Christology and disability: Perceiving christ in the face of the disabled

The Christian doctrine of the image of God has often served to marginalize people with disabilities by highlighting their lack of supposedly normal human capacities. This chapter reengages this central Christian theme by noting the transformative roles disabled people have played in the lives of specific Christians. Attending more closely to disability experiences helps contemporary theologians do justice to the richness of the biblical tradition. Bodily and mental difference and uniqueness are no bar to imaging Christ. Such an account of the image of God affirms that God loves difference and calls every human being to be conformed to Christ in a way that the accounts of the image of God that dominate contemporary churches cannot. This account emphasizes Christ’s working to build a redeemed community by breaking through sinful human expectations about social roles and social boundaries.