In The Beginning There Was Darkness

By John Hull

 
Reviewed by David McLachlan

John Hull is a theologian and teacher who went completely blind during his adult life. His insights are therefore quite unique among books in this area. The book takes us on a journey through the Bible, commenting on what it is like for Hull to read the various texts where blindness or light feature. This starts in Genesis, where God creates light and darkness, picks up King David, who was said to have 'beautiful eyes', and on to events we would expect to find here, like Jesus’ encounters with Bartimaeus and with the man born blind in John’s gospel.
 
The book is unusual in the way that it gives Hull’s reaction to each text without feeling it has to explain everything. It is a fascinating read for anyone interested in disability theology and it particularly acts as a warning to those thinking about preaching on these passages to think more deeply and widely about how they appear to people whose experience of life is different from one’s own.
 

Details: 

Author: Hull, John M
Title: In the Beginning There was Darkness
Publisher: London: SCM Press (2001)