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This video explores what it might look like to think that some disabilities might have a place in heaven.
The Church has a long history of suggesting that disability has no place in God’s coming kingdom. Theologian Amos Yong, in his The Bible, Disability, and the Church, writes “if there are no disabilities in the life to come, then that implicitly suggests that our present task is to rid the world of such unfortunate and unwarranted realities.” Perhaps this is one reason that, in the US, individuals with disabilities are significantly less likely to attend church than are those who are non-disabled. This short documentary begins to explore what it might look like to think that at least some disabilities might have a place in heaven. It’s my hope that this can help the Church recognize the value that people with disabilities can have in our communities now.
-Kevin Timpe, PhD, William H. Jellema Chair in Christian Philosophy, Calvin College
This documentary was produced by the Center for Philosophy of Religion at the University of Notre Dame.
See a related academic paper by Kevin Timpe: Defiant Afterlife–Disability and Uniting Ourselves to God
Old Testament scholar Nancy deClaissé-Walford has spent her career studying the ordering of the Psalter. Most of the psalms, she says, are not tied to a particular situation, allowing us to sing and pray them honestly in our own contexts.
Pastor-scholar Andrew Wilkes shares how his worshiping community, Double Love Experience Church, prayed and sang the psalms during the troubling times of 2020. The psalms gave them language and support for praise and lament, and Wilkes asserts that lament is the evidence of faith because we are bringing our troubles to God.
Author and pastor-scholar David Taylor shares how he came to appreciate the psalms and how he encourages people to bring their full, unedited selves to God in prayer and experience a richer and more honest life of faith.
Old Testament scholar Nancy deClaissé-Walford has spent her career studying the ordering of the Psalter. Most of the psalms, she says, are not tied to a particular situation, allowing us to sing and pray them honestly in our own contexts.
Pastor-scholar Andrew Wilkes shares how his worshiping community, Double Love Experience Church, prayed and sang the psalms during the troubling times of 2020. The psalms gave them language and support for praise and lament, and Wilkes asserts that lament is the evidence of faith because we are bringing our troubles to God.
Author and pastor-scholar David Taylor shares how he came to appreciate the psalms and how he encourages people to bring their full, unedited selves to God in prayer and experience a richer and more honest life of faith.
A Psalm Talk by Jared E. Alcántara recorded at the 2026 Psalms 150 conference, with a visual prayer and embodied response from artist Dea Jenkins.
