Towards an “Indecent” Resurrection: Disabled Intimacies and Communities of Care

Using the futural longings of Marcella Althaus-Reid, M. Shawn Copeland, Lisa Powell, and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, this presentation re-envisions bodily resurrection as “indecent.” Althaus-Reid’s work on “decency” captures how disability is entangled with other harmful colonial ideological constructs. Copeland’s theology creates an account of discipleship that incarnates God’s Reign through solidarity with marginalized bodies. Powell envisions disabled resurrected bodies as vulnerable, rejecting any idea of self-sufficiency. Piepzna-Samarasinha reflects on a future for disabled intimacies for Mad and neurodiverse bodies. The image of an “indecent” resurrected bodies incites the Christian moral imagination to advocate for those marked for harm by empire(s), reject autonomous individuality, and promote an ethos of vulnerability, care, and interdependence for neurodivergent and Mad sexuality.