DSAB 241 - Disability and Comparative Religion (3 Credits)

Prerequisite: None
The ancient connection between faith and disability remains complex as well as conflicted and contradictory. On one hand, many traditions consider persons with disability as possessors of special insights or other seemingly magical powers; other traditions, or indeed sometimes the same traditions, consider disabled persons signs of the deity’s vengeance, anger or disappointment for actual or supposed sins, either with respect to a particular family or an entire community. Differently formed infants have until recently been considered “monsters,” and have been subject to infanticide. This course will examine issues such as these in the three major monotheistic faiths, as well as in the faiths of the ancient world. The test of this examination will come in the form of ethical reflection and review, particularly in the contexts of bioethics and end-of-life issues.