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The primary aim of this volume is to synthesize the two fields of disability studies and biblical studies. It illustrates how academic or critical biblical scholarship has shown that many texts involving disability in the Bible is much more nuanced than a casual reading or isolated proof texting may indicate.

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The Nature of Barrenness in the Hebrew Bible; J.S.Baden The Blind, the Lame, and the Barren Shall Not Come into the House; S.Ackerman ´Like the eunuch who does not beget´: Gender, Mutilation, and Negotiated Status in the Ancient Near East; T.Lemos Sexual Disabilities in the Hebrew Bible; D.T.Stewart Isaiah´s Brave New World: The Disabled in Prophetic Utopian Visions; J.Schipper Whoring after Cripples: On the Intersection of Gender and Disability Imagery in Jeremiah; R.Raphael Ascription of Physical Disability as a Stigmatizing Strategy in Biblical Iconic Polemics; S.M.Olyan A Tale of Two Eunuchs: Isaiah 56:1-8 and Acts 8:26-40; S.Melcher Sensing Jesus: The Construction of the Ideal Disciple in Mark; C.R.Moss ´The Blind, Lame and Paralyzed´ (John 5:3): John´s Gospel, Disability Studies, and Postcolonial Perspectives; W.Carter His Feet and Ankles Were Made Strong: Signs of Character in the Man Lame from Birth; M.C.Parsons Paul´s Disability: The Thorn in his Flesh; A.Y.Collins In Sickness and in Health: Ancient Rituals of Truth in the Greco-Roman World and 1 Peter; M.Henning ´The Punishment of the Devil was Apparent in the Torment of the human Body´: Epilepsy in Ancient Christianity; N.Kelley

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´This book assembles an impressive array of scholars whose collective work changes the terrain of disability studies and biblical scholarship. Adding nuance and deep expertise to the discourse, Disability Studies and Biblical Literature shows us how superficial and general has been much of the previous discussion of religious attitudes toward people with disabilities in the western world. Focusing on the heterogeneity of individual biblical texts, as well as complex cultural and historical factors, these scholars give us a multifaceted understanding of the ways the ancient world saw disability through its textual representation.´ - Lennard Davis, Distinguished Professor of English, University of Illinois at Chicago

´In this valuable volume, Biblical scholars introduce critical nuance to the reading of sacred texts of the Hebrew and Christian testaments by working with social and cultural models of disability. The authors refuse to hide disability behind presumably greater or more important spiritual truths. They break through ideological uses of ´disability,´ including that sensibility which insists spiritual insight is more valuable than material experience. Persons living with disabilities may finally be recognized as resident actors in these texts.´ - Sharon V. Betcher, author of Spirit and the Politics of Disablement

´The editors of this timely collection, which brings together high quality Biblical studies and an issue of central importance to our society, are to be commended for this pioneering and necessary initiative.´ - Christopher Rowland, Dean Ireland´s Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture, Queen´s College, Oxford University

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