BOOK REVIEW
Language Matters.
Those who have taken the R-Word pledge understand the disabling effects
of words. In order to adequately develop
theologies of disability, attention must be paid to both the social context in
which Biblical passages emerged and to the very words themselves.
In Disability In the Hebrew Bible: Interpreting Mental and Physical Differences, Saul M. Olyan (PhD – Harvard), professor
of Judaic Studies at Brown University in Providence Rhode Island, investigates
the earliest textual representations from a philological perspective. By examining the words and their related cognate
forms in other languages, he articulates some insight into how disability obtained
meaning in ancient writings.
The study begins by examining the physical characteristics
that mark either beauty or ugliness in the ideal male and female and then
relates the contrast between blemish
and perfection. While there is major
overlap, the categories are not exclusively congruent, particularly in the
Wisdom literature.
Olyan examines blemish
further and proposes there was another broader taxonomy inclusive of disability
based in weakness, vulnerability, and dependence. He discovers that mental disabilities and
some physical disabilities did not fall into the blemish category, but all shared marginalization and stigmatization
as evidenced by surrounding textual information. He acknowledges that much of the prophetic utopian
vision uses persons with disability to demonstrate YHWH’s purpose and
power. While some of the text indicates
continued marginalization, there is a strong thread that also shows the
opposite. Those with disabilities, both
ambulatory and non-ambulatory, are welcomed back from exile, into worship, and
made beautiful in their disability.
Olyan refocuses his attention from persons with blemish to the relationship between
wholeness and holiness. The same stigmatizing
language used for people were also utilized for building materials and
sacrifices deemed unsuitable for the temple.
He concludes his work by examining how the Qumran community actually
broadened the category of defect and increased marginalization, prohibiting any
from entering the community assembly.
Olyan accomplished his purpose of reconstructing disability
taxonomy through the analysis of the text.
The philological method utilized in this book is an important key in
reshaping our contextual notions in the interpretation of certain passages from
the Hebrew Bible. The limits of this method
are acknowledged -- it is impossible to determine motive behind the textual
fragment. Isolating text can give
insight, but also removes it from the larger context of the Biblical tradition
and redemptive history. His work does,
however, demonstrate that the religious trajectory has been more exclusive than
even the original writers intended and is in specific contrast to a line of prophetic
utopian envisioning which seeks to privilege disability. Further scholarship, particularly in the
eschatological passages, will be welcomed.
Disability In the Hebrew Bible is relevant particularly to those
engaged in Hebrew Bible or disability studies, as well as those seeking to
understand the Judean context into which Christ spoke and performed healings.
