Salvation as to Celebrate Life through Initiating a Liberating Course of Karma: Experiences of the Blind and Visually Impaired in Hong Kong

Abstract

This study suggests Christian salvation, as God’s power revealed in the eschaton brought by Jesus’ action in incarnation, crucifixion and resurrection to initiate a liberating course of karma for the blind and visually impaired, is based on a critical challenge to a Chinese version of dis/ableism implicitly and explicitly expressed in a folk belief in paoying (a belief in retribution for what one does) and cán fèi (deformity and uselessness), thus empowering the blind and visually impaired to celebrate life in which they are received as a gift and they are gifted, with reference to the practice of the Hildesheimer Blindenmission in Hong Kong and a theological reflection of touch.

Keywords:

• Blind
• Christian salvation
• disability
• Hong Kong
• visually impaired

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 There is a debate between disability seen as a consequence of a moral sin and disability seen as a ceremonial unclean. One possible solution is that disability seen as a consequence of a moral sin is not a must. See Wong (2021), “Disability and Service: Leviticus 21:16-23 Revisited”, Hill Road, 24 (1), 23–46.

2 Vol. 6 Xianzu of Book of Wei uses Cán Fèi to describe wounded soldiers. Book of Wei is a historical book covering the Northern Wei and Eastern Wei dynasties from 386 to 550. https://chinesenotes.com/weishu.html (accessed on December 10, 2022)

3 https://www.ebenezer-es.edu.hk/EbenezerSchool/eng/index.asp (accessed on December 10, 2022)

4 http://www.ebenezer-es.edu.hk/ESAlbum/album/%E5%BE%B7%E5%9C%8B%E5%AE%A3%E6%95%99%E5%A3%AB/SrMariaLange03.html (accessed on December 10, 2022)

5 http://www.ebenezer-es.edu.hk/ESAlbum/album/%E5%8F%A3%E8%BF%B0%E6%AD%B7%E5%8F%B2/Record50s.html (accessed on December 10, 2022)

6 https://historicengland.org.uk/research/inclusive-heritage/disability-history/ (accessed on December 10, 2022)

7 https://archive.org/stream/ebenezerschoolho00ktoc/ebenezerschoolho00ktoc_djvu.txt (accessed on December 10, 2022)

8 https://www.scmp.com/yp/discover/lifestyle/features/article/3072520/hong-kongs-ebenezer-school-and-home-visually (accessed on December 10, 2022)

9 https://hd.stheadline.com/news/columns/958/20180911/700840/%E5%B0%88%E6%AC%84-%E7%9B%B2%E6%AF%9B%E7%9C%8B%E4%B8%96%E7%95%8C-%E5%B8%B6%E7%9D%80%E6%84%9F%E5%8B%95%E5%87%BA%E7%99%BC (accessed on December 10, 2022)

10 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETJ7zbG6_s0 (accessed on December 10, 2022)

11 https://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/news/20120513/00176_035.html (accessed on December 10, 2022)

12 https://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking-news/section/4/167658/Restaurant-apologizes-after-kicking-out-visually-impaired-customer-with-guide-dog (accessed on December 10, 2022)