Restoring the Image: Spirituality, Faith, and Cognitive Disability

There is a great deal of theological confusion within the church as to the level of participation people with profound cognitive disabilities should be allowed within the orders of the church. For some, sacramental participation without intellectual comprehension is dishonoring to God, while for oth...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of religion and health
Main Author: Swinton, John 1957- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Springer Science + Business Media B. V. [1997]
In: Journal of religion and health
Further subjects:B Cognitive Disability
B Spiritual Life
B Cognitive Ability
B Relational Reality
B Relational Understanding
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
Description
Summary:There is a great deal of theological confusion within the church as to the level of participation people with profound cognitive disabilities should be allowed within the orders of the church. For some, sacramental participation without intellectual comprehension is dishonoring to God, while for others, lack of cognitive ability precludes any kind of meaningful spiritual life. This paper sets out some of the various positions and argues that faith and spirituality are not intellectual concepts, but relational realities. It is only in and through our relationships that any of us can learn anything about the divine. A relational understanding of faith and spirituality as outlined here offers the church the freedom to avoid evaluating a person's spiritual life according to intellectual criteria and to begin to find new ways of preaching the Word to those who have no words.
ISSN:1573-6571
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of religion and health
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1023/A:1027484714661