Autistic Thinking in the Life of the Church

Stewart Rapley
SCM Press 2021, 192 pp., pbk

Theologies of disability and neurodivergence have stepped beyond the old rhetoric of attraction and inclusion that dwelled merely on how much disabled and neurodivergent people need the church’s care and acceptance. Instead the emphasis has now shifted to how much the church needs disabled and neurodivergent people’s prophetic voice. In this work, Stewart Rapley intends therefore not merely to provide a guide for church leaders and their congregations to attend to the support and wellbeing of autistic individuals, but also to ensure that churches do not miss out on the potential contribution, both theological and ecclesiological, that the autistic voice might make to Christian life and thought.