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A review by cosmicbookworm
How Ableism Fuels Racism: Dismantling the Hierarchy of Bodies in the Church by Lamar Hardwick
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
In "How Ableism Fuels Racism," Lamar Hardwick examines the interconnectedness of ableism and racism, highlighting how both contribute to the marginalization and devaluation of individuals as 'inferior.' He explores the role the Church has played in both.
Hardwick confronts the issue that theology has been used to create ableism, racism, sexism, and capitalism and has been used to benefit a protected class of people. This is a message that I feel bears repeating again and again as it is met with continual resistance, especially by those who are among the protected. "Evangelical Christians have an ever-present need to avoid the consequences of being complicit in helping to establish a system that perpetuates bias against bodies that are considered abnormal." Amen.
Dr. Hardwick takes on the idea of "original sin" and that disability results from original sin or the fall. He presents the concept of decentering faith, which is, in his words, an expansion project in contrast to deconstruction, which he refers to as a demolition project.
I appreciate Dr. Hardwick's struggle as an adult who has come to realize that some of his lifelong struggles are due to autism, not recognized earlier in life.
The underlying question is, "How do we dismantle the image that able-bodiedness equals goodness and that Back bodies are inherently disabled?
Hardwick states it as a fact that disabled people are systematically encouraged to marry only other disabled people without the threat of losing health benefits, saying that marriage penalties shame disabled people into remaining unmarried by threatening them with poverty and death. This is an area that is unfamiliar to me and which I want to research further. There is a chapter where Hardwick discusses a disabled God, and I must admit that this concept flies over my head. Some of his discussion seems redundant even though the book is a relatively short 192 pages.
Thank you, NetGalley and Brazos Press, for sharing an ebook version ARC in exchange for an honest review. #HowAbleismFuelsRacism #NetGalley
Hardwick confronts the issue that theology has been used to create ableism, racism, sexism, and capitalism and has been used to benefit a protected class of people. This is a message that I feel bears repeating again and again as it is met with continual resistance, especially by those who are among the protected. "Evangelical Christians have an ever-present need to avoid the consequences of being complicit in helping to establish a system that perpetuates bias against bodies that are considered abnormal." Amen.
Dr. Hardwick takes on the idea of "original sin" and that disability results from original sin or the fall. He presents the concept of decentering faith, which is, in his words, an expansion project in contrast to deconstruction, which he refers to as a demolition project.
I appreciate Dr. Hardwick's struggle as an adult who has come to realize that some of his lifelong struggles are due to autism, not recognized earlier in life.
The underlying question is, "How do we dismantle the image that able-bodiedness equals goodness and that Back bodies are inherently disabled?
Hardwick states it as a fact that disabled people are systematically encouraged to marry only other disabled people without the threat of losing health benefits, saying that marriage penalties shame disabled people into remaining unmarried by threatening them with poverty and death. This is an area that is unfamiliar to me and which I want to research further. There is a chapter where Hardwick discusses a disabled God, and I must admit that this concept flies over my head. Some of his discussion seems redundant even though the book is a relatively short 192 pages.
Thank you, NetGalley and Brazos Press, for sharing an ebook version ARC in exchange for an honest review. #HowAbleismFuelsRacism #NetGalley