God, Suffering, and Disability

Abstract

God, Suffering, and Disability: A Trinitarian Theodicy of the Cross utilizes both Christological and pneumatological perspectives of Luther’s theology of the cross to address the complexities of suffering and disability. Through the lens of the cross, the God who suffers enables humans to “call a thing what it is” by recognizing the suffering that often accompanies disability. Rather than asking “why” the Triune God allows people to suffer, this theodicy of disability focuses on “where” the Father, Son, and Spirit are in that very human experience. As a new theodic construct, “a Trinitarian theodicy of the cross” responds to both the theological concerns of the church and the theoretical apprehensions of society. It encourages Christians to live as theologians of the cross, empowers the faith community by informing both its theology and praxis, and provides a theoretical response to secular society that will enrich the field of disability studies.