Overview

In the Gospels we encounter many people who were shunned by their society because they lived with some form of impairment. In stark contrast, Jesus embraces these people and offers compassion without condescension, relationship without ulterior motive, and provides them with practical help. Subsequent history has rarely matched his ministry, particularly for people living with intellectual impairment and their families. Based on personal interviews with a number of families who have children living with intellectual impairment, two major challenges constantly impacted them--a longing for people to treat their child as a person and to form genuine friendships with them. Written from a Wesleyan perspective, this book seeks to address these two issues from a theological and pastoral perspective. It offers practical help for anyone to initiate and develop healthy friendships with people who live with moderate to severe intellectual impairment, their families, and carers.

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9781532667213

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Reviews

McEwan and Good blend family narratives with theological reflection to provide a pastoral theology of friendship for persons with intellectual impairment and their families. While Australian in context, the insights offered invite a global readership. Weaving biblical, historical, and sociological frameworks around a renewed theological anthropology, the authors provide a sobering account of the challenges faced by families, alongside the responsibility of communities, and particularly congregations, to take seriously their responsibility to all God's children. --Dean G. Blevins, Nazarene Theological Seminary The central aim of this important book is to provide guidance on how to initiate and build friendships with both an individual with an intellectual impairment and their family. Weaving together interview data, insights from biology and philosophy, and Wesleyan perspectives on the imago Dei in a sophisticated and creative way, Good and McEwan lead the reader into a practical exploration of what people with an intellectual disability and their families most need from others. --Neil Pembroke, University of Queensland

McEwan and Good blend family narratives with theological reflection to provide a pastoral theology of friendship for persons with intellectual impairment and their families. While Australian in context, the insights offered invite a global readership. Weaving biblical, historical, and sociological frameworks around a renewed theological anthropology, the authors provide a sobering account of the challenges faced by families, alongside the responsibility of communities, and particularly congregations, to take seriously their responsibility to all God's children. --Dean G. Blevins, Nazarene Theological Seminary The central aim of this important book is to provide guidance on how to initiate and build friendships with both an individual with an intellectual impairment and their family. Weaving together interview data, insights from biology and philosophy, and Wesleyan perspectives on the imago Dei in a sophisticated and creative way, Good and McEwan lead the reader into a practical exploration of what people with an intellectual disability and their families most need from others. --Neil Pembroke, University of Queensland

Author Information

David B. McEwan is Director of Research and Associate Professor of Theology and Pastoral Theology at Nazarene Theological College Brisbane and Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Queensland. He serves as the pastor of the Logan Community Church of the Nazarene and is the author of Wesley as a Pastoral Theologian (2011) and The Life of God in the Soul (2015). Jim Good is a Special Education Teacher at Moss Vale High School (NSW) and has also taught at Mater Dei Special School (NSW), and Narbethong State Special School (QLD). He has presented papers on disability studies at several conferences in Australia and New Zealand.

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