Crip Conversion: Narratives of Disability and Grace
Date of Award
Spring 2023
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Religious Studies
First Advisor
Tanner, Kathryn
Abstract
Theologians tell stories about disability. Crip Conversion: Narratives of Disability and Grace analyzes the stories theologians tell about intellectual disability in particular. Although Disability Studies critiques Christianity for deploying disability as a sign of morality or as demonstrative of divine power, this dissertation shows that the function of disability in theological narratives is in no way reducible to these two options. The dissertation departs from Disability Theology, and so makes an additional contribution, because it does not take intellectual disability as its object but rather theological talk about disability. In the end, the dissertation contests the oft-repeated claim that one should never functionalize intellectual disability in theology. Instead, the dissertation suggests that deploying intellectual disability as narrative metaphor allows one to come at the Protestant tradition from a helpful vantage point—such that the significance of sensation for the reception of grace comes to the fore. By attending to tendencies towards reduction, generalization, and transvaluation, this dissertation shows that reducing intellectual disability to its symbolic function oversimplifies the complexities of human existence. In contrast, the dissertation suggests an alternative strategy, treating stories of intellectual disability as an orientation for reading theological texts. This methodological experiment leads to a constructive proposal for a Protestant view of grace that pushes the current scholarly conversation towards more expansive understandings of the modes of interaction that the gift of Christ’s own life makes possible. By engaging intellectual disability through narrative metaphor, the emphasis within Protestantism shifts away from intellectual activity as necessary for the reception of grace and towards the role that sensation plays in carrying the individual to the divine Word. Interactions with objects, sounds, and sights are thought of as manifestations of Christ’s formative activity on the whole person. The spiritual freedom grace empowers, then, is not dependent on human relationships within the world, a concept of God, or any contribution on the part of the individual. Instead, the Spirit shapes the form of our interactions, breathes on us new possibilities, and opens us up to enjoy Christ’s life as our own. A Protestant account of grace, this dissertation argues, needn’t absent the intellectually disabled from participation.
Recommended Citation
Micale, Calli, "Crip Conversion: Narratives of Disability and Grace" (2023). Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations. 981.
https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/gsas_dissertations/981
