Disability Theology and Eschatology: Hope, Justice, and Flourishing

Christian theology looks forward to a consummation of all things in which hope, justice, and flourishing will finally prevail. All creation will be perfectly united to God as its Creator, and all shall be well. But what does this mean for disabled people? The typical Christian answer through history has been that disability will not exist in the world to come. The advent of disability theology has given us reasons to doubt this answer. In response, Disability Theology and Eschatology: Hope, Justice, and Flourishing gathers together essays from established and emerging scholars alike to provide an extensive look at what it might mean to imagine disability as a part of humanity’s ultimate ends. The volume advances conversations in disability theology through rigorously creative work, including on the much neglected topic of psychiatric disability. Contributors ask and answer questions like ＂how can one’s well-being be high if they are disabled?,＂ ＂do Thomists have to be ableists?,＂ ＂how do our beauty standards limit our eschatological thinking?,＂ ＂what does dissociative identity disorder mean for the afterlife?,＂ and more.

Preston Hill is assistant professor of integrative theology at Richmont Graduate University, where he holds the Chair of Integration and serves as Director of the Doctor of Ministry Program.

Aaron Brian Davis is fellowship engagement director and theologian-in-residence at the Lutheran Church of the Nativity in Arden, North Carolina (US).