Disciples and Friends: Investigations in Disability, Dementia, and Mental Health

Abstract

DISCIPLES AND FRIENDS: Investigations in Disability, Dementia, and Mental Health by Armand Léon van Ommen and Brian R. Brock, eds. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2022. 330 pages. Hardcover; $59.99. ISBN: 9781481317009. *It has been almost fifty years since I started supporting individuals affected by intellectual and developmental disabilities, and I wish this edited book had been available at that time. While the focus of the different chapters in this book touches on subjects having to do with disability, dementia, and mental health, the real emphasis is on the practical theology of John Swinton, and the ways friendship in and through Jesus informs the "tension between reflection and action, and research and practice" (p. 56). *The book has an introduction and an afterword, and it is divided into four sections: (1) Practical Theology in a Swintonian Key, (2) Vulnerability Subverted, (3) Quests for Faithful Embodiment, and (4) Gently Living in a Violent World. According to the publisher's description of the book, it is directed toward "students and scholars of practical theology, disability theology, mental health, dementia and cognate fields" (https://www.baylorpress.com/9781481317009/disciples-and-friends/). While some of the language is almost inaccessible without a theological background, much of the writing is practical and applicable to those of us who see working for and with people affected by disability, dementia, and mental health as a vocation rather than as a career. *Readers will each have their favorite authors based on their own interests and passions. As a behavior support practitioner as well as a social work professor, I was most affected by the chapter written by Grant Macaskill, a theologian from the University of Aberdeen who identifies as autistic. He writes movingly about the autistic gain for the church when we radically empower the neurodiversity model to discontinue talking about normalcy as a goal and embrace the differences diversity brings within the rich tapestry of the body of Christ. In a similar way, Bill Gaventa's chapter, entitled "All God's Children Got a Place in the Choir" provides another view of the many members of the body whose differences make the body stronger by embracing Paul's vision of God's choice to use the "weak" to bring strength and the "foolish" to bring wisdom to the world the church ministers to (e.g., 1 Corinthians 1 & 2). In his chapter, he asks three questions that I wish I had been asking years ago: (1) Who am I? (2) Why am I? and (3) Whose am I? *I have spent some hours reflecting on these three questions, trying to move past the role definitions we so easily gravitate to. Finding the "why" of my existence, the purpose I have in life, is an equally deep question, and asking who I belong to within our kingdom relationships will hopefully help me find my place in God's choir. Reading this book will, I believe, prompt readers to ask the same questions I asked myself. Finding the "why" of our existence and the purpose of our lives are deep questions for all of us. In our Christian lives, finding out who we belong to will help us to find our place in God's choir with all the other critters. For some of us, the call is to be "disciples and friends" to persons with disabilities, dementia, and neurodiversity, and this book may bring that into focus for some readers. *The body of Christ is far more than the worship center of the Christian faith; it is the place where Jesus interacts with all the people Jesus came to minister to as recorded in Luke 14:13-23--"the sick, the lame, the blind, the deaf, the prisoners, the poor, the weak." According to the United Nations, the largest minority group in the world is people affected by various disabilities, accounting for approximately 650 million people out of a population of 7.88 billion people (https://www.un.org/disabilities/documents/toolaction/pwdfs.pdf). It is with and for these people that John Swinton's work seeks to create opportunities for friendships to develop amongst people who come together to experience the friendship of Jesus. Within these relationships we come to know the peace of Jesus, and as Medi Ann Volpe writes in one of the chapters, Jesus is our peace, Jesus makes our peace, and Jesus preaches our peace. The people I have known over the years whose differences were labeled and diagnosed have ministered the peace of Jesus to me in ways that are too deep for words. They have taught me what friendship is, and reading this book I have come to understand that John Swinton's life and teaching is devoted to cultivating friendship and creating communities in which there are no dividing walls--where all people in need of grace and redemption, love and forgiveness, healing and hope come together as one body with many members. *There are precious few things I would change about this book. I would make the last chapters in the section "Gently Living in a Violent World" the first chapters: I think they are much more inviting to readers, and from my perspective, they contain more information on how to live out this theology of friendship. *Overall, I would encourage all Christians whose lives intertwine with people on the margins of ability and disability to read this book and let it speak to their hearts and their minds. I am looking forward to being able to use this book both as a practitioner and a professor, and in these roles, I am thankful to have read about all the ways I can learn to be a deeper and better friend and human being. *Reviewed by Bob Bowen, Adjunct Professor of Social Work, Malone University, Canton, OH 44709.