Neurodiversity, Faith Formation, and Theological Education

This book demonstrates the constructive insights the neurodiversity paradigm presents for a more thorough understanding of creation, human flourishing, Christian virtues, ecclesiology, belonging, youth ministry, prayer, worship, and justice.

The neurodiversity movement is a social justice movement that celebrates the unique insights and strengths of Autistic people, people with ADHD, learning differences, and other experiences like Tourette’s and tics. Rather than viewing such experiences as deficits, the movement emphasizes the natural variation in the ways people think, learn, and live in the world. Yet, people with these diagnoses, who often identify as neurodivergent, have experienced prejudice and stigma in educational and church spaces due to their neurological or behavioral differences. Participation in church and learning environments is often a burden for neurodivergent people. What can theological educators and ministry leaders learn from the neurodiversity paradigm and movement? How might places of learning and worship be transformed by listening to the voices of neurodivergent people?

Drawing on empirical research and lived experience, the contributions to this book pursue answers to these questions and present a vision of faith formation and theological education that centers the voices of neurodivergent people and cultivates environments where people of all neurotypes can flourish. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Disability & Religion.

Michael Paul Cartledge is a practical theologian at Princeton Theological Seminary and teaches courses on neurodiversity, mental health, youth ministry and Christian education.

Erin Raffety is a cultural anthropologist, a Presbyterian pastor, and an ethnographic researcher who has studied foster families in China, Christian congregations in the United States, and people with disabilities around the world. Raffety teaches and researches at Princeton Theological Seminary and Princeton University, USA.