About
I am an independent researcher in Disability Studies and Sociology of Religion. I completed a PhD in Study of Religions at SOAS, University of London in 2019. My book
At the Gates: Disability, Justice and the Churches (2022, co-written with Emily Richardson) shares disabled Christians’ stories from my PhD research with a broad audience. I have taught courses in the Study of Religions, Research Methods and Gender Studies. Alongside ongoing research into disability, churches and Christianity, I work as a researcher in the voluntary sector and a disability equality trainer.
My PhD was a qualitative participatory research study into the experiences of disabled Christians in churches, together with analysis of the discourses and ideologies of disability that participants encountered in church settings and in relation to the Bible, and how these relate to normalcy, the body and Foucault’s theory of the pastoral model.
Other Publications
Books
Jacobs, N.L. and Richardson, E.
At the Gates: Disability, Justice and the Churches. London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 2022.
Articles
Jacobs, N.L. (2022).
A Story Like Mine.
Canadian Journal of Theology, Mental Health and Disability, 2(2), 132-142.
Jacobs, N.L. (2022).
A Man with a Mission: Mark 1:40-45 and ‘Mission With’ Disabled People.
ANVIL Journal of Theology and Mission, 38(1).
Book Chapter
Jacobs, N.L. ‘The Cult of Health and Wholeness: Normalcy and the Charismatic Christian Healing Movement.’ In
Theorising Normalcy: Precarious Positions, ed. Mallett, R., Ogden, C.A. and Slater, J., 202-227. Chester: Chester University Press, 2016.
Policy Research Reports
Lisney, E., Jacobs, N., Parker, L., Perry, F. and Vogelmann, E.
The Impact of COVID-19 on Disabled Women. London: Sisters of Frida, 2020.
Gulyurtlu, S., Jacobs, N. and Evans, I.
The Impact of Children’s Play in Hospital. London: Starlight Children’s Foundation, 2020.
Book Reviews
Jacobs, N.L. (2013). ‘Disability Studies and Biblical Literature.’
Disability & Society, 28(2), 289-291.
https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2012.747820.
Jacobs, N.L. (2012). A Theological Diagnosis: A New Direction on Genetic Therapy, “Disability” and the Ethics of Healing.
Disability and Society, 27(1), 151-152.
https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2012.631805.
Jacobs, N.L. (2010). Ageing, Disability and Spirituality: Addressing the Challenge of Disability in Later Life.
Disability and Society 25(4), 513-217.
https://doi.org/10.1080/09687591003756235.
