Paper Presentation Proposal—The autistic Christ: Introduction to neuroqueer liberation theology

Hi all.  I just finished drafting my application to present at the American Society of Missiology conference this summer.  The theme this year is "From the rest to the West." Hence, the context for the conversation. 

Thought you might be interested what is cooking in my mind: 

The autistic Christ: Introduction to neuroqueer liberation theology   

Postcolonial liberation theologians have long challenged “Western” theologies that rely on White patriarchal power structures, pathologize and victim-blame those who do not conform to their rules, and promise delayed (post-death) rewards to those who stoically accept their subjugated status. To add insult to injury, the Western Church portrays itself as the primary custodian of the knowledge of the path to salvation, which it then “bestows” to the rest of the world. Through this hubris, the Western Church has, ironically, deprived itself of the opportunity to experience the Kin-dom that Christ describes in our holy scriptures.  

By centering the experiences and theological lenses of “the rest,” the Western academic community begins to humble itself enough to tap into a vast reservoir of knowledge, allowing it to engage in the work of deconstructing imperial mission praxes, and potentially learning how to gain immediate—not deferred—entrance into the Beloved Kin-dom.  

There is, however, a category of people rejected as defective (and, in many cases, viewed as sub-human) by the dominant Western Church whose unmasked voices are only starting to be heard by academia, and their existence crosses all regional, linguistic, ethnic, gender, socio-economic, and temporal divides: the neurodivergent. 

While mainstream Western society still treats neurodivergence as an aberration to eliminate, in recent years a pride movement has gained momentum among neurodivergents, who through the rise of social media platforms have found one another, formed community, and engaged in liberating reframings of their shared differences. This author is among the “lost generation” of adults who, due to their abilities to sufficiently mask their autistic* and/or ADHD* traits, grew up with the pain of social alienation but without the understanding of the causes. 

The exponential growth of these proudly neurodivergent online community networks have led to the birth of new scholarly constructs (e.g., Dr. Nick Walker’s coining of the term neuroqueer) and the emerging field of neuroqueer liberation theologies. Neuroqueer theologians are engaging in the work of subverting theological frameworks in a way that is both groundbreaking and ancient, revealing to their colleagues truths that have been hiding in plain sight: the prophets of old, numerous biblical heroes/heroines, and even Christ as described in the Gospels code as neurodivergent when viewed through a modern Western assessment lens (e.g., Laura Sommer’s podcast series “Autistic Liberation Theology”). 

Hence, I assert, the Kin-dom of God does not simply make space for neurodivergent/queer minds, it is neuroqueer. This distinction is critical to any holistic theological conversation about solidarity, liberation, and belonging.

This proposed ASM paper presentation would unpack these terms and assertions at the introductory level, creating a pathway into the conversation for those who are just now hearing about it.          

*I embrace efforts to replace these problematic terms, but in the context of this abstract am using the ones most widely known to communicate my neuro-differences. Note also that a significant percentage of neurodivergent persons do not have the resources and/or abilities to fully participate in these online communities.