“Stony Optic Defies”

Abstract

Abstract Despite being healed from smallpox in 1903, William Seymour incurred scarring in his left eye and lived with monocular vision. He wore a glass eye that somewhat concealed his disability, and few photographs reveal his deformity. Pentecostal scholars have reflected deeply on Seymour’s race and class but have devoted little discussion to his disability. Seymour himself seemingly attributed his blindness to his own sin, but his theology assumed that healing was available to everyone, and that God aimed to cure all sick and disabled persons. The disjuncture between Seymour’s theology and his personal experience of disability gives Pentecostals an opportunity to reflect anew on how the movement has unknowingly misunderstood and harmed many persons living with disabilities.