Dorothee Sölle (1929–2003)

The main thesis of Sölle’s book is that the long-standing approach to theology has been based on an authoritarian obedience model that leads to dangerous outcomes. If our service to God and our obedience to the church and the Bible remains heavily steeped in an unthinking authoritarianism, it not only leads to an unfulfilling Christian life and the practice of oppression in the church, this mindset can be hijacked by the secular powers as well. Sölle sees unquestioning obedience to “proper” authority as having lead to the Nazi regime and the holocaust in Germany, and it continues to drive the oppression of individuals in society, whether they be women, racial minorities or the poor.

Sölle suggests that an alternative way of approaching the Christian life is from a position of self-awareness or self-fulfillment, the justification for this being that before a person can truly decide to work toward the betterment of others they must know themselves. Simply being obedient to a set of rules out of a traditional sense of obligation is not only less fulfilling, it also leads to a much less creative approach to living out God’s love in the world. Sölle asserts that the reason Jesus could so confidently work toward the betterment of others while breaking the rules laid down by tradition was that he knew who he was—He was self-actualized (my word choice, not Sölle’s).
Jesus repeatedly shattered the expectations of the Jewish leaders of His day, openly breaking many of the rules considered obligatory for all believers, whenever doing so lead to more effective ways of bettering the lives of those around Him or of teaching a lesson on creative engagement with the world. Sölle chooses the word “phantasy” to represent Jesus’ approach to living out who He was. Jesus’ phantasy was to establish His kingdom by creatively and lovingly engaging humanity:

“Of all humans who ever lived I consider Jesus of Nazareth the person most conscious of his own identity. And I am of the opinion that the strength of his phantasy must be understood as rising out of this joyous self-realization. Phantasy has always been in love with fulfillment. It conceives of some new possibility and repeatedly bursts the boundaries which limit people, setting free those who have submitted themselves to these boundaries which thereby have been endlessly maintained. In the portrayal of the Gospels Jesus appears as a man who infected his surroundings with happiness and hope, who passed on his power, who gave away everything that was his.”

In a similar manner, we are to follow Jesus example:

“When one attempts to describe this relationship in terms of traditional theology, one must speak of grace, of the justification of the sinner, and of the sanctification of the world. In that grace which appears in such a way that a person's life is fulfilled, a new self, an "I," comes into being which is removed from the realm of one's own fears, which is freed or redeemed. And precisely this new self can no longer see its task as carrying out given rules or regulations, can no longer establish a Christian ethic on the basis of obedience since the task now is to transform the world, a task which requires the virtue of phantasy.”

The upshot of this approach is that those who have long been oppressed by strict adherence to the traditional Christian virtue of obedience are now free. Jesus and Paul often refer to the freedom conferred by the Gospel. To Sölle this freedom is what she refers to as phantasy, which I interpret to mean the license to use a principle-based approach to living. Decisions about self-sacrifice flow from a place of self-fulfillment and self-awareness with the motivating principle being whether the act furthers the improvement of the earth or others, ultimately furthering of the Kingdom of Heaven. This is a much more creative and fruitful approach toward Christian service. Instead of following a strict set of rules of what to do and not do we act from basic principles of goodness, compassion and love.

This approach should be especially good news to those, like women, who have long been oppressed by the obedience model. The traditional Church model of the self-sacrificing wife and mother, who suppresses her own needs and desires to those of her family so that her husband and children can seek their own self-fulfillment is swept away. In its place is a system where each member in the system participates in a more nuanced give-and-take. In such a system room is made for the woman to also seek self-fulfillment. Although Sölle does not develop the results of this in detail, she does recognize that such an approach is not only better for women, but also for men. Men no longer get to selfishly seek self-fulfillment at the expense of the woman, something which ultimately damages both partners, but instead participate as equals in creatively making the family a better place.

I find Sölle’s approach very refreshing and liberating. One of the longstanding problems within the church has been authoritarianism, which has often been assumed to be the correct approach because so much of the Bible gives the appearance that God is a top-down dictator. Recognizing that Jesus routinely fought against this viewpoint and emphasized a more creative approach toward discipleship is helpful. To truly follow Jesus’ example, we need first learn who we are, that as the result of the Gospel we are God’s children and partners with Him in His work. Once we recognize our place in God’s kingdom, then we can accept the freedom this gives us to act out our “phantasy” to make the Kingdom of Heaven a reality.… (més)