Religion, Disability, and Work: Among the barriers to workplace access for disabled persons are longstanding religio-cultural attitudes that conceptualize physical and mental disabilities as personal inadequacies, moral failures, or cosmic punishments. These ideological barriers encompass everything from the Protestant work ethic and sin to karma and demerit to qi-endowment and imbalance to taboo and retribution. The 2024–2026 The Comparison Project lecture & dialogue series seeks to identify and analyze some of these attitudinal barriers, in global scope and comparative perspective, focusing especially on attempts at interrogating and overcoming them.
See below for the lectures that have already occurred. Clicking on the name of each lecture will allow you to access a page on which to find a recording of the lecture (and a powerpoint, if one was used).
Fall 2024 Programming
| TITLE | SPEAKER | DATE/TIME/LOCATION |
| “Disability and Religion: A Dialogue of Dissonance in Search of Harmony“ | Dr. Cody Dolinsek, Adjunct Professor of Philosophy, Drake University | 09/12/2024, 6:00pm, Sussman Theater |
| “The Jesus Crash” | Dr. Brad Crowell, Professor of Religion, Drake University | 09/26/2024, 6:00pm, Meredith 106 |
| “Is Buddhist Karma Ableist? Challenging Reductionist Assumptions around Causality, Merit, and Virtuous Bodies” | Dr. Bee Scherer, Prof. of Buddhist Studies, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Netherlands) | 10/24/2024, 6:00pm, Sussman Theater |
Spring 2025 Programming
| TITLE | SPEAKER | DATE/TIME/LOCATION |
| “The Bhagavad Gītā’s Yoga Model of Disability” | Dr. Amy Donahue, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Kennesaw State University | 03/06/2025, 6:00pm, Sussman Theater |
| “Radical Rest: Jewish Sabbath Practice as Resistance to Ableism” | Dr. Julia Watts-Belser, Professor of Jewish Studies, Georgetown University | 03/27/2025, 6:00pm, Sussman Theater |
| “Getting What We Deserve: Theologies at the Intersection of Disability and Work” | Dr. Max Thornton, Independent Scholar | 04/17/2025, 6:00 pm, Sussman Theater |
Fall 2025 Programming
| TITLE | SPEAKER | DATE/TIME/LOCATION |
| “The Protestant Work Ethics, Eugenics, and Quality of Life Measures” | Dr. Devan Stahl, Associate Professor of Bioethics and Religion, Baylor University, | 09/25/2025, 6:00pm, Harkin Institute |
| “Ukukhubazeka (Disabilities) in the Nguni Cultural Worldview” | Dr. Herbert Moyo, Associate Professor of Theology, University of KKwaZulu-Natal, | 10/23/2025, 6:00pm, Harkin Institute |
| “Islam and Disability” | Dr. Syed Zaidi, Assistant Professor of Religion, Butler University | 11/20/2025, 6:00pm, Harkin Institute |
Spring 2026 Programming
| TITLE | SPEAKER | DATE/TIME/LOCATION |
| “Disability Care in Early Confucianism: Perspectives on Mutual Interaction” | Baolin Wu, Assistant Professor of Religion, Minzu University of China | 02/26/2025, 6:00pm, Harkin Institute |
| “Disability and Personhood among the Navajo People” | Helen Lee Turner, Professor of Religion, Furman University | 03/26/2025, 6:00pm, Harkin Institute |
| “’The Work of the People’: Disability and Participation in the Christian Tradition” | Dr. Sarah Barton, Assistant Professor of Occupational Therapy and Theological Ethics, Duke University | 04/09/2025, 6:00 pm, Harkin Institute |