This post is inspired by and draws from a conversation between host Amy Julia Becker and theological ethicist Brian Brock on the podcast Reimagining the Good Life. You can listen to the full episode, “Who Counts as Human?”, or explore these ideas in greater depth in Brian’s book, Joining Creation’s Praise.

We live in a world obsessed with performance, efficiency, and self-presentation. We measure, rank, and categorise everything—including each other. From corporate ladders to social media feeds, we are constantly trying to secure our place in an invisible hierarchy.

But what if our relentless drive to prove our value is actually a refusal of our very nature?

In a profound conversation on the Reimagining the Good Life podcast, theological ethicist Brian Brock shared insights from his book, Joining Creation’s Praise—a 1,000-page exploration of the first three chapters of Genesis. Brock, whose theological work is deeply intertwined with his experience parenting his son Adam (who has Down syndrome and autism), invites us to rethink what it means to be human.

If we want to live “the good life”, we must learn to step off the pecking order and embrace our identity as creatures.

The Trap of “Aspiring Gods”

Brock points out that in the Genesis creation narrative, the fundamental human problem is not our weakness or vulnerability. It is our refusal to accept our status as creatures.

“Our problem is that we don’t want to live like creatures in a creaturely way,” Brock explains. “We want to be like gods; we want to be self-legislating and self-justifying.” 

To be a creature means accepting that we are dependent, limited, and not in ultimate control. Yet, we constantly attempt to secure our own lives, buffer ourselves from insecurity, and prove our worth by asserting our superiority over others. We try to justify our existence through our intelligence, productivity, and success. In doing so, we reject our creaturely limits and try to act like gods.

Dismantling the “Pecking Order”

When we refuse to live as creatures, differences between people become threats. To manage this threat, we construct social hierarchies—or “pecking orders”—to determine who is better and who is worse.

We often justify this through “human exceptionalism”, where we treat intelligence and performance as the ultimate markers of human value. Under this lens, disability is viewed as a tragedy—a “falling short” of the glorious, fully realised human potential.

This hierarchy creates a toxic environment of fear:

  • Fear of the other: We build distancing mechanisms to avoid coming into proximity with those who differ from us.
  • Fear of ourselves: We project our deepest anxieties about losing our own cognitive or physical capacities onto disabled people.

But Brock’s experience with his son Adam shattered this logic. “Adam doesn’t fear being like me,” Brock notes. “Other people around him fear being like him, but he doesn’t have any complaints about being like he is.” Adam lives without the exhausting need to justify his existence or secure his place in a hierarchy.

Communication Beyond Words

Living with someone who does not communicate through standard verbal channels forces us to attend to deeper layers of reality. Brock reflects that most human conversation actually happens “below the level of our explicit language”. We communicate through physical presence, bodily posture, and facial gestures.

When we slow down to connect with those who don’t use verbal words, we develop a capacity to listen with our whole bodies. Just as Adam and Eve had to listen to and understand the rhythms of the garden they were called to care for, we are invited to tune into the non-verbal richness of the lives around us.

Welcoming the “Fragile Message Bearers”

In a culture ruled by economic utility, disabled individuals—and anyone we deem “less valuable”—can be experienced not as deficits, but as fragile message bearers.

When we welcome those with intellectual disabilities or dementia, they rattle our aspirational hierarchies. They remind us of the biblical truth in 1 Corinthians 12: “Those who seem to have less value have more honour among you.” 

They are not “falling short” of being human; they are a vital part of the human body. They remind us that our worth is not earned through our cognitive capacity or successful self-presentation but is received as a gift.

Moving Forward: Joining Creation’s Praise

How do we begin to live out this creaturely freedom? Brock offers a simple yet challenging exhortation: lean into your entwinement with creatures.

Instead of treating the world as a resource to dominate and exploit for our security, we are invited to join the rest of creation in its natural state of gratitude to God. In Jesus, we see the perfect model of a human life lived without threat, insecurity, or the need to establish hierarchies.

When we step off the pecking order, we stop trying to be gods. We finally find the freedom to be exactly what we were made to be: creatures, beautifully entwined with one another, joining together in praise.

This blog post was adapted from the podcast episode “Who Counts as Human?” featuring Brian Brock on Reimagining the Good Life with Amy Julia Becker. The theological arguments discussed are based on Brian Brock’s book, Joining Creation’s Praise (Oxford University Press).

Brian Brock (DPhil, King’s College, London) is Chair of Moral and Practical Theology at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. He has written scholarly works on the use of the Bible in Christian ethics, the ethics of technological development, the theology of disability and the doctrine of creation. He is the founder and managing editor of the academic monograph series T&T Clark Enquires in Theological Ethics, the managing editor of the Journal of Disability and Religion and President of the Society for the Study of Christian Ethics. He is also a husband and father of three children, including Adam, who is 21, a delightful human being with Down’s Syndrome and autism. His most recent book is Joining Creation’s Praise: A Theological Ethic of Creatureliness.