‘Lovely in [impaired] limbs, and lovely in [impaired] eyes all his:’ A practical theology reflection on beauty, disgust, and aesthetics for Christian engagement with disability and impairment

• Published in: Missiology Vol. 52; no. 4; pp. 345 - 366
• Main Author: Wan, Ka Ki Samuel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.10.2024
• Subjects: aesthetic theology; beauty; Christian ethics; theological anthropology; disability theology; Practical theology; theological reflection; moral foundation theory; disgust; aesthetics
• DOI: 10.1177/00918296241268646
• ISSN: 0091-8296

Beauty and the horrid have mirroring effects on the conscious and subconscious human gaze and instinctive desires. Beauty may draw human desires to be realised in presence, connection, and relationship. The horrid may draw the primal instinct of disgust to be realised in alienation, disconnection, and annihilation. In the space between the object of desire/disgust and realising of ethics exists imagination – that which we conceive could be. How do these aesthetic instincts impact Christian ethics towards disability and impairment? The first part of this practical theology draws from the social sciences to describe an aesthetic of disability and how, in conjunction with disgust theory, leads to instinctual responses towards markers of impairment. The instinctual responses are described, theorised, and analysed in both secular and Christian settings to tease out an ethics of disgust built on ableism and its impact towards Christian mission and ministry. This ethic is then critiqued and challenged by disability studies, Levinasian theory, and wider Christian ethics. The second part of this paper proposes that the necessary turn for Christian ethics in recultivating love in the midst of disgust is through recapturing affections. Building on the Augustinian tradition, the consideration of beauty is returned from anthropology to trinitarian theology and missio Dei. In so doing, beauty is reconceived as that which participates, reflects, and points towards God’s beauty. Missio Dei is a participation in the beauty of God in creation and redemption, and shapes the Christian ethical imagination, challenging moral, cultural, visual, and ableist prejudices and preferences in ministry and mission. As the people of God, empowered by the Spirit and incorporated into Christ, our desires can be (re)formed to see the beauty of God in Christ ‘play in ten thousand places’.