Last year a small group of deaf and hearing women and men came together because we had seen and experienced the tragic oppression of deaf people. We come from Catholic, Protestant, and Mennonite traditions, as well as the Sojourners Community congregation. We are teachers, pastors, linguists, interpreters, actors, social workers, and poets. We were drawn together because we believe that Jesus has powerful good news for us to share and we need that good news.
We prayed, studied the Bible in the context of the struggles of deaf people, and explored the implications of liberation theologies as they shed light on the historical experience of the deaf community.
Months of preparation for this meeting had led us to read Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed and Donald Kraybill’s The Upside-Down Kingdom, as well as writings by Gustavo Guttierrez, James Cone, Dorothee Solle, Henri Nouwen, and Jim Wallis. We also included in our readings sad reminders of the past and present condition of deaf people and writings by the many hearing leaders of church ministries who view deaf people as pitiful, incompetent, and dependent upon them.
In response, each of us tried to write down our own understanding of the meaning of the gospel in the context of deaf people’s experience. Sharing those writings with one another was the beginning of our four-day dialogue, as we took turns presenting information and leading discussions.
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