Electrotherapy and the Spirit in Wesleyan Thought: Hope for Healing Marginalized Bodies by Dismantling Ableism and Embracing the Pneuma
Angela Molloy, MDiv, Iliff School of Theology/University of Denver, Denver, CO
This paper examines the role of the Holy Spirit in the healing theology of John Wesley. Contrary to common and lingering attempts to build community according to able-bodied standards of normality, Wesley offers a person-centered relational theology that pays attention to what is possible now, respects difference, and looks forward to the medical innovations that will help life together move more smoothly in the future. Thinking about our commitments to justice in the face of deeply embedded systemic ableism within our medical and religious systems spurs the question: what does one do when cherished beliefs passed down through generations also cause unspeakable harm to one’s own spirit and to the beloved community? How can the liberative justice of the Holy Spirit’s subversive fire be remembered, reclaimed, and reintegrated into Methodist and broader Christian churches to resist systemic ableism and remove barriers to inclusion? Can technologies of the spirit be reimagined to offer hope in our frustratingly ableist world today? Inseparably linked to the body and the mysterious pulsation of the Holy Spirit, in this paper I argue that the electromagnetic technologies of spirit that Wesley and other electrical enthusiasts sought to experience hold tremendous liberatory potential for ushering in the transformative not yet of the future and for rejecting ableist theologies fixated on a “cure.”
Drawing on John Wesley’s sermons and his 1747 pamphlet Primitive Physick, or an Easy and Natural Way of Curing Most Diseases, this paper disrupts the tendency to overly medicalize disabled and otherwise marginalized bodies when focusing on an other-worldly, longed for future. Paying attention to the author’s positionality as a congenitally disabled scholar-activist and engaging in conversation with scholars Paola Bertucci, Amos Yong, Newton H. Malony, and Albert Hernandez, this paper puts forth constructive possibilities for caregivers and recipients of care alike. It is a call to service for medical practitioners and religious leaders who too often ignore the wisdom of the spirit as they perpetuate ableist harm on disabled children of God. Rather than problematizing disabled bodies by focusing solely on a supposed desire for a “cure,” John Wesley’s electromagnetic healing activities followed Jesus’ example by centering the person directly in front of him. Wesley’s focus on the individual directly in front of him who is created with electrical energy and is, thus, imbued with the “soul of the universe” liberates traditional narratives of healing from the curative need to discard nonconventional bodies. By meeting disabled believers where they were and by doing all in his power to improve human flourishing in the here and now, Wesley illuminates a path toward a present-focused future that refuses to write out disabled bodies. I will argue, following the work on numerous disability theologians, that there is a profound difference between healing and curing and that Wesley’s efforts to channel the Fifth Element without coercion or financial profiteering both respect the diversity of human life and reimagine societal norms. Practical and compassionate, it is this pulsing energy which can fuel our commitment to equitable care by nurturing intentional spaces of hope and healing for all those on the peripheries of society.
Drawing on John Wesley’s sermons and his 1747 pamphlet Primitive Physick, or an Easy and Natural Way of Curing Most Diseases, this paper disrupts the tendency to overly medicalize disabled and otherwise marginalized bodies when focusing on an other-worldly, longed for future. Paying attention to the author’s positionality as a congenitally disabled scholar-activist and engaging in conversation with scholars Paola Bertucci, Amos Yong, Newton H. Malony, and Albert Hernandez, this paper puts forth constructive possibilities for caregivers and recipients of care alike. It is a call to service for medical practitioners and religious leaders who too often ignore the wisdom of the spirit as they perpetuate ableist harm on disabled children of God. Rather than problematizing disabled bodies by focusing solely on a supposed desire for a “cure,” John Wesley’s electromagnetic healing activities followed Jesus’ example by centering the person directly in front of him. Wesley’s focus on the individual directly in front of him who is created with electrical energy and is, thus, imbued with the “soul of the universe” liberates traditional narratives of healing from the curative need to discard nonconventional bodies. By meeting disabled believers where they were and by doing all in his power to improve human flourishing in the here and now, Wesley illuminates a path toward a present-focused future that refuses to write out disabled bodies. I will argue, following the work on numerous disability theologians, that there is a profound difference between healing and curing and that Wesley’s efforts to channel the Fifth Element without coercion or financial profiteering both respect the diversity of human life and reimagine societal norms. Practical and compassionate, it is this pulsing energy which can fuel our commitment to equitable care by nurturing intentional spaces of hope and healing for all those on the peripheries of society.