A book may be good for nothing; or there may be only one thing in it worth knowing; are we to read it all through? ~ Samuel Johnson (Why Read What You Don't Have To?)
I started this book more than a year ago. But, I put it down and had trouble picking it back up again. Well, prior to adding to my book collection, I felt morally, ethically, financially and in all other ways obligated to read the books I already own. So, I am working through the stack of books that I paid good money for and then failed to read or didn't finish.
Yong's book clearly divides into two parts. The first section I would give 5-stars and would suggest that everyone working with or caring for a person with a disability read. It is that good! Parts I and Part II present a biblical, historical and theoretical overview of not Down Syndrome, but of disability in general. This section is well researched, well referenced and thought provoking. I especially appreciated the author's thoughts on whether disabilities were medical problems that needed to be cured versus cultural problems that could be better accommodated.
"My argument so far can be summarized thus: whatever else disability is, it is also the experience of discrimination, marginalization, and exclusion from social, cultural, political and economic domains of human life; and part of the solution to disability is to overcome the barriers to full participation in these arenas. " (Page 97)
The final part of the book deals with theology: creation, providence, the Fall, theological anthropology, ecclesiology, soteriology, and eschatology. While reading Part III (and explaining why it took me more than a year to read a book), I lost interest. And frankly I believe the author excluded the very people he is trying to include during his discussion creation and the fall. He concludes that we need a new understanding of sin and the fall. He postulates that Adam rather than existing in time and space is really ha adam, a representation of the first self aware humans who suppress the truth and resist God. This understanding allows for million of years of evolution and, more specific to Down Syndrome, genetic mutations and variations. I suggest that the understanding of man as being in the image of God when he is rational and "self aware" may in fact mean that some people with severe disabilities may not qualify as "human" or as being made in the image of God. Finally, I think Yong's god is too little. Instead of an omnipotent God, Yong presents an omnicompassionate god who will, in the end, redeem all things.
Yong's thoughts on providence were better and reminded me of a quote I underlined in The Doors of the Sea. Hart was commenting on a story that appeared in the newspaper about a father who had lost 4 of his 5 children in the tsunami:
" Only a moral cretin at that moment would have attempted to soothe his anguish by assuring him that his children had died as a result of God's eternal, inscrutable, and righteous counsels, and that in fact their deaths had mysteriously served God's purposes in history, and that all of this was completely necessary for God to accomplish his ultimate design in having created the world."
Along the same vein, Yong was not quite as eloquent when he said, "From the standpoint of pastoral care, this means that we should never tell a person with a disability that his or her disability was ordained by God."
Whatever ground Yong gained in discussing providence paled to the painful journey through the rest of Part III. So, I suggest reading the first 150 pages of this book and then putting it down. If you want to learn theology, study the Bible, pray and be open to the mysteries of God. Some things we just aren't going to fully understand on this side of eternity.
Related Posts: A Call to Dig Deeper, A Little of This, Born Again or Just Well Born?
No comments:
Post a Comment