Dorothee Sölle (1929–2003) joins the chorus of theologians–including Jürgen Moltmann, T.F. Torrance, and many others–who have criticized the individualistic reduction of Christianity to "a personal relationship with Jesus". In her book Thinking About God: An Introduction to Theology, Sölle keenly perceived that capitalism in America has caused everything to be commoditized and individually marketed to consumers, including the preaching of the gospel in individualistic terms.
"One of the catastrophic consequences of capitalism is what it does to rich people at the heart of this economic system by reducing humanity to the individual. One can see how American commercialism presents all items as being 'quite personal to you', even if millions of them exist. Your initials must be on your T-shirt, on your ball-point pen, on your bag–and on your Jesus. He too is quite personal to you. The spirit of commerical culture is also alive in this religion: for fundamentalism, which is massively effective, Jesus is 'my quite personal Saviour', and really no more can be said than that. The confession of 'Jesus Christ--my personal savior' 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. In the light of this individualistic reduction we must put the question of christology ecumenically and ask about Jesus Christ 'for us today' in the age and place in which we live." [1]
Sölle argues that this capitalistic 'Jesus as my personal savior' has been catastrophic because she says "I do not think that individualism as a horizon is sufficient to express the significance of Jesus Christ. . . . My questions to this kind of piety relate to the way in which my personal tie to Christ is bound up with my economic, political and sexual life." [2] Sölle provides a personal example to explain. Sölle lived through Nazi Germany, as a young German child, and she has experienced horrors that were outside her personal control during World War II, and therefore a gospel that was personally between her and Jesus alone could not help her with terrible experiences she encountered in the world outside that personal relationship, and this continued even after the war was over, because she felt ostracized in other countries she visited simply for being a German Christian that lived in Nazi Germany as a youth:
"What has been done to other people in the name of Jesus Christ by my [German] people [during WWII] also affects the way in which I am a Christian. It is clear that Auschwitz would not have been possible without Christianity. Christian anti-Judaism and modern antisemitism are a part of my heritage. In this responsibility for what I have inherited and for what I am handing on I understand my life. The acceptance of Jesus binds me to others, and the 'for me' becomes 'for us'." [3]
Sölle argues that Christianity made Auschwitz possible, but this is a reference to the German Christians who believed in a Nazi Jesus that was personally removed from his Jewish context. As soon as Jesus was viewed as an individual that may be personally encountered, then it was possible to ignore the fact that Jesus was a Jewish person from Nazareth, and antisemitism quickly followed.
Sources:
1. Dorothee Sölle, Thinking About God: An Introduction to Theology. trans. John Bowden. (Bloomsbury T&T Clark: 1997). pp. 103.
2. Sölle. Ibid.
3. Sölle. Ibid.
4. Header contains an image of Correggio (Antonio Allegri) (source: wikipedia).
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Related: Capitalism, Dorothee Sölle, German Christians, Nazi, personal savior, Thinking About God, Thinking About God: An Introduction to Theology
November 26th, 2019 - 17:43
I’m reading Bernard Anderson’s 1987, Creation Versus Chaos, the magnificent study of God’s creating activity, which doesn’t stop with the initial creation in the beginning, but continues to unfold until the end of time. In his final pages he says: “…There has perhaps been too great a tendency to say that the heart of the Christian message is Paul’s great doctrine of ‘justification by faith,’ a doctrine which Paul Tillich once interpreted to mean: ‘I am accepted just as I am, even though I am unacceptable.’ The gospel does, indeed, minister to a person’s state of inner chaos. But the weakness of an overemphasis upon justification by faith or its Tillichian paraphrase is that it is too individualistic, too psychological to do justice to the full social and historical implications of the gospel.” p. 175-6. I’m working to find compelling biblical themes and texts that give hope and enable helpful responses in the face of the climate crisis with its terrifying possibilities.
November 26th, 2019 - 17:54
Well said Doug, I liked your recent post on why evangelicals reject climate change.
November 28th, 2019 - 06:48
Long live Socialism, right? I agree that aspects of fundamentalism have corrupted the gospel message, and the moniker of “personal savior” limits the breadth of the gospel, it is still all-together true. This just goes to show that religion is downstream from culture while being downstream from politics, the debouches of pop-ideology–or what is current anyway. Maybe the monastics had it right separating the sacred from the secular; God help us. The Apostles definitely did not have social commentary in their purvey when “making disciples of every nation,” it was a reaction to the gospel and not the impetus of the gospel. While eco-conscientiousness and aspects of social-equality can be good and noble pursuits, biblical justice seems to be more about rightness, right relationships (tsadaq) than social equity (mispat). Either way, I love the site, love the provocation, and appreciate the perspective. God bless
November 29th, 2019 - 10:02
I realize most people just read the headline, but there are some typos in the first quote:
“The those whom our system condemns to die of famine.”
