Imago Dei in people with profound intellectual disabilities

Abstract

The bulk of the Church’s teaching and theological tradition concerning Imago Dei appears to interpret the concept in a way that is hardly compatible with the reality of people with intellectual disabilities at best. This particularly concerns the themes in theological tradition defining God’s image as special intellectual faculties common to human beings and/or their capacity for exercising dominance over the rest of creation. This article offers an interpretation of Imago Dei that is in no way oppressive for people with profound intellectual disabilities. It is inspired by the relational interpretation of God’s image, whilst being also firmly rooted in the tradition linking it to aspects such as freedom and dominance over the rest of creation. It shows individuals with profound intellectual disability as subjects actively exercising freedom and partaking in dominance over the rest of creation, yet in a way unique to them and their condition.