Review. Through societal inequalities and the misuse of power, a psychological burden of disablement is imposed
upon people of faith with epilepsy: this disempowerment is challenged by this work and an attempt has been made to highlight distorted applications of scripture and practice.
The core concerns of the Work are the faith journeys of Christian people with epilepsy: these provide fragmentary deeper understandings of complex interactions between people who are marginalised and those who are not. An attempt at a minor contribution to an emergent theology of “woundedness” has been made.
The spirituality (Williams 1979) and “spiritual identity” of the respondents, acts as a bridge, pointing backwards to their lived experiences in their faith journeys and pointing forwards to an ‘incipient’ theology. It also encompasses the notion of a ‘crucified God’ (Moltmann 1993, Eiesland 1994), a ‘disabled’ God (Eiesland 1994, Shao Tan 1998, Hull 2003) and the Servant figure from the Old Testament Book of Isaiah. It is argued that the elucidation of a “spiritual identity” and emergent theology of “woundedness”: will offer a celebration (Vanier 2005) and potential empowerment (Beresford and Evans, 1999) of people with epilepsy.
‘Are current published
theological works adequate to address the religious life experiences of people with epilepsy?’ This research question began my search for the theological understanding of
disability and particularly epilepsy in relation to Church. Practical theology (Mudge and Poling 1987), the key academic mode, uses reflections from pastoral insights, offers space for a prophetic voice, is contextual and focuses upon Christian life, the Church and how they interact with sociological data: producing the distinctive context of the Work.
A literature review was undertaken in which the theological, health care and sociological approaches to disability were explored, as these discourses were ways of making sense of the epilepsy experience. The effects that the dominant discourses have in the lives of people with epilepsy, who are religious and have a link with Church were considered, by collecting focused “faith narratives”. The results showed that the socio-cultural and physical environments impinge upon education, family, friends, church, partnerships, housing and healthcare. The epilepsy studies were used as an example of disability that has extreme negative associations between religion and the condition itself.
ISBN 978-1-4303-2917-6