A Ravishing And Restful Sight Analysis
In Amy Laura Hall’s chapter, “A Ravishing and Restful Sight”, she explores how Julian of Norwich’s vision of Christ’s blood can impact a theological perspective on disability. Hall describes the significance of Julian receiving “profligate, abundant, floor-soaking blood” (Hall 157), at a time when society strived for “obsessive control of blood itself” (157); between fear of mixing blood and contamination, bodies which irregularly/regularly bled were disordered. This parallels in my mind to our current society’s obsessive control of bodies, most recently seen in fitness and diet culture. Bodies which do not conform, or be striving to conform, to rigid standards of health and physique are lesser and disordered themselves, and the church often
promulgates this obsession. How does the church’s teaching on what bodies should look like affect people with disabilities, whose bodies often do not or cannot look like the societal “ideal”? Just as Julian’s society was obsessive about blood to the extent of excluding and separating society because of it, could the modern church’s obsession with right bodies be contributing to the distance and disdain for disabilities? Hector Avalos examines the myriad of ways ancient societies differ from mainline traditions in liturgies pertaining to disability, and ways of addressing and healing them. Mainline traditions have largely abandoned therapeutic, or healing liturgies, though still practice petitionary and thanksgiving (Avalos 50). Yet, as this class has read many times, the emphasis on “healing” being a physical cure is not always desired by those with disabilities. Is the loss of healing liturgies a loss at all, or have we indeed lost a vital part of church life because of it? An exception to this is nonmainstream groups such as Pentecostalism, which is also one of the largest growing denominations in Christianity worldwide. Do Mainline churches need to “answer”, in a sense, Pentecostalism’s emphasis on healing—particularly as many converts identify healing as what led them to Pentecostalism (Avalos 51)? What would an expanded idea of “therapeutic” look like?
promulgates this obsession. How does the church’s teaching on what bodies should look like affect people with disabilities, whose bodies often do not or cannot look like the societal “ideal”? Just as Julian’s society was obsessive about blood to the extent of excluding and separating society because of it, could the modern church’s obsession with right bodies be contributing to the distance and disdain for disabilities? Hector Avalos examines the myriad of ways ancient societies differ from mainline traditions in liturgies pertaining to disability, and ways of addressing and healing them. Mainline traditions have largely abandoned therapeutic, or healing liturgies, though still practice petitionary and thanksgiving (Avalos 50). Yet, as this class has read many times, the emphasis on “healing” being a physical cure is not always desired by those with disabilities. Is the loss of healing liturgies a loss at all, or have we indeed lost a vital part of church life because of it? An exception to this is nonmainstream groups such as Pentecostalism, which is also one of the largest growing denominations in Christianity worldwide. Do Mainline churches need to “answer”, in a sense, Pentecostalism’s emphasis on healing—particularly as many converts identify healing as what led them to Pentecostalism (Avalos 51)? What would an expanded idea of “therapeutic” look like?