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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I thought you might find this
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<DIV>Challenging Biblical Stereotypes of the Blind by Elizabeth J.
Browne<BR><BR>From the Editor: Dr. Elizabeth Browne is an active member of the
National<BR>Federation of the Blind of Illinois. As a professor of theology she
recently<BR>wrote a book that grapples with the Biblical portrayal of blindness.
This is<BR>what she says about the project:<BR><BR>The fault, dear Brutus, is
not in our stars, But in ourselves that we are<BR>underlings.<BR>Julius Caesar,
Act I<BR><BR>Biblical representations of the blind have often caused
unChristian<BR>rumblings in my very soul. How often have I sat, shrinking
with<BR>embarrassment and, I confess, a little anger, as the sacred words are
loudly<BR>proclaimed from the pulpit for all God's children to hear?<BR><BR>How
often have I prayed for invisibility or for some kindly spirit to whisk<BR>me
away from those accusing stares I felt were fixed in my direction? I<BR>could
imagine people thinking, "If she really believed, she could see,
too!"<BR><BR>How often Bible passages relate tales of blind beggars, not
employed, not<BR>even in ancient sheltered shops, but right out there on the
public roads,<BR>begging, shouting, pleading, abused, pathetic examples which
caused me to<BR>question the significance of these embarrassing stories. We know
them too<BR>well, and I imagine that many of you have also flushed with
embarrassment at<BR>the stereotype presented throughout the scripture passages
for all pious<BR>people to hear and to believe.<BR><BR>There is Bartimeus, the
beggar, shouting out from his vantage point at the<BR>side of the road, "Domine
ut videam!" "Lord, that I may see!" as the<BR>onlookers tried in vain to shut
him up. I want to shut him up too, but I<BR>know that, "The fault, dear Brutus,
is not in the stars," nor in the Bible,<BR>but in ourselves that we put up with
this sacred stereotype.<BR><BR>Do not misunderstand me. I am deeply committed to
my Christian faith, a<BR>believing churchgoer, and now proud to be a teacher of
theology at Loyola<BR>University in Chicago.<BR><BR>Never suppose that these
biblical stereotypes are dead, not even for a<BR>moment. They are very much
alive and active in both religious and secular<BR>societies today. But how to
deal with them? How best to confront these<BR>biblical words, these pathetic
stories, and give them the true significance<BR>I know they contain? In order to
bring some semblance of truth into the<BR>well-established folklore about blind
people, I determined to take a serious<BR>look at the words of sacred scripture
in order to evaluate its message<BR>objectively, with reverence, of course, but
bringing to bear my own and<BR>others' experience and wisdom.<BR><BR>Remember
the story in the Gospel of John, Chapter 9, about the man
born<BR>blind?<BR><BR>As the disciples walked along with Jesus, they passed by a
blind man<BR>(begging, of course) and asked, "Who has sinned, this man or his
parents<BR>that he was born blind?"<BR><BR>My own parents had to endure the
silent condemnation of relatives and<BR>neighbors when I lost my sight, and I am
sure those who condemned them were<BR>sure that their judgment of my parents had
a solid Biblical foundation.<BR><BR>So when I began graduate studies in
theology, I began seriously studying and<BR>reflecting on sacred scripture. I
encountered the harsh words of the book of<BR>Leviticus:<BR><BR>Aaron, none of
your descendants throughout their generation who has a<BR>blemish may approach
to offer the bread of his God. For no one who has a<BR>blemish shall draw near,
a man blind or lame, or one who has a mutilated<BR>face, or a limb too long, or
a man who has an injured foot or an injured<BR>hand, or a hunchback, or a dwarf,
or a man with a defect in his sight or an<BR>itching disease or scab or crushed
testicles; no man of the descendants of<BR>Aaron the priest who has a blemish
shall come near to offer the Lord's<BR>offering by fire; since he has a blemish,
he shall not come near to offer<BR>the bread of his God. (Lev.
21:16-21)<BR><BR>These words of the Bible said clearly that certain individuals
should not<BR>even approach to offer worship. And, shockingly enough, this
admonition has<BR>been the guiding spirit of religion as well as society (from
that ancient,<BR>primitive law even unto our own modern times) and was not
removed from the<BR>Canon Law of the Roman Church until 1983. Note, removed, but
never recanted.<BR><BR>This opening salvo almost caused me to stagger back in
disgust at this<BR>Biblical proscription. Where do I go now, I thought, as I
tried to make<BR>sense of what I was doing in graduate theological studies. This
is not for<BR>the likes of me, nor for any other like me with various taint or
blemish.<BR><BR>Everyone from time to time feels that God is not listening, is
turning away,<BR>but that is just our momentary feeling and nothing more. God
does not regard<BR>blind people or women or any other marginalized person with
disdain. I knew<BR>this, and a poem of John Donne seemed to say it for
me.<BR><BR>Though thou with clouds of anger do disguise Thy face; yet through
that mask<BR>I know those eyes, Which though they turn away sometimes Never will
despise.<BR><BR>Enough! I must now begin to dig, to research, to analyze, and to
reflect. My<BR>question became, "If persons are blemished in any way, are
they<BR>automatically, spiritually, theologically excluded from
religious<BR>consideration? That seems to be the resounding opinion of all those
people<BR>in all those churches who fix their piercing gazes on the blind who
sit,<BR>squirming, in their midst.<BR><BR>If she really believed, really had
faith, she could see.<BR><BR>The unspoken words-and accusations-that resound
loudly in our souls are that<BR>we must not have real faith, a really strong
enough belief to allow the<BR>saving grace to flood into our blemished natures
and bring back sight, which<BR>would make us truly children of a good and all
perfect creator.<BR><BR>Inwardly, I thought, "Nonsense." Maybe all those people
from countless<BR>congregations that listened to the same stories were inwardly
convinced<BR>that, if only I had faith, if only I really believed, I too would
be cured.<BR>I began to question inwardly, "Just what do they mean `cured'?"
