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Suffering
by
Dorothee Sölle (Foreword)
4.11 · Rating details · 116 ratings · 13 reviews
"A valuable contribution to the literature of theology and ethics, combining in a fascinating way biblical, theological, pastoral, and socioethical themes. . . The study is of immense value because it identifies the modern idolatry that views suffering as absurd and devoid of meaning. . . The book is a marvelous exercise in cultural self-analysis that is preliminary to any meaningful exorcism and redirection." --Kenneth Vaux Theology Today "Passionate, imaginative, learned, literary, pithy, and at every point searching, Suffering is a notable achievement, not least because it pricks the heart and conscience, making the reader share in the deep experience of suffering that lies behind its writing." --James A. Carpenter Anglican Theological Review (less)
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Paperback, 188 pages
Published January 1st 1975 by Augsburg Fortress Publishing (first published 1973)
Original Title
Leiden
ISBN
0800618130 (ISBN13: 9780800618131)
Edition Language
English
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Jan 03, 2014Carter West rated it it was amazing
Anyone who by experience or imagination has come up against the bitter reality of suffering and the issues it raises for a belief in God will take to this book like a desert wanderer to an oasis. Sölle will never throw an ameliorative veil over a harsh fact; neither will she fail to walk beside you all the way through your examination of the great questions she raises under the shadow of Jesus' cross. Her responses may startle and disturb, but they ring true to our experience of loneliness, trial, and groundless hope. She confronts the conventions that name God as the author of our sufferings to punish, teach, or test us, and dares to call them what they are: sadism. She looks for the Holy One, not on the heights of theism, but within existential presence, and finds comfort there. Her reply to sufferers brings solace enough, for it is lasting: "Where no help is possible [Christ] appears not as the superior helper but only as the one who walks with those beyond help." Her theme of presence hearkens to psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl's emphasis on meaning. Both truths are inalienable: like the love of God, we can be separated from neither.
In this short book, Sölle does not connect her thought to prevailing theological edifices - nor does she need to. As it stands, her suggestiveness brings urgency to persistent questions: Is God more person or process? Is God's power supernatural or something deep within all things? How should we approach the mythological elements in Scripture, particularly the emphasis on miracles? I find myself wanting to search out Rudolf Bultmann's work to see if Sölle's might stand in conversation with that renegade old Lutheran. Interestingly enough, Sölle consistently allies herself with mysticism, notably Eckhart and Tauler, as life immersed in personal engagement with the holy, an alternate stream of tradition eroding the pretensions of Christendom. That thorny modern mystic Simone Weil figures large also, all the way through. A cloud of witnesses! Sölle seeds that cloud thoroughly and truth rains down, filling the bowls of the oppressed and the afflicted.
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Dec 15, 2020Ryan Ward rated it it was amazing
Moving and profound meditation on the meaning of suffering. At times almost unbearable in its evocation of compassion for those who suffer for seemingly no reason in the world. Sölle has gifted earnest seekers a way into understanding how suffering as an active act of solidarity and love instead of a passive acceptance of pain and injustice can transform minds and hearts and move the world closer to a full realization of true humanity and communion. She eviscerates the Christian understanding of suffering and the consequent ideas of the nature of God and Christ that have evolved as a result, in the end rejecting traditional Christian orthodoxy in favor of a mysticism that incorporates God into humanity's progress towards a realization of complete love and communion on earth, rather than as a distant personification of omnipotence and power under whose inscrutable will we must submit. This one will remain with me for a long time. (less)
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Dec 23, 2020Deborah Brunt rated it it was amazing
An outstandingly beautiful examination of suffering, both that which is chosen for the sake of justice, and the unjust suffering unchosen, unbidden which befalls humanity, one individual life at a time.
Soelle moves us through phases of suffering, from silence, incapacity to comprehend, repression through to an ability to grieve and lament and give voice to the suffering. She rejects the championing of the meaning of suffering for a higher purpose, but demonstrates that conscious suffering can lead us to solidarity with others who suffer, using Jesus' farewell address, and his words and actions during his passion for justice, which led him inevitably to the cross.
She beautifully expresses the idea of us participating in suffering with others, and of us being the hope of a future world, of living now as though the end of suffering is possible and has come. (less)
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Feb 21, 2016Brenda Funk rated it really liked it
I loved this book, nevertheless I had difficulty in following some of the very philosophical argument. Will have to read it again to fully comprehend what I have read.
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Aug 16, 2014Jason rated it really liked it
Stimulating, provocative, quirky, critical, and alert - good ingredients for theology.
