New Book: The Enabled Life
Christianity in a disabling world. This new book is the work of author Roy McCloughry, recently appointed by the Church of England as its National Disability Advisor.
People are often embarrassed or fearful in encountering disabled people, who are, if the Bible is to be believed, at the heart of the kingdom of God. After all, God does not want us to conform to society’s stereotype of what is normal, but to celebrate diversity by delighting in who we are. We do not need to be ‘cured’ to know God’s healing, empowering love in our lives. Indeed, as author Roy McCloughry’s deeply moving interview with Jean Vanier underlines, the ‘abled’ may well discover their true humanity through learning from those whose humanity has sometimes been called into question.
As a much published author, social commentator and academic, Roy McCloughry is ideally placed to make the latest theological thinking about disability accessible to a wide audience. As a person living with epilepsy who regards his condition as a ‘strange gift’ from God, he brings rich personal experience of what it’s like to live as a disabled person in a world where acceptance frequently relies on the appearance of normality.
Roy McCloughry offers us the fruits of years of prayerful reflection on what it means to be disabled in (and sometimes by) the Church. As a result, he prompts us to consider what it really means to be the Church: challenging us all – disabled and “abled” – to be healed and saved together. Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury