ABSTRACT
The development of the social model of disability is often set against the medical model. Nevertheless, these two ways of understanding disability hold two beliefs in common: life with a disability is difficult, and therefore life for people with disabilities could be better. Thus hope is implied within both models of disability. Over recent decades Jürgen Moltmann and other theologians have constructed theologies of hope. They recognize that the fundamental movement of Scripture is God’s saving work, in Christ, to take us from the pain and difficulties of our broken lives to the restoration and renewal of the promised new creation. Matthew’s beatitudes outline this restoring work. In this chapter, therefore, I want to ask how Moltmann’s understanding of hope sheds new light on Jesus’ ministry-defining statement. This new perspective clarifies our hope for those with disabilities, and therefore invites us to reconsider the way we conceptualize disability.
