History from a New Perspective

Dorothee Soelle, Against the Wind: Memoir of a Radical Christian A series of short 3-6 page chapters proceeding chronologically from growing up in Germany, through the war years, to her education, her intellectual influences, especially, existentialism;…

Facing the Burden of History

Dorothee Sölle, The Arms Race Kills even without War This is a short collection of talks (rallies, radio programs) mostly given to German audiences in the days when West Germany still existed. The context for…

Correspondence/1197

Dear Yehudit So, this month, in addition to reading Dorothee Sölle (superb!) I am also reading a lot of Nawal El-Saadawi Egyptian novelist, physician Thorn in the side of patriarchy She reminds me of you You…

Worth Reading

Dear Irina, Here are some books that may speak to a few of your questions, interests,  and enthusiasms.  I’ll send more later on if you want…. Mark   Daniel Berrigan, Isaiah: Spirit of Courage, Gift…

Then and Now

Why had I never noticed the number of sick who appear in the Gospels? Who or what made them sick? Political oppression, legal degradation, economic plunder, and religious neutrality …. Extreme misery prevailed within this…

Dorothee Sölle Collage

Why had I never noticed the number of sick people who appear in the Gospels? Who or what made them sick? It was not theologians who invented the cross, rather, the Roman Empire thought up…

Kafka’s Axe

Dear Bella Levenshteyn, Was reading Kafka’s letters earlier today.  The passage caught my eye: “I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us. If the book we’re reading…

Crosses, Values, Options

1. “Really living like Christ will not mean reward, social recognition and an assured income, but difficulties, discrimination, solitude, anxiety.  Here, too, the basic experience of the cross applies:  the wider we open our hearts…