Running the (Special) Race: New (Pauline) Perspectives on Disability and Theology of Sport

Abstract

What if St. Paul were to address the commissioners of the Olympics, Paralympics, and Special Olympics, simultaneously? Drawing in particular from the specific reference to athletic ideals and imagery in 1 Corinthians 9, I suggest that as (arguably) the first theologian of disability, he would urge them indeed to revise what it means to train for, compete in, and pursue goals that are imperishable rather than perishable. This approach means, then, that the model for sport, even for disability spirit, becomes something like the Special Olympics, particularly inasmuch as its “wisdom” belies the conventional wisdom of the sporting world in its emphases on ability, competition, self-achievement, and self-exaltation. This essay suggests that rereading 1 Corinthians 9 from the perspective of disability in general and intellectual disability in particular highlights aspects of Paul's argument that counters any uncritical appropriation of his ideas in support of the contemporary Christian embrace of sport. Its goal is to apply a disability hermeneutic to the Pauline materials even while extracting from the latter disability perspectives for a contemporary theology of sport.