On Thursday, September 12 in Drake’s Sussman Theater (lower level of Olmsted Center), Dr. Cody Dolinsek will deliver the inaugural lecture of the 2024–26 lecture & dialogue series on religion, disability, and work: “Disability and Religion: A Dialogue of Dissonance in Search of Harmony.”
Religion and disability, at least as conceived in biblical religion, particularly in Judaism and Christianity, are out of harmony. For example, the Torah forbids the disabled offspring of the Levitical priests to participate in the priestly service. The blind and the lame, among others, are explicitly excluded from administering the most sacred rituals of their faith. In the Christian New Testament, Jesus is portrayed as healing those with disabilities–speech impediments, deafness, and blindness. The implication is that living without these disabilities makes one more whole, more complete. At the same time, the Bible seems to celebrate disability. When Moses protests that he has a speech impediment and therefore is not the best man for the job of speaking to Pharaoh, demanding that Pharaoh release the Israelites from slavery, God reminds Moses that it is God who has made the lame, the blind, etc. This talk seeks to navigate these tensions and to propose that while the tensions are probably irresolvable, the Bible provides its adherents with constructive ways to acknowledge and celebrate disability.
Dr. Dolinsek, blind from birth, has taught philosophy for Drake University since the fall of 2015, and he also teaches philosophy for the Des Moines Area Community College, Urban Campus. He earned his B.A. in Philosophy from Drake University in 2005 and his PhD in Philosophy in 2020. His areas of specialization are Ancient Philosophy and Philosophy of Religion. He is the author of Philosophy is for Everyone: An Introduction to Something You’ve Already Been Doing, published by Kendall Hunt in 2024.
Those wishing to attend this lecture by zoom can sign-in here by 5:55pm: https://drake-edu.zoom.us/j/83530174120.
Please see below for an audio recording of Dr. Dolinsek’s lecture.