Formed Together: Mystery, Narrative, and Virtue in Christian Caregiving

by Keith Dow

Overview

Joy, pain, celebration, and grief are constant companions on the journey of caregiving. While remaining detached might seem the preferable option, it is not possible to disentangle the threads of our interwoven stories. Our lives are shaped by each other. We are transformed by our encounters.

In Formed Together, Keith Dow explores the questions of why we should, and why we do, care for one another. He considers what it means for human beings to be interdependent, created in the image of a loving God. Dow recounts personal experiences of supporting people with intellectual disabilities while drawing upon theological and philosophical sources to discover the ethical underpinnings of Christian care. Formed Together reveals that human beings care for one another not merely by choice, but because every person relies upon others. People are called together in mutually formative practices of care, and human flourishing means learning to care well. Dow suggests five virtues that mark ethical caregiving, such as humble courage and quiet attentiveness. These practices can help guide caregivers in responding to the divine call to care.

Dow demonstrates that ethical practices of care do not depend upon intelligence or rational ability. Many are called to the vocation of tending to and being present in the needs of others. To be formed together in the divine image means that caregivers never entirely comprehend themselves, others, or God. Rather, caring well means that humans are to accompany one another in and through experiences of profound mystery and revelation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781481313216
Publisher:	Baylor University Press
Publication date:	03/01/2021
Series:	Studies in Religion, Theology, and Disability
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Keith Dow (PhD, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) is Manager of Organizational and Spiritual Life at Christian Horizons.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Giving a Careful Account
Part 1. The Call to Care
1 Vocation and Transcendence
Called to One Another
2 Vocation and Immanence
Called by Each Other
3 A Theological Story
The Limits of Professional Ethics
Part 2. Encountering My Neighbor
4 Traces of the Divine
The imago Dei and Human Ability
5 Seeing You Through Me
The Myth of the Transparent Other
6 The Stories I Tell
The Myth of the Transparent Self
7 A Mysterious Revelation
The Myth of a Transparent God
Part 3. Responding to the Call
8 Formed Together in Love
Towards an Ethic of Christian Care
9 The Virtues of Care
Discovering Who We Are
Conclusion: Responding to God’s Call

What People are Saying About This

Shelly Christensen

Formed Together is a dynamic evolutionary journey of Judeo-Christian theology and the implications of how people with disabilities are perceived and treated in modern society. Based on Dow’s moving experiences, first as a personal care professional and then as a leader in a Christian disability service agency, Formed Together describes an important shift in recognizing the humanity of individuals living with a disability. Dow provides a path for support systems and agencies to acknowledge and support an individual’s spiritual needs as well as religious affiliation. This book affirms human spirituality and its expression by people living with disabilities and offers a pathway to creating communities where all people feel they belong and are valued.

Hans Reinders

With great skill Keith Dow unpacks the apparently unproblematic notion of giving an account of caring for dependent people, like caring for persons with intellectual disabilities. Against the background of current demands on service organizations to account for the quality of their services, Dow shows the implausibility of giving an account that separates ways of providing care from the beliefs and motivations that inspire professionals who actually do care. In view of the agility with which the author switches between philosophical and theological arguments, this book is highly recommended for Christian readers working in environments that demand compliance with formal rules and requirements without any interests in what is actually motivating them in persisting in their often-difficult jobs.

Thomas Reynolds

If relationships are central to human identity, then the care we give and receive in countless ways throughout life has a moral character shaping the way we give account of ourselves and others. This book helps us to understand why. Drawing from his encounters with people with intellectual disabilities as a direct support professional, Keith Dow investigates an array of philosophical, theological, and biblical resources to offer an insightful account of Christian care and its moral formation. The result is a rich understanding of care as a calling that invites readers to honor mystery at the heart of relation with God and others, and in so doing, move beyond problematic notions of care with regard to disability. The book adds substantively to conversations around theology and disability and should be read by all Christians invested in care.

Editorial Reviews

How to resist such a powerful, consumerist, ableist throwaway culture in this context? Enter Keith Dow and his new book Formed Together: Mystery, Narrative, and Virtue in Christian Caregiving. In a brilliant mix of rigorous academic arguments and references to his experience as a caregiver himself, Dow’s book builds on the one concept that can hold together the radical equality of all human beings, including profoundly disabled human beings: the imago Dei.

Charles Camosy

As a theologian, pastor, and a professional caregiver for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities, I was delighted to find a framework for faith-based caregiving in this book. Words such as 'calling,' 'virtue,' 'neighbor,' 'love,' 'friendship,' 'mutuality,' 'divinity,' 'mercy,' 'grace,' 'humility,' and 'forgiveness' are abundantly used in theology but seldom used in professional caregiving. Keith Dow has combined the work of direct support professionals with the language of imago Dei, the image of God. The concepts in this book are applicable beyond the world of ID/DD and have a place in the wider conversation of, 'Who is my neighbor?' and how Christians should develop relationships with their neighbors. I recommend this book for human service agency recruiters, trainers, and frontline workers.

Lida Merrill