Thinking about God

Dorothee Soelle's book 'Thinking About God' is one of the best introductory texts for theology available. In this text, Soelle covers not only her own theological bases and biases, but also explores the wider history of Christian theology. Starting from her own standpoint, that of being a Western (in particular, German) woman educated in the liberal-to-liberation theological perspective, she explores the many different topics that concern theologians. This text can be used (and, in fact, is being used in my classes) as a companion systematic theology. The key topics of creation, sin, Christology, God, humanity, scripture, and more are all covered. Soelle gives special attention to that tradition in which she is most comfortable, i.e., a feminist liberation perspective. However, she does not confine her reflections to that perspective, nor does she leave her own tradition uncritiqued. At the start of the text, Soelle sets out three primary theological frameworks in Christianity - an Orthodox (conservative) framework, a Liberal (as in, liberal/Enlightenment ideas) framework, and a Radical/Liberation framework. One criticism that has occurred to me through the use of this text in class is that it could address more fully the Eastern Orthodox perspectives, as these are not much addressed even in the 'Orthodox' section. Of course, Soelle's intention is to provide a grounding for students in Western seminaries and readers generally in the Catholic and Protestant worlds to get a firmer grasp on their own theologies.After identifying these frameworks and developing a brief history and philosophical basis for each, she looks at the history of the development of interpretation and authority of scripture, tracing these developments in light of general societal, cultural and technological changes. Different periods in history have had their own particular dominant interpretative methods of preference. She sees the radical/liberation framework as the most satisfying in a post-Holocaust, Cold-War-and-after, growing-Third-World crisis world. In addition to addressing these concerns and the standard topics of systematic theology, Soelle takes a few excurses into fields of current contextual importance, such as Black Theology and Feminist Theology. With regard to the later, she is able to address the topic from within, as a person who embodies the theological perspective. The later she addresses through observation and empathy, but even then her perspective is very unique, given that most Black Theology has come from the African-American experience, and Soelle, as a native German, has had little direct experience of the issues, or indeed with the personalities involved.Soelle also has an underlying strand running through her theology of concern for the post-Holocaust perspective. As a native German who pursued her career in the shadow of the national guilt over the Holocaust, she has a particular care for the responsibility of the church which rema

An introduction? If this is the introduction, I'm truly afraid of what comes next. Solee is incredible, certainly one of the greatest theological thinkers of all time. Thinking about God is, without a doubt and including Thomas Pynchon and James Joyce, the densest book I have ever had the combined pain and pleasure to read. Solee is adamant. She is thorough and deft in her analysis of the relationship of concepts of God, culture, religion, and identity. Synaptic as a lab technician, she seperates these fundamental concepts from one another and leaves them warm and pulsing in your hads for you to put back together, or not, as the case, or more particularly, as her case, may be. This one is a bonafide mind-blower for anyone who thought they had these things worked out. A great book from a great mind.