Episode #164 - My Body Is Not A Prayer Request with Dr. Amy Kenny

In this episode we're joined by Dr. Amy Kenny, a disabled scholar and Shakespeare Lecturer, to talk about her book, My Body Is Not A Prayer Request: Disability Justice in the Church (published by Brazos). Over the course of our conversation, Dr. Kenny shares with us her lived experience of disability and marginalization in the church, and the pain of unwanted prayers that essentially want to rid her of her disabled body. Instead of thinking in terms of healing, Dr. Kenny wants Christians to approach disability with the realization that God has always been at work in disability, since many biblical characters had a disability of some kind, and that, at the eschatological banquet in Luke 14, people with all sorts of disabilities will be present with their disabilities. Indeed, as she affirms, there's even something we can learn about disability from the broader community of God's creation, where nature resists the straight and orderly design of ableist structure. This conversation is rich with powerful testimony, witty one-liners, and incisive reflection on some of the problematic aspects of the church's approach to disabilities. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. John Anthony Dunne, Stephanie Kate Judd, Dr. Madison Pierce, Rev. Dr. Chris Porter, Dr. Kris Song. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.