Ep95. Disability, Diversity, and the Body of Christ, Brian Brock

I sat down with Brian Brock to talk about his new book, Disability: Living into the Diversity of Christ's Body (Baker, 2021). We discuss common misconceptions and assumptions that lead to unwelcome and awkwardness in churches (beginning with the common falsity that there are "no disabled people in our church"). Brian offers examples of how in noticing the diversity of the bodily experiences of the people around us, we begin to glimpse aspects of Scripture that we had previously missed. I also ask him about the issues that come from concepts like normality and inclusion, and how the confession that Christian's are - fundamentally - a people who receive can assist the task of disability theology. Finally we enter into a discussion about healing and how we've allowed a rather specific modern view of healing to shape how we read the healing narratives in the gospels.

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Brian Brock (DPhil, King's College, London) is professor of moral and practical theology at the University of Aberdeen in Aberdeen, Scotland. He is the author of numerous books, including Wondrously Wounded, Disability in the Christian Tradition, has written extensively on disability issues, and is managing editor of the Journal of Disability and Religion.

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If you want to watch another interview I did with Brian, you can watch a discussion about his book, Wondrously Wounded, here