Reciprocal Relationships of Faith
Disability Inclusion in Maltese Catholic Faith Communities
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22112264 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Glen Attard (University of Malta), Anne-Marie Callus (0000-0002-3505-3116, University of Malta, corresponding author), Charló Camilleri (University of Malta), Vickie Gauci (University of Malta) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 29 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 469-487 |
| Publication date | 2025-10-02 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Disability & Religion (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2331-2521 • E-ISSN: 2331-253X |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/23312521.2025.2531814 |
| OpenAlex | W4412642917 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 13 |
This paper views disability as integral to human nature and the spiritual-religious experience of disabled people as a fundamentally human one. Since Malta is predominantly Catholic, the paper sheds light on ways in which inclusion of disabled persons in this specific faith tradition can become an ordinary practice and, consequently, on how exclusion can be averted. Starting with a literature review on the local context, the paper then incorporates an autobiographical perspective by one of the authors with an analysis using Nancy Eiesland and Molly Haslam’s works. The paper discusses how disabled persons live their religious and/or spiritual experience like any other person and how ill-conceived notions of disability result in distancing them from their faith communities. Our discussion finally focuses on how the perspectives of disabled persons, whatever their impairment, can add to the community’s knowledge of the nature of spiritual and religious experience and on the ways in which faith communities can embrace all those who belong to them. The conclusion highlights the importance of fostering reciprocity in lifegiving interpersonal relationships within the same faith community, which essentially comes from embracing each other’s vulnerability
Faith · Linguistics · Maltese · Reciprocal · Sociology · Theology · Gender Studies · Philosophy · Philosophy and Literary Analysis
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| Highly cited | No |
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