metanarrative of disability exists within these texts, regarding assuming that attitudes, capabilities or attributes relate to particular impairments. This article will apply the concept of metanarrative of disability to John 5:1–15 and use David Bolt’s methodology, that of focusing on a particular impairment to explore the presence and function of a related metanarrative of disability, as an interdisciplinary starting point from which to examine how the assumption of passivity and lethargy operates through references to impaired mobility.
A person with impaired mobility may well function as narrative prosthesis, but their response to Jesus should not then be attributed with iniquity or even malice, as occurs when exegetes use a metanarrative of paralysis to interpret the text. By examining how the John 5:1–15 narrative overrides the individual’s identity, it will be shown that agency is not necessarily completely erased by the author of the text, but more by interpretations invoking assumptions associated with a metanarrative constituted of lethargy and passivity. John 5:1–15 is, whether by design or inadvertently, a social commentary as well as a narrative about Jesus: impaired mobility, as a narrative tool, promotes Jesus’s authority and identity, but it concurrently challenges the assumptions made by a metanarrative of impaired mobility, a fact sometimes overlooked by interpretations of the text which are solely focused on the identity of Jesus.
Grace Emmett and Ryan D. Collman, “St Paul of the Thorns: A Note on Disability, Visual Criticism, and 2 Corinthians 12:7b–10,” 62–71.
KEYWORDS: Apostle Paul, visual criticism, disability studies, 2 Corinthians 12, Bible and art, thorn in the flesh
In this note, we introduce readers to St Paul of the Thorns, a painting by Elizabeth Tooth, which is part of an exhibition entitled Reimagining Paul. Using visual arts interpretive methodologies, disability studies, exegesis of 2 Corinthians, and exhibition visitor feedback, we consider the distinctive contribution of visual art to discussions of the apostle Paul and disability. We also reflect on the reciprocal learning potential of public engagement work for the academic study of biblical texts and figures.