God, Suffering, and Disability: A Trinitarian Theodicy of the Cross by Mary Schaefer Fast

Abstract

Reviewed by: God, Suffering, and Disability: A Trinitarian Theodicy of the Cross by Mary Schaefer Fast Adam Morton God, Suffering, and Disability: A Trinitarian Theodicy of the Cross. By Mary Schaefer Fast. Lanham: Lexington Books/Fortress Academic, 2019. 205 pp. People with disabilities suffer, as do those who love and care for them, and contemporary Christianity is rarely attuned to this suffering. These assertions form the starting point for Mary Schaefer Fast's [End Page 474] theological proposal, which aims to provide a theodicy that locates God in the midst of suffering and presses Christians toward the full inclusion of persons with disabilities. To this end, she draws on various models of disability, theodic approaches, Luther's theologia crucis, and efforts to outline a pneumatology of the cross. The first chapter discusses terminology and models of disability with an eye toward the question of suffering. The author settles on what she terms a "quadrilateral model," seeking to combine existing medical, social, cultural, and limits-based understandings of disability. This move is made in recognition not only of the multifaceted nature of disability, but also of the complex nature of suffering. Chapter two assesses four major approaches to theodicy, those of Augustine, John Hick, Gregory Boyd, and John Swinton. Fast evaluates these approaches by multiple criteria, sifting them for elements responsive to her disability model and conception of suffering, and looking towards her eventual Trinitarian framework. Noteworthy is the engagement with Swinton, whose "practical" approach to theodicy refuses speculative questions about evil or divine justice, and instead seeks a pastoral approach that can result in healing. Chapter three examines Luther's theology of the cross, especially through the Heidelberg Disputation, and considers its usefulness for providing an honest, uncompromising answer as to God's presence in suffering. Alongside Luther, the author considers two of his contemporary interpreters in Douglas John Hall and Jürgen Moltmann, in order to consider divine solidarity in suffering and, following Moltmann, to reject divine impassibility wholesale. Chapter four extends the previous chapter by way of a discussion of the Spirit's role in the cross event. The pneumatological contributions of Lyle Dabney, Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, and David Courey are examined in this light. These elements come together in the fifth chapter, which articulates an explicitly Trinitarian, cruciform theodicy in response to the suffering of persons with disability. As with many efforts in constructive theology, the journey is instructive even if the destination remains far off. Fast's careful assessment of her sources, especially those engaged in theodicy, is admirable, while her reassembling [End Page 475] of disparate parts into a new whole at times appears schematic or ambiguous. Fast, in her handling of Luther, elides all divine hiddenness with the hiddenness of the cross. While careful to distinguish God's presence in all human suffering from that union and share in the Triune life granted to faith, she nevertheless characterizes this universal presence as "gracious love" (162), neglecting any account of suffering as related to divine hiddenness, and so falls prey to a version of the glory-seeking optimism she rightly decries in the church and American society. For Fast, not only the Son but also the Father and the Spirit are co-sufferers; and suffering itself is transformed (via a questionable reading of the 20th Heidelberg thesis) into a window for recognizing God's loving presence. Nevertheless, Fast's refusal of traditional theodic approaches and questions, and her focus on practical response—particularly, on how those who suffer from disability might hear the Word proclaimed and share in the fellowship and consolation of the church—commends her work to an audience capable of steering around a few missteps. Those with an interest in a Lutheran contribution to the theology of disability, or looking to break out of the stale categories of theodicy, may find her work particularly helpful. Adam Morton Holy Trinity Lutheran Church Lancaster, Pennsylvania Copyright © 2020 Johns Hopkins University Press and Lutheran Quarterly, Inc.