If I Confess with My Mouth

Boundary Markers, Conversion Narratives and Autistic Belief Practices

Bibliographic Data

ID4313546
AuthorsClaire Williams (0000-0002-0791-744X, Regents Theological College, corresponding author), Helena Cundill (0000-0003-1655-7172, University of Aberdeen, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume15
Issue12
Pages1554
Publication date2024-12-20
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligions (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel15121554
OpenAlexW4405642201
LanguageEN
References cited13

This article considers evangelical conversion and the practices that are associated with it. Evangelicals use the giving of oral testimony as a method of illustrating the change that occurs at conversion. This becomes, the authors argue, a boundary marker that cannot be bridged by autistic people who do not communicate using speech. Making use of Acts 15 as a hermeneutical tool to address the lived experience of people who have otherwise not been included, we argue that the example of the woman who touched the hem of Jesus' cloak is a model for proxemics as a declaration of faith. The evangelical belief in conversionism is maintained, but a non-speaking autistic person is able to demonstrate this in other ways, following the haemorrhaging woman's example

Art · Autism · Developmental psychology · Literature · Mathematical analysis · Narrative · Autism Spectrum Disorder Research · Child Welfare and Adoption · Family and Disability Support Research · Mathematics · Psychology

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