Reconsidering intellectual disability : l'Arche, medical ethics, and Christian friendship / Jason Reimer Greig.

Washington, DC : Georgetown University Press, [2015]

593 pages ; 23 cm.

Thesis : Ashley not as object but (God's) friend -- Book outline -- Situating the text : methodological assumptions -- Situating the author : a project grounded in l'Arche -- A new approach to an old dilemma : the "Ashley treatment" and its respondents -- Ashley x -- Ashley's embodiment -- The Ashley treatment -- The parent's motivations -- Other perspectives -- Responses in support : serving everyone's best interests -- Those opposed : a medical fix for a social ill -- Conclusion : Ashley under the medical gaze -- Exposing the power of medicine through a Christian body politics -- A caveat : cracks in the Baconian edifice -- To relieve the human condition : the triumph of the Baconian project and technological biomedicine -- The medical model of disability -- Baconian biomedicine as one of the powers : a Christian view of the body -- Excursus : on suffering (from) disability -- Conclusion -- Disability, society, and theology : the benefits and limitations of the social model of disability -- The promises and perils of the social model of disability -- The social model : from spoiled identity to disability pride -- The social model : a critique -- Theology and the social model -- The disabled god -- Spirit and the politics of disablement -- Conclusion : from self-representation to friendship -- No longer slaves but friends : the recognizing power of friendship -- A theology of friendship -- The nature of philia -- Theological foundations : God's gift of friendship -- Christian friendship : beyond sameness and "equality" -- No longer slaves but friends : philia and the gospel of John -- Asymmetry and friendship -- Reciprocity and mutuality -- The power of mutuality : receptivity and the body -- Friendship as recognition -- Conclusion -- The church as community of friends : embodying the strange politics of the kingdom -- The politics of dependence of the community of friends -- The truthful narrative of the ecclesial self -- The strange polis of the kingdom of God -- Practicing an alternative politics -- Practices : bodily political rituals -- Footwashing : the theologic of the kingdom -- Conclusion -- Beholding the politics of the impossible: l'Arche as an embodiment of the church as a community of friends -- The story of l'Arche : founded on pain and providence -- L'Arche as a habitus of friendship and recognition -- Vanier's theology and spirituality of friendship -- A community of recognition : core members as teachers and exemplars -- L'Arche as counter-culture -- Footwashing : practicing the politics of the impossible -- Footwashing in l'Arche -- Receiving and undergoing the gift of God's friendship -- Conclusion -- Implications and contributions of this project.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 259-278) and index.