“It is a pious statement which is quite indifferent to the poor and completely lacking i hope for all of us.”
Also, this post does not mention what Depeche Mode has to say about this.
December 3rd, 2019 - 23:00
I corrected the typos in the first blockquote. A half sentence was left out too. Thanks for the tip, and nice reference to Personal Jesus
December 5th, 2019 - 12:24
“reducing humanity to the individual”
The logic behind this fallacy is astounding…. reducing humanity to the individual is a feature not a bug of Western thought.
December 6th, 2019 - 02:32
How can “reducing humanity” be a feature and not a big? And, care to explain the fallacy you mention?
December 7th, 2019 - 14:49
Who is or isn’t a Christian, what is or isn’t Christianity, has always been in the eye of the beholder. The same book can be used to justify great horror as well as great good.
“Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.”
Lucius Annaeus Seneca
December 9th, 2019 - 08:14
I don’t usually weigh in on internet forums, but I couldn’t help myself.
1.) Sölle argues that this capitalistic ‘Jesus as my personal savior’ has been catastrophic because she says “I do not think that individualism as a horizon is sufficient to express the significance of Jesus Christ. . . . My questions to this kind of piety relate to the way in which my personal tie to Christ is bound up with my economic, political and sexual life.”
Because the Catholic faith was so effective at telling people what to believe instead of having them read it for themselves? If the literacy rate was much higher, reading the scripture would have naturally been more personal and sooner, regardless of any economic influence. I do agree in the American churches, the message has been diluted and dumbed down to a degree, but I think that is related to more than economic factors – how about social ones? Maybe the sexual revolution of the 1960s? Removing (compartmental-ization) of God from the classroom around the same time. Capitalism has been around long before these events, yet Sölle discounts these events.
2.) Sölle argues that Christianity made Auschwitz possible?
What about inflation? Or propaganda? The people of Germany didn’t make Auschwitz or run the kilns – evil men did. Evil men that knew how to manipulate and control people. I understand the argument that making Christ personal caused people to hate Jews when Christ was linked to Jewish lineage, but this seems like a mild influence. Making it the only argument or making a statement that Christianity made Auschwitz possible is dangerous and mis-guided without the other well-documented contributing factors.
I appreciate Sölle was in Nazi Germany and has a unique perspective, however, in this case it doesn’t help the argument, only hinders it because she sees things from only one perspective.
January 30th, 2020 - 16:24
What if it is the other way round!
Meaning that capitalism is the inevitable result/product of institutional Christianity, the moment that it became the official religion of the Roman State.
And, furthermore the rise of Protestantism itself which itself was a product of the European Renaissance when the “God”-myth-based civilization was replaced with human-based civilization, or ego-civilisation – or the civilisation based on the myth of the separate ego-“I”.
March 20th, 2021 - 09:53
Here’s the deal — Jesus most often dealt with individuals. He didn’t do well with crowds and sometimes they all left him (John 6). He spoke with Nicodemus about his need to be born again (John 3). He spoke with the woman at the well and led her to believe in him (John 4). It is the individual who must repent and believe the gospel in order to be saved. Then, of course they are part of the body of Christ and are not isolated from others. Then they begin to care for others and work together to get the gospel out into the world. Salvation is individualistic. Yes, Christianity cannot be reduced to the individual. However, it is the individual who is either saved or lost, who either believes or remains in unbelief, and will either live forever with God or suffer for eternity in hell. The kind of thinking you are promoting on this website is far from Christian, far from what Jesus actually did and said. Liberalism is not Christianity. Read Machen.
October 7th, 2021 - 15:24
Taking Native American children to assimilate in the name of Jesus Christ led to the death of over 3000 children in the “residential schools” of America. All found in mass graves at Catholic and Christian churches. The Catholic Church has weaseled out of over 20 million dollars in court ordered reparations for survivors of residential schools. This, in the name of Jesus.
November 18th, 2021 - 21:09
The royal law, the greatest commandment, is to love your neighbor as yourself. But I say to you, love your enemies… do good to those who hate you. This was true in the first century and the next 20 centuries. It is a personal commandment for every believer. There is no possible way that Christianity enabled the ovens that burned the jews in Germany. nuff said. German Christians that were silent deserved to be burned along side the jews, because they weren’t Christians. They were frauds.