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On Earth as in Heaven: A Liberation Spirituality of Sharing
Noted social commentator and theologian Dorothee Soelle examines how the power of religion and faith can be used to transform an unjust world. Her discussions cross a broad range of topics. Soelle deals with the freedom bestowed by the Spirit of God, biblical roots of social liberation, and the need for a new religious language. This book will inspire all persons involved in working for God's will for the world.
- GenresTheology
Paperback
First published October 1, 1993
About the author
Dorothee Sölle
99 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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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 1, 2021
Sölle's pen writes with fire from God. No one can illuminate the reality of sin in our world, rend our hearts with compassion for the suffering and exploited, and leave us to answer for our complicity like her. Some of these pieces aren't super polished, but her passion and hope for a better world shines clearly and inspires.
February 4, 2021
Wow, Soelle writes a short and powerful collection of poetic essays demanding a world of liberation and justice. Demanding freedom from our collective complicity in the oppression of our fellow humanity. Because until they are free, none of us are free.
June 27, 2024
SOELLE ADMITS THE END OF STATE SOCIALISM, BUT NOTES “THE POOR ARE STILL HERE”
Dorothee Steffensky-Sölle [Soelle] (1929-2003) was a German liberation theologian who taught systematic theology at Union Theological Seminary from 1975 to 1987. She wrote many books, such as Against the Wind: Memoir of a Radical Christian; Thinking About God: An Introduction to Theology; The Strength of the Weak: Toward a Christian Feminist Identity; Celebrating Resistance: The Way of the Cross in Latin America; Political Theology, etc.
She wrote in the Introduction to this 1993 book, “‘On Earth as in Heaven’ is a prayer, not at statement. It claims our hope for this world and for ourselves: there will be a time when God’s will or dream will be done not only in God’s realm … but on earth among principalities and powers as well. To pray… means to cooperate with God, it asks that we may be empowered and commissioned… Sometimes I fear this becomes harder and harder.” (Pg. ix) She continues, “I would like to introduce the reader of this book to ah hermeneutical approach I use, How are we to do theology in a meaningful---that is, life-changing-way? My proposal is grounded in different liberation theologies and moves in a four-step program. I call them praxis, analysis, meditation, and renewed praxis. My hope is that the reader will make out all four ingredients in going through this book.” (Pg. x)
She states, “The principle of liberation theology, ‘The poor are our teachers,’ becomes more important to me every day… For us Christians in the first world I hope that we will develop the theology of God’s future on the basis of a better acquaintance with the poor. I see no other way to God’s future. If we disregard the poor and keep ourselves apart from them, then we pursue---intentionally or unintentionally---a theology of the rich. May we learn more from the poor, perhaps even what we have to expect ourselves from a more just economic policy, namely, to become poorer.” (Pg. 7)
She observes, “The Jesus movement lived in conflict with its society. Jesus expected the reversal of all social oppositions through God’s intervention, and this expectation---‘the kingdom of God is at hand’---characterized the movement. All those who were outsiders according to the norms of society and held to be ‘impure’ according to the law—the poor, the landless, public sinners, tax collectors, and women---were accepted here. ‘The last will be first’ is a keynote permeating the whole message of Jesus. Who are these ‘last’? We could think of farmers overcome by their debt, expelled from their leased land, and deprived of their rights. But even below them, regarded as religiously inferior and culturally impure, stood women. Being a woman was the last of all.” (Pg. 20)
She goes on, “Theologically expressed, the image of God in women, which patriarchy seeks to destroy, was restored in the Jesus movement. The woman has an unrestricted share in the mystery of life and in God. She was not excluded as a woman from experiences with Jesus. She had a place in the story of the great healings that occurred in the Jesus movement… as men and women they experience God’s spirit and do the work of God. Giving sight to the blind, making peace, and exorcising demons happens today when women … before nuclear weapons, or before the Pentagon expel militarism, the greatest demon that possesses us.” (Pg. 22)
She suggests, “The freest people in our country, in fact, are those who act in resistance against the idols of technological progress and military omnipotence without having to repress. In this context, the Bible has become increasingly important for many groups. The Bible has not come closer to us, but we have come closer to the Bible, since our real situation as a minority living in a violent empire has great similarity with the situation of the New Testament… Today I have a much deeper understanding of slavery to sin and upholding its rule through taxes, consumption, and cooperation. Setting out with Christ on another way has also become clearer to me.” (Pg. 49)
She points out, “Capitalism has won its battle with state socialism and turned out to be more stable and life-enhancing. But the poor---a third here in the West and three-quarters of the human family---have lost. Still there will be another victim of free enterprise---mother earth. Will the mechanisms of the market be able to prevent ecological catastrophe?... Does capitalism not have the same relation to nature as state socialism? It treats nature like women, like savages, like objects that have to be investigated and penetrated so they can be controlled and exploited. Capitalism does not have any notion of beauty other than commercialization.” (Pg. 59)
She acknowledges, “State socialism is dead, but socialism as a utopia of solidarity is still urgently needed. The state socialism already democratized by Lenin and … Stalin has no change anymore. However, the poor of the earth have not disappeared, and the problems that need another social order founded on solidarity have not been solved and are not solvable by the enlightened self-interest on which capitalism rests ethically.” (Pg.
