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Sense and Stigma in the Gospels: Depictions of Sensory-Disabled Characters, written by Louise J. Lawrence


Sense and Stigma in the Gospels: Depictions of Sensory-Disabled Characters, written by Louise J.... This book takes a much-needed critical look at the way in which biblical scholarship has chosen to “turn a blind eye” and read disabled characters only as passive victims in need of healing. Using performance and embodiment studies, ethnographic studies of the Dalits in India, disability studies, and sensory anthropology, Lawrence challenges our simplistic and reductionist view of the way in which we connect our sensory perception to only particular sensory organs. She makes the point that our senses are multifaceted, complex, and dynamic, thereby heightening our sensitivities towards the way in which we see and interpret sensory-disabled characters in the Gospels. Lawrence also makes a compelling argument and contends that we see characters with sensory disabilities not as helpless victims, but rather as persons with agency who resist, redefine, and subvert traditional definitions of ability and disability.
Redefining the traditional way in which the lack of sight (i.e., blindness) is understood as limited only to the eyes, Lawrence notes that seeing is reterritorialized as hands become the new eyes of the sensory disabled characters in Mark 8:22-26, Mark 10:46-52, and John 9:1-34. Traditionally, blindness has been seen as a physical deformity, a physical defect that can only be fixed http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Biblical Interpretation Brill

Sense and Stigma in the Gospels: Depictions of Sensory-Disabled Characters, written by Louise J. Lawrence


Biblical Interpretation , Volume 25 (1): 3 – Feb 17, 2017

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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
Copyright © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
0927-2569
eISSN
1568-5152
DOI
10.1163/15685152-00251p13
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

This book takes a much-needed critical look at the way in which biblical scholarship has chosen to “turn a blind eye” and read disabled characters only as passive victims in need of healing. Using performance and embodiment studies, ethnographic studies of the Dalits in India, disability studies, and sensory anthropology, Lawrence challenges our simplistic and reductionist view of the way in which we connect our sensory perception to only particular sensory organs. She makes the point that our senses are multifaceted, complex, and dynamic, thereby heightening our sensitivities towards the way in which we see and interpret sensory-disabled characters in the Gospels. Lawrence also makes a compelling argument and contends that we see characters with sensory disabilities not as helpless victims, but rather as persons with agency who resist, redefine, and subvert traditional definitions of ability and disability.
Redefining the traditional way in which the lack of sight (i.e., blindness) is understood as limited only to the eyes, Lawrence notes that seeing is reterritorialized as hands become the new eyes of the sensory disabled characters in Mark 8:22-26, Mark 10:46-52, and John 9:1-34. Traditionally, blindness has been seen as a physical deformity, a physical defect that can only be fixed

Journal

Biblical InterpretationBrill

Published: Feb 17, 2017

There are no references for this article.