Open AccessRELIGIOUS PLURALISM AND DISABILITY IN ZAMBIA: APPROACHES AND HEALING IN SELECTED PENTECOSTAL CHURCHES
Author(s) -
Nelly Mwale,
Joseph Chita
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
studia historiae ecclesiasticae
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2412-4265
pISSN - 1017-0499
DOI - 10.25159/2412-4265/622
Subject(s) - pluralism (philosophy) , sociology , work (physics) , social model of disability , gender studies , psychology , psychiatry , epistemology , engineering , philosophy , mechanical engineering
Zambia has recently witnessed the growth of Pentecostal churches that publicly claim to be healing disabilities. This paper explored how some Pentecostal churches in Zambia’s pluralist society claimed to be healing disability. Interviews, documents and video recordings from three different Pentecostal ministries depicting healing and disability were analysed. The paper observes that some Pentecostal ministries exemplified disability as that which could be healed through the work of the Holy Spirit, and disability was attributed to the work of the devil. The paper argues that the disability healing messages and miracles indirectly victimised people with disabilities, despite its potential to offer social capital. This created a need for deconstructing views on disability. Disability issues in the church also had to go beyond healing and miracles to appreciating the contributions of people with disabilities to the body of Christ.