61)
She explains, “The language lost to us is not the language of theology but an existential language whose forms include prayer and narrative. Religion is expressed on three different planes: mythic-narrative, religious-confessional, and argumentative-reflective… Telling a story, making a confession, and building an idea are very different forms of religious interpretation of the world, which we identify with the words ‘myth,’ ‘religion,’ and ‘theology.’ To the secular mind these intrareligious distinctions are rather meaningless. The three ideas are often used in an indiscriminate and deprecatory way. Mass atheism may be right: It is only a question of different language games with the same theme.” (Pg. 82-83)
She concludes, “Freedom, true freedom, has become for me an intense yearning for a freedom from the most dreadful scourge of humanity, war. This is not a utopian dream… One day people will speak about war and preparation for war as we speak today about slavery… It has become clearer and clearer to me that freedom is always liberation… As long as someone is still in prison, I am not free. Where the Spirit is, there grows liberation… One understands the real social movements in the world, the movements for more justice, more peace, and the integrity of creation, only when one understands them as longings for freedom. Where the Spirit of Christ is, there is freedom… I understand this to mean that since people long in a deeper sense for freedom, they cannot be fed with these verbal husks of freedom. They want true freedom… the freedom that God gives us. Amen.” (Pg. 96-98)
This book will be of great interest to those studying Liberation Theology, and other contemporary theological movements.
Dorothee Steffensky-Sölle [Soelle] (1929-2003) was a German liberation theologian who taught systematic theology at Union Theological Seminary from 1975 to 1987. She wrote many books, such as Against the Wind: Memoir of a Radical Christian; Thinking About God: An Introduction to Theology; The Strength of the Weak: Toward a Christian Feminist Identity; Celebrating Resistance: The Way of the Cross in Latin America; Political Theology, etc.
She wrote in the Introduction to this 1993 book, “‘On Earth as in Heaven’ is a prayer, not at statement. It claims our hope for this world and for ourselves: there will be a time when God’s will or dream will be done not only in God’s realm … but on earth among principalities and powers as well. To pray… means to cooperate with God, it asks that we may be empowered and commissioned… Sometimes I fear this becomes harder and harder.” (Pg. ix) She continues, “I would like to introduce the reader of this book to ah hermeneutical approach I use, How are we to do theology in a meaningful---that is, life-changing-way? My proposal is grounded in different liberation theologies and moves in a four-step program. I call them praxis, analysis, meditation, and renewed praxis. My hope is that the reader will make out all four ingredients in going through this book.” (Pg. x)
She states, “The principle of liberation theology, ‘The poor are our teachers,’ becomes more important to me every day… For us Christians in the first world I hope that we will develop the theology of God’s future on the basis of a better acquaintance with the poor. I see no other way to God’s future. If we disregard the poor and keep ourselves apart from them, then we pursue---intentionally or unintentionally---a theology of the rich. May we learn more from the poor, perhaps even what we have to expect ourselves from a more just economic policy, namely, to become poorer.” (Pg. 7)
She observes, “The Jesus movement lived in conflict with its society. Jesus expected the reversal of all social oppositions through God’s intervention, and this expectation---‘the kingdom of God is at hand’---characterized the movement. All those who were outsiders according to the norms of society and held to be ‘impure’ according to the law—the poor, the landless, public sinners, tax collectors, and women---were accepted here. ‘The last will be first’ is a keynote permeating the whole message of Jesus. Who are these ‘last’? We could think of farmers overcome by their debt, expelled from their leased land, and deprived of their rights. But even below them, regarded as religiously inferior and culturally impure, stood women. Being a woman was the last of all.” (Pg. 20)
