Asking About What is Better: Intersex, Disability and Inaugurated Eschatology

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Religion, Disability & Health on 13 November 2013, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/15228967.2013.840972Intersex conditions, in which individuals’ bodies cannot be categorized as clearly male or female, might be figured as a nonpathological physical variation akin to an impairment. Such a comparison may be problematic in some respects, but debates surrounding sexuality and the ethics of prenatal testing demonstrate that parallels exist in the ways that intersex bodies and disabled bodies are understood. Juergen Moltmann’s work is used to argue that justice-oriented eschatological theologies for intersex people must figure their bodies non-pathologically, always asking about what is better, and that this focus might fruitfully include closer attention to the stories and testimonies of intersex people themselves