Made in an Imperfect Image: Race, Ethnicity, Disability, and Infirmity in the Life of Aphou
At the beginning of a debate concerning human imperfection, the Bishop Theophilus supposedly asked: “How can you [Aphou] say of the Ethiopian that he is in the image of God? Or someone who is leprous or lame or blind?” This inquiry, recorded in the fifth-century Coptic Life of Aphou, offers a glimps...
| Published in: | Journal of the American Academy of Religion |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Oxford University Press
[2019]
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| In: |
Journal of the American Academy of Religion
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Vita von Apa Aphu, des Anachoreten und Bischofs von Pemdje
/ Image of God
/ Physical disability
/ Racism
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| RelBib Classification: | AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism AG Religious life; material religion KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity KBL Near East and North Africa KDF Orthodox Church |
| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | At the beginning of a debate concerning human imperfection, the Bishop Theophilus supposedly asked: “How can you [Aphou] say of the Ethiopian that he is in the image of God? Or someone who is leprous or lame or blind?” This inquiry, recorded in the fifth-century Coptic Life of Aphou, offers a glimpse into the discriminatory logic present in Coptic hagiographic texts. This article begins with a critique of the scholarly treatment of this interrogative. Then it re-examines Theophilus’ question in conjunction with Greco-Roman and Christian discourses of race, disability, and illness. Using disability and race theory, it argues that the text draws upon physiognomic understandings of the body in combination with Christian notions of bodily sinfulness to devalue and stigmatize deviant bodies. In doing so, it reveals how Coptic narratives appropriated and employed race, ethnicity, infirmity, and disability as markers of ideological boundaries in ways that complicated broader discourses of somatic difference. “How can you say of the Ethiopian man that he is the image of God? Or of someone who is leprous or lame or blind?” — Francesco Rossi 1885, 101 |
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| ISSN: | 1477-4585 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: American Academy of Religion, Journal of the American Academy of Religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/jaarel/lfz003 |