She goes on, “Theologically expressed, the image of God in women, which patriarchy seeks to destroy, was restored in the Jesus movement. The woman has an unrestricted share in the mystery of life and in God. She was not excluded as a woman from experiences with Jesus. She had a place in the story of the great healings that occurred in the Jesus movement… as men and women they experience God’s spirit and do the work of God. Giving sight to the blind, making peace, and exorcising demons happens today when women … before nuclear weapons, or before the Pentagon expel militarism, the greatest demon that possesses us.” (Pg. 22)
She suggests, “The freest people in our country, in fact, are those who act in resistance against the idols of technological progress and military omnipotence without having to repress. In this context, the Bible has become increasingly important for many groups. The Bible has not come closer to us, but we have come closer to the Bible, since our real situation as a minority living in a violent empire has great similarity with the situation of the New Testament… Today I have a much deeper understanding of slavery to sin and upholding its rule through taxes, consumption, and cooperation. Setting out with Christ on another way has also become clearer to me.” (Pg. 49)
She points out, “Capitalism has won its battle with state socialism and turned out to be more stable and life-enhancing. But the poor---a third here in the West and three-quarters of the human family---have lost. Still there will be another victim of free enterprise---mother earth. Will the mechanisms of the market be able to prevent ecological catastrophe?... Does capitalism not have the same relation to nature as state socialism? It treats nature like women, like savages, like objects that have to be investigated and penetrated so they can be controlled and exploited. Capitalism does not have any notion of beauty other than commercialization.” (Pg. 59)
She acknowledges, “State socialism is dead, but socialism as a utopia of solidarity is still urgently needed. The state socialism already democratized by Lenin and … Stalin has no change anymore. However, the poor of the earth have not disappeared, and the problems that need another social order founded on solidarity have not been solved and are not solvable by the enlightened self-interest on which capitalism rests ethically.” (Pg.
61)
She explains, “The language lost to us is not the language of theology but an existential language whose forms include prayer and narrative. Religion is expressed on three different planes: mythic-narrative, religious-confessional, and argumentative-reflective… Telling a story, making a confession, and building an idea are very different forms of religious interpretation of the world, which we identify with the words ‘myth,’ ‘religion,’ and ‘theology.’ To the secular mind these intrareligious distinctions are rather meaningless. The three ideas are often used in an indiscriminate and deprecatory way. Mass atheism may be right: It is only a question of different language games with the same theme.” (Pg. 82-83)
She concludes, “Freedom, true freedom, has become for me an intense yearning for a freedom from the most dreadful scourge of humanity, war. This is not a utopian dream… One day people will speak about war and preparation for war as we speak today about slavery… It has become clearer and clearer to me that freedom is always liberation… As long as someone is still in prison, I am not free. Where the Spirit is, there grows liberation… One understands the real social movements in the world, the movements for more justice, more peace, and the integrity of creation, only when one understands them as longings for freedom. Where the Spirit of Christ is, there is freedom… I understand this to mean that since people long in a deeper sense for freedom, they cannot be fed with these verbal husks of freedom. They want true freedom… the freedom that God gives us. Amen.” (Pg. 96-98)
This book will be of great interest to those studying Liberation Theology, and other contemporary theological movements.
December 2, 2017
A short collection of not particularly polished short pieces, mainly written in the late 1980s and early 1990s, for Junge Kirche, the German, youth-oriented church newspaper. They are informed by the author's work in the disarmament movement, as well as with feminist and liberation theology in Europe, the US and South Africa. I was hoping it would be an accessible, introductory book for students. It is not. If you're not old enough to realize the historical context (fall of the Berlin Wall, for instance), you won't get much of the impact of Soelle's references. And, in any case, the book does not present or outline a "liberation spirituality of sharing," even if somehow it exemplifies or is inspired by one.
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