The Strength of the Weak: Toward a Christian Feminist Identity

by Dorothee Sölle, Dorothee Sölle

Bringing together issues of religion and life, politics and personal identity, feminism and liberation theology, Dorothee Soelle presents a powerful critique of modern society, striking at dehumanizing elements that combine to oppress both women and men. Over the years, Soelle had challenged European and American readers with incisive commentary on a variety of social, ethical, literary, and theological topics. This work embodies the constant drive to radicalization and the passionate involvement that have always been the hallmark of her writing.

Genres: Theology, Feminism

188 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1984

About the author

Dorothee 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".

Reviews

[Alyssah Morrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love. Especially the essays “Christianity and Intolerance,” “Uprising and Resurrection,” “Mysticism—Liberation—Feminism,” and “Who Am I?”

Sölle’s emphasis on an anti-authoritarian, changing, dynamic, suffering God and how we can transform societal forms of death and oppression into life is hopeful in the deepest Gospel sense, so I feel how little faith I have: the distance between believing and enacting/embodying living peace.

[Jana]

I wish I had known about Dorothee Soelle earlier in my life. Firstly, she certainly does not mince her words. But I also feel deeply "mentored" by this book, even though the specific issues of Christianity, feminism and politics she addressed is contextual to 1980's Germany. Her perspective still feels remarkably relevant. This was my introduction to her work, and I am determined to read more!