A notable shift in contemporary theology has been the renewed emphasis on integrating Christian spirituality with socio-political engagement. This movement has taken various forms, including the intersection of mysticism and politics (Schillebeeckx, 1980), contemplation and prophecy (Gutiérrez, 1984), mysticism and resistance (Sölle, 2001), the mystical and prophetic (Tracy, 1990), contemplation in liberation (Boff, 1991), and contemplation as a means of pursuing justice (Ellacuría, 1977). These frameworks reflect ongoing efforts to merge Christian spiritual traditions with pressing socio-political and economic challenges in the modern world.
This paper situates Nancy Eiesland within this theological trajectory, arguing that The Disabled God embodies a mystical-liberative framework. Traditionally, mysticism has been understood as an intensely personal, often apolitical experience of union with the divine. However, liberation theologians in Latin America redefined mysticism as inseparable from commitment to community and justice. This shift challenges the assumption that mysticism belongs solely to the realm of interior contemplation, instead asserting that mystical experience compels participation in struggles for liberation.
Nancy Eiesland’s The Disabled God can be understood as mystical in its theological challenge to dominant power structures and its articulation of an alternative vision of divine embodiment. Central to this vision is Eiesland’s depiction of Christ in a “sip-puff” wheelchair, an image that radically reimagines divine presence through disabled embodiment and challenges traditional representations of power and agency (Eiesland, 1994, p. 89). Rather than proposing a detached, otherworldly spiritual experience, Eiesland envisions an encounter with God in the lived experience of disability. Her work reconfigures theological anthropology by insisting that divine revelation is mediated through disabled embodiment and that justice-oriented theological reflection is a mystical act in itself.
This analysis builds on the insights of liberation theologians who have argued that mystical experience is not an escape from suffering but an encounter with God in history. Leonardo Boff, for instance, contends that true mysticism is lived out in solidarity with the oppressed, a perspective that resonates with Eiesland’s commitment to reimagining the imago Dei through the lens of disability (Boff, 1996). Similarly, Gustavo Gutiérrez’s concept of contemplation and prophecy offers a framework for understanding how The Disabled God enacts a prophetic mysticism—one that refuses to separate spiritual experience from social transformation (Gutiérrez, 1987).
Eiesland’s mystical theology challenges conventional understandings of divine transcendence by emphasizing God’s presence in disabled embodiment. In doing so, she aligns with Dorothee Sölle’s concept of a “mysticism of wide-open eyes”( Sölle, 2001, p. 284)—a mystical praxis that recognizes and resists social oppression. Unlike traditional mystics who sought union with God in solitude, Eiesland locates divine encounter within the communal struggle for justice, affirming that theological reflection on disability is itself a mystical act.
This proposal ultimately argues that The Disabled God is both a work of liberation theology and a mystical text. Eiesland’s vision of the disabled Christ as a site of divine encounter invites contemporary theology to reconsider the mystical dimensions of disability and liberation. By framing Eiesland within the mystical-liberative tradition, this paper contributes to ongoing discussions about the role of embodiment, justice, and spirituality in theological discourse.
This paper examines the mystical dimensions of Nancy Eiesland’s The Disabled God, positioning her as both a revolutionary and a traditional mystic deeply influenced by Latin American liberation theology. While mysticism is often characterized by solitary, direct communion with the divine, liberation theologians have redefined it as an experience of God within the context of communal commitment and social transformation. Eiesland’s work embodies this integration, demonstrating that her mystical engagement is not separate from her political activism but is, in fact, deeply intertwined with it. By drawing on liberation theology, this paper situates The Disabled God within a mystical tradition that challenges power from the margins and offers alternative ways of perceiving and relating to the divine.