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Review

Don Browning

― University of Chicago

"Receiving the Gift of Friendship is a profound and moving argument for the humanity of profoundly disabled persons, their capacity for friendship, and their ability to reveal our relationship with God. It will be viewed as a breakthrough contribution to the emerging field of practical theology and the ministry of the church."

Jean Vanier

― founder of L'Arche

"Are people with severe intellectual disabilities fully human? In the most remarkable way Hans Reinders reveals to us their capacity to relate and to receive and give the gift of friendship. . . This book is necessary reading for all philosophers, theologians, and those in the human sciences. We are confronted here with how the exceptional, the different, the one who so often is put aside opens new doors for understanding the truth of who we all are and how we can all develop more humanly."

Trevor R. Parmenter

– University of Sydney

"Hans Reinders goes to the very heart of the mystery of what it means to be a human being. If we truly believe we can see God in every other person, then we shall have reverence for all human beings, irrespective of whether they are disabled or not. Reinders comprehensively challenges the perceived lack of personhood of people with profound intellectual disability through the prism of the Trinity."

John Swinton

― University of Aberdeen

"The ‘blessing of intimacy' is not one that is available to all people, particularly those whom we choose to name ‘profoundly intellectually disabled.' Why would we desire to claim such people as friends? What can they give that we might desire to receive? And yet, at the heart of the gospel is the deep promise that God desires to befriend human beings, not for what they are, for what they have done, or for what they will do, but simply because they are. In this rich and deeply insightful book Hans Reinders opens our eyes and hearts to enable us to see and live this oft-forgotten truth. . . This is a powerful book that will make a difference in people's lives."

Allen Verhey

― Duke Divinity School

"This wonderful book helps us to understand not only the humanity of persons with profound disabilities but also our own humanity as cherished children of God. Moreover, it helps us to understand how a friendship with a profoundly disabled person, whose very humanity is sometimes questioned, might remind us of our own humanity, for we too are dependent on God's grace from first to last."

Interpretation

“Those interested in disability theology will appreciate Reinders’ work for being unapologetically theological as he challenges existing paradigms, offering possibilities far beyond the language of justice and rights. Perhaps the true significance of this work comes from his invitation to move beyond using rationality, capability, and achievement to define ourselves. This is a move many will find profoundly counterintuitive, yet it is also consistent with the Christian story.”

Reviews in Religion & Theology

“Receiving the Gift of Friendship is a deeply learned book, and yet reading it is a most moving experience. . . . It should find its place in postgraduate reading lists, particularly those whose theological concern is for ethics, and where the question of theological anthropology is not only interesting, but urgent.”

Practical Theology

“This book makes you think, it challenges notions many people take for granted, it causes us to re-think certain categories on being human and is perhaps one of the most important books written on theology and disability for some time.”

Anglican Theological Review

“This superb book is a model of method in theological ethics and a substantive contribution to the theological literature on disability, friendship ethics, and theological anthropology.”

About the Author

Hans S. Reinders is the Bernard Lievegoed Professor of Ethics and Mental Disability at the Free University of Amsterdam. He is also the author of Receiving the Gift of Friendship: Profound Disability, Theological Anthropology, and Ethics.