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Modern Spiritual Masters
Dorothee Soelle: Essential Writings
Dorothee Soelle was one of the most creative and prophetic German theologians of the post-war generation whose work was shaped by the memory of the war, the Holocaust, and totalitarianism. Her writings integrated feminism, ecology, a witness for peace, and global solidarity.
""My life is that of a theological worker who tries to tell something of Gods pain and Gods joy... A conversation, in the full sense of the word, comes into being when people share together their hunger for spirit in leaden, spiritless times. The satiated have no need to talk to each other."" --Dorothee Soelle
Dorothee Soelle, who died in 2003, was one of the most creative and prophetic German theologians of the post-war generation whose work was shaped by the memory of war, the Holocaust, and totalitarianism. In her ""political theology,"" which joined a strong mystical dimension with a concern for the challenges of history, she integrated feminism, ecology, a witness for peace, and global solidarity.
Dianne L. Oliver, who selected the text, an Associate Professor of Religion at the University of Evansville in Indiana, has published studies of Soelles theology.
""My life is that of a theological worker who tries to tell something of Gods pain and Gods joy... A conversation, in the full sense of the word, comes into being when people share together their hunger for spirit in leaden, spiritless times. The satiated have no need to talk to each other."" --Dorothee Soelle
Dorothee Soelle, who died in 2003, was one of the most creative and prophetic German theologians of the post-war generation whose work was shaped by the memory of war, the Holocaust, and totalitarianism. In her ""political theology,"" which joined a strong mystical dimension with a concern for the challenges of history, she integrated feminism, ecology, a witness for peace, and global solidarity.
Dianne L. Oliver, who selected the text, an Associate Professor of Religion at the University of Evansville in Indiana, has published studies of Soelles theology.
237 pages, Paperback
First published March 30, 2006
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About the author
Dorothee Sölle
100 books47 followersDorothee Steffensky-Sölle was a German liberation theologian and writer.
Sölle studied theology, philosophy and literature at the University of Cologne. She became active in politics, speaking out against the Vietnam War, the arms race of the Cold War and injustices in the developing world. Notably, from 1968 to 1972 she organized Cologne's Politisches Nachtgebet (political night-prayers). Between 1975 and 1987, she spent six months a year at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, where she was a professor of systematic theology.
She wrote a large number of books, including Theology for Skeptics: Reflections on God, The Silent Cry: Mysticism and Resistance (2001) and her autobiography Against the Wind: Memoir of a Radical Christian (1999). In Beyond Mere Obedience: Reflections on a Christian Ethic for the Future she coined the term "Christofascist" to describe fundamentalists. Perhaps her best-known work in English was Suffering, which offers a critique of "Christian masochism" and "theological sadism." Sölle's critique is against the assumption that God is all-powerful and the cause of suffering; humans thus suffer for some greater purpose. Instead, God suffers and is powerless alongside us. Humans are to struggle together against oppression, sexism, anti-Semitism, and other forms of authoritarianism.
"I believe in God who created the world has not done such a thing that always must remain, not the ruled by eternal laws, which are immutable, not by natural systems of rich and poor, experts and uninformed, rulers and extradited. I believe in God, who wants the appeal of living and the change in all states through our work, our policy".
Sölle studied theology, philosophy and literature at the University of Cologne. She became active in politics, speaking out against the Vietnam War, the arms race of the Cold War and injustices in the developing world. Notably, from 1968 to 1972 she organized Cologne's Politisches Nachtgebet (political night-prayers). Between 1975 and 1987, she spent six months a year at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, where she was a professor of systematic theology.
She wrote a large number of books, including Theology for Skeptics: Reflections on God, The Silent Cry: Mysticism and Resistance (2001) and her autobiography Against the Wind: Memoir of a Radical Christian (1999). In Beyond Mere Obedience: Reflections on a Christian Ethic for the Future she coined the term "Christofascist" to describe fundamentalists. Perhaps her best-known work in English was Suffering, which offers a critique of "Christian masochism" and "theological sadism." Sölle's critique is against the assumption that God is all-powerful and the cause of suffering; humans thus suffer for some greater purpose. Instead, God suffers and is powerless alongside us. Humans are to struggle together against oppression, sexism, anti-Semitism, and other forms of authoritarianism.
"I believe in God who created the world has not done such a thing that always must remain, not the ruled by eternal laws, which are immutable, not by natural systems of rich and poor, experts and uninformed, rulers and extradited. I believe in God, who wants the appeal of living and the change in all states through our work, our policy".
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December 27, 2014
from the outstanding German activist and writer
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