Whatever<BR>they thought, I was determined to ferret it out and forever silence
its ugly<BR>message.<BR><BR>Eventually I would become a teacher of theology and
be able to take the time<BR>to explore Biblical sources, the time to analyze
their essential meaning, in<BR>order to determine their foundation and basic
significance, both<BR>theologically and sociologically.<BR><BR>In my class I
necessarily assign the entire Scriptures as a required text;<BR>however, using
this text, I have come to grips with the embarrassing,<BR>negative, and
unacceptable attitude toward the disabled, toward women,<BR>toward foreigners,
and others which permeate both the Hebrew scriptures and<BR>the New Testament.
Just how does one explain these biblical images which are<BR>so offensive to us?
Just where did all this come from, and why have these<BR>negative stereotypes
persisted throughout religious and secular societies,<BR>unquestioned,
unexamined?<BR><BR>Too many outsiders have tackled this problem for us but have
only added to<BR>the persistent false stereotype of blind people. Books and
plays and movies<BR>and articles have presumed to explain just who we are, so
now I decided that<BR>it was my turn to consider the place of the blind in the
Bible and in<BR>society.<BR><BR>Basically, the quest came down to this ultimate
question: Is blindness in<BR>the Bible a theological question or a sociological
one? If theological, then<BR>we are indeed consigned to a lesser status; we are
not fully children of a<BR>loving God. We are imperfect creatures and cannot
reflect God's perfection.<BR>But, if these passages are sociological, cultural,
then we can explain them<BR>in light of the rimitive eras in which they
were written. They can then be<BR>perceived to be as outdated as slavery, as
unlawful as child labor, as<BR>simplistic as the beliefs in the flat earth
theory of an unenlightened era.<BR><BR>This is the quest I undertook, and this
quest would eventually lead me to<BR>the writing of a book, The Disabled
Disciple, the fruit of my serious<BR>questioning about the place of blindness in
the Bible; in religion; and,<BR>ultimately, in society. In my book I begin to
develop a new and different<BR>understanding of blindness-on the model of
liberation theology, which by its<BR>very essence confronts and then seeks to
overturn structures that are<BR>antiquated, destructive, and false.<BR><BR>Of
course, as members of the National Federation of the Blind, we are<BR>familiar
with such confrontational tactics and would easily understand my<BR>forthright
approach to this subject. Now, since nobody on the staff of the<BR>Braille
Monitor is clamoring to review my book or, perhaps, because they<BR>have not yet
heard of its existence, I thought I would write my own<BR>announcement of its
publication, hoping to be as objective as possible, so<BR>that I might inform
fellow members just what I have done and, more<BR>important, why I have done
it.<BR><BR>My approach to this important question is, of course, far different
from the<BR>proliferation of books concerned with the inclusion of the
marginalized in<BR>all areas of society. It flows from the experience and
expertise of someone<BR>who is actively working to live and to achieve true
inclusion in every area<BR>of life, not merely the religious.<BR><BR>In my book
I look at the origin of the stereotype of the blind from earliest<BR>time, from
the words of Leviticus in the Hebrew Scriptures to the role of<BR>blind beggars
in the New Testament, as well as public statements of the<BR>Roman Catholic
Church, its law, and its persistent false stereotype of blind<BR>people.<BR>I
also consider many aspects of the secular laws and what effect all these<BR>have
had on the status of blind people today.<BR><BR>In the end I can only conclude
that attitudes about blindness, in the Bible<BR>as well as in religious
tradition, are not theological but sociological<BR>phenomena. This is an
essential distinction which must never be overlooked.<BR>This is the solid
foundation of a true understanding and appreciation of<BR>what blindness truly
is and the goal toward which we should all continue to<BR>work. The publication
of my book has been announced on the Worldwide Web,<BR>and several reviews have
declared The Disabled Disciple: Ministering in a<BR>Church Without Barriers by
Dr. Elizabeth Browne a "must read: for anyone<BR>interested in a theology of
inclusion"; "the work has more than<BR>disinterested validity; it brings a
personal knowledge and concern to this<BR>important discussion. [The author]
brings to the subject a lifetime of<BR>personal experience, dedication, and
involvement to this essential goal of<BR>mainstreaming, socially, academically,
and religiously throughout her life."<BR><BR>Published in March, 1997, by
Ligouri Press, The Disabled Disciple has 123<BR>pages, eight chapters, a
reader's postscript, an appendix, guidelines,<BR>excerpts of documents,
including laws, and much more. It is obtainable by<BR>requesting it from your
local religious or secular book store, or from<BR>Ligouri Publications,<BR>(800)
325-9521, for $12.95. It will also soon be available from Recording<BR>for the
Blind & Dyslexic. I hope that those who read it will give me their<BR>honest
opinion.<BR><BR>This is what I have done, and if the muse and my publisher
continue to look<BR>favorably upon my humble efforts, I shall continue to pursue
them in the<BR>near future. Until then, remember: The fault, dear reader, is not
in our<BR>stars (or in the Bible), but in ourselves if we are
underlings.<BR><BR><A
href="http://www.nfb.org/legacy/bm/bm98/bm980207.htm">www.nfb.org/legacy/bm/bm98/bm980207.htm</A>
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