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Alban Institute creates "Amazing Gifts" Facebook Page
April 19, 2012 | Mike Minnicino
The Alban Institute is pleased to announce that it has set up a Facebook page called “Amazing Gifts,” where people can post and comment on stories of faith, disability, and inclusion.
The page was inspired by the book, Amazing Gifts: Stories of Faith, Disability, and Inclusion, written by noted religion writer Mark I. Pinsky and published by Alban. In his book, Pinsky gathered stories from churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples across the country, “stories of people with disabilities and the congregations where they have found welcome.” He took special care to include the widest range of disabilities, including non-apparent disabilities like lupus, chronic pain, traumatic brain injury, depression, and mental illness.
Amazing Gifts also includes an illuminating foreword by Ginny Thornburgh, Director of the AAPD Interfaith Initiative. She describes the path that led her and her husband, former U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh, to become leading advocates for people with disabilities. “By opening yourself to the stories in this book,” she concludes, “you will be equipped to listen, learn, and act in new ways in your congregation.”
This remarkable book has already been featured in the Huffington Post, the Huntsville Times, and Faith Matters, as well as on websites of the Christian Reformed Church, the American Association of People with Disabilities, and Spinal Cord Central. Others stories are in preparation, including a feature on PBS’s nationally-televised “Religion and Ethics NewsWeekly.”
Like the book, this Facebook site is a place to share stories of how people with disabilities have experienced their faith in the context of their disability, and how congregations have gained when they value the gifts that people with disabilities bring along.
The Alban Institute is an independent center of learning and leadership development with a focus on congregations. Located in greater Washington DC, Alban is a not-for-profit, membership organization that develops and shares knowledge through consulting, publishing, research, and education programs.
Mark I. Pinsky is the author of several popular, critically acclaimed books, including The Gospel According to The Simpsons and A Jew Among the Evangelicals, and he was religion reporter for the Orlando Sentinel from 1995 to 2008. Columns by Pinsky on faith, disability, and inclusion have been featured in The Wall Street Journal and USA Today, and was the subject of a feature article in the Harvard Divinity Bulletin (Summer/Autumn 2011).
Comments
Submitted by pastorRichard at 11:44 AM on May 14, 2012