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Dec 22, 2020Luke Hillier rated it really liked it
Shelves: academic-religion, christianity, theology
Having grown up in the shadow of the Holocaust, suffering seems to sit at the center of all of Soelle's work. She is driven by a need to bear witness to it and to articulate a theology that affirms God does the same, as well as one that refuses to allow for apathy or resignation in the face of it. There is a complexity to Soelle's argument here that could make it read as incohesive (I'm also not entirely sure the translation is the best it could be). At the heart of her sense of suffering is the call to accept reality as it currently stands, suffering and all. She embraces mystic sensibilities in this way, trying to embrace the whole of life rather than run from or deny any particular part of it. However, crucially, she rejects what she calls "Christian masochism" that says suffering should be perceived at the hands of a God who must use it to better us. She also even more passionately denounces the idea that suffering related to systemic injustice should be bowed to, and in fact much of her argument hinges on the idea of mobilization against just that. For Soelle, "acceptance" does not imply passivity but awareness, a clear-eyed knowing of what reality actually entails for the purpose of most effectively changing it, and knowing it needs changed in the first place. She presumes that suffering makes one stronger and more alert to injustice, but only when it is accepted. If one tries to deny their own suffering, she describes them as "mute" and suggests lamentation as the pathway from such silence into transformative speech seeking change.
Although she refutes classical theist theodices and I don't know if she'd agree with me, I definitely see this book as an embrace of process theodicy. She doesn't engage in Whiteheadian metaphysics but instead emphasizes Jesus's cosuffering nature as it climaxed on the cross to ground her claims that God does not stop suffering because God can't, and instead suffers with others in a way that offers dignity and strength. The strength of a martyr is one of the more compelling ideas that she develops here, and I am curious of more formal engagement has occurred between Soelle's ideas of suffering and womanist theologians rejection of "redemptive suffering." I think Soelle lives at the border of that concept, as her sentiments seem to be descriptive rather than prescriptive. She writes that "The cross is reality," not to encourage everyone to seek it out but to acknowledge that the charge for Christians is to stop the crucifying powers of our time and pursue compassionate solidarity with those still being hanged on crosses.
If it sounds a bit grim...well, I don't know what else you'd expect from a book with this title, however she also makes a few notes on the importance of joy amid resistance, which is made possible because acceptance of suffering is not just that, but rather an embrace of the whole of reality, a love for all of life. This is the thread of paradox that also runs through the work; hope is found in a God who is hopeless to save, transformation comes from those most desperately in need of transformation with the least means to achieve it. She writes that "there is no alien sorrow" –– we are all interconnected in a mystical solidarity and the acceptance of reality leads one into fuller awareness of that. This results in deeper and deeper sorrow, heartbreak, and devastation but also wider and wider love, resilience, and commitment. And amid it all, God is there among all who suffering, imbuing the strength to endure. It is a great book, though one that feels a bit less polished than her later work. There were elements that felt clunky, confusing, or redundant at times, but that is only a minor knock. (less)
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Jul 10, 2020Bobbi Salkeld rated it really liked it
I love her, but I'm not sure I love this translation. (less)
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Oct 01, 2020Ian Janssen rated it liked it
Shelves: 2020-reading-list
For my review, please see https://www.facebook.com/notes/ian-ja...
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Jan 06, 2014Micah added it
Very dense. Concentrated. Has very systematic moments, some of which are incisive and some of which are terrible (ill-fated infatuation with North Vietnam). Best theological treatment of extreme suffering I've ever read. (less)
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Dec 31, 2012Paul Charles rated it really liked it
Worth the read if you've ever wondered why the theodicies may not be the best way to help people who've experienced extreme suffering. Well thought through examples and pertinent suggestions that should help anyone involved in pastoral work. (less)
Top reviews from the United States
J.M.H.
1.0 out of 5 stars Deep...really deep
Reviewed in the United States on September 17, 2010
Not light reading and not for a developing or mind. You must be firm in your faith to get through and frankly I see no value in this book for faithful answers to suffering. Perhaps a good read for those in that deep world of philosophy, but for a common peasant like me, didnt like it.
3 people found this helpful
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JJ
2.0 out of 5 stars Obscurantism with litle existential comfort...
Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2016
If you cannot communicate something clearly, then there is a possibility that you do not understand the issues involved... If you are a seeker looking to find answers to your personal suffering, especially as it relates to faith in an omnipotent and omnibenevolent deity, then look elsewhere.
