Thinking About God Quotes

“The God of orthodoxy is ossified and becomes an objectifiable fetish. The fact that in pietistic communities it is sometimes believed that one can test the faith of a young pastor by counting how often he uses the word ‘God’ or ‘Jesus Christ’ is a grotesque expression not only of the primitiveness of this approach but also of its lack of faith: God becomes a calculable object.”
― Dorothee Sölle, Thinking About God: An Introduction to Theology

“Jesus proclaimed the kingdom of God. And what came? What became of it? Disappointingly enough, the church.”
― Dorothee Sölle, Thinking About God: An Introduction to Theology

“The confession of ‘Jesus Christ — my personal saviour’ brings no hope to those whom our system condemns to die of famine. It is a pious statement which is quite indifferent to the poor and completely lacking in hope for all of us.”
― Dorothee Sölle, Thinking About God: An Introduction to Theology

“Among Conservative Evangelicals, the doctrine of the virgin birth is made an essential element of Christian faith, without which it cannot be confessed. They do not regard attitudes to war and means of mass destruction as something that determines whether one is a believer or not, but the virgin birth does.”
― Dorothee Sölle, Thinking About God: An Introduction to Theology

“From this perspective the kingdom of God is completely suppressed in favour of the redemption of the individual. ‘Deliver us from evil’ is more important than 'Thy kingdom come’, although both petitions in fact belong together. This bourgeois theology is the work of the white middle class, relatively well-to-do, dominated by males and with an androcentric thought. It takes no account of the impoverished masses of this earth; the starving appear at most as objects of charity.”
― Dorothee Sölle, Thinking About God: An Introduction to Theology