The Disabled God Revisited - A Conversation with Lisa Powell & Ruby Alstad

The origin story of this dialogue is a bit of a complex one. It started when a directed study I am doing with a master’s student named Ruby collided—in the best way possible—with an online exchange I had with scholar Lisa Powell. This was brought about by the recent conversation I had with Daniel Rempel about Barth, witness, and intellectual disability (link below if you haven't seen it yet).

When Daniel posted our conversation on his social media account, Lisa commented on it, and I said “Hey, Lisa, I’m currently reading your book for a directed study with a master’s student right now. We should talk!” And Lisa said sure. And then I suggested to Ruby that she join the conversation for extra credit if she felt up to it.

So here we are. Lisa, Ruby, and I talk about Lisa’s latest book 'The Disabled God Revisited.' We talk about how theologies like the kind Lisa is engaged with and doing help us to discover just how big, unsettling, and wonderful the Triune God revealed in scripture is—and, how this Triune God is constantly encouraging, and sometimes challenging us, to reframe what we mean when we say the word human.

So, as much as a scholar like Jacques Ellul teaches us to be wary of modern technologies and media, a story like this goes to show that neither are all bad all the way down—as long as we don’t use the good examples of their uses and effects to justify ignoring, perpetuating, and/or benefiting from the bad.

Bio

Lisa Powell is Professor of Theology at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa, where she is also the director of the Justice, Diversity, and Gender Studies Program. She's published two books, including The Disabled God Revisited and articles in a variety of academic journals including The Journal for Feminist Studies in Religion, which awarded her the Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza New Scholar Award for her research on Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz as a 17th Century theologian. Her area of teaching and research focus on systematic theology from liberative perspectives.

Links

Bluesky: @lisapowell.bluesky.social

X (formerly Twitter): @lisadawnpowell

The Disabled God Revisited (authored book): https://www.bloomsbury.com/ca/disabled-god-revisited-9780567694355/

Inconclusive Theologies: Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, Kierkegaard, and Theological Discourse (authored book): https://www.mupress.org/Inconclusive-Theologies-Sor-Juana-Ines-de-la-Cruz-Kierkegaard-and-Theological-Discourse-P804.aspx

“Disabled God at 30 Years: Legacy and Promise” (lecture): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFBe_SZH38Q

Additional Resources

Bruce McCormack, “Grace and Being: The Role of God’s Gracious Election in Karl Barth’s Theological Ontology,” in The Cambridge Companion to Karl Barth, ed. John Webster (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 92-110:https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-companion-to-karl-barth/grace-and-being/8B5E8A8677B55B4F6075FFDDF8AD97F8

James H. Cone, God of the Oppressed: https://en.novalis.ca/products/god-of-the-oppressed

Delores William, Sisters in the Wilderness: https://en.novalis.ca/products/sisters-in-the-wilderness-20th-anniversary-edition

Faye Bodley-Dangelo, Sexual Difference, Gender, and Agency in Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics: https://www.bloomsbury.com/ca/sexual-difference-gender-and-agency-in-karl-barths-church-dogmatics-9780567679321/

Wati Longchar, “Dancing with the Land: Significance of Land for Doing Tribal Theology,”: https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/ijt/38-2_016.pdf

Disability, Witness, and Christian Life - A Conversation with Daniel Rempel: https://personalistmanifestos.substack.com/p/witness-disability-and-the-christian