Fulbert Steffensky

This slim volume contains seven essays by Steffensky. There is no mention in the book of when these might have been first published or delivered as lectures. Although devoted to diverse topics, there are recurrent themes such as his characteristic call for a Christianity that doesn’t rely overmuch on the intellect or on contemporary relevance. While he admits that the old forms, as practiced a half-century ago, are no longer possible because the world in which they were practiced has vanished, he still finds value in using the formulations and rituals of those who have gone before us. In this way, we can say things that are bigger than our own heart or half-faith.
The first essay is devoted to prayer, something that becomes increasingly difficult as we lose touch with how those before us have prayed. Without this memory, our prayer is limited to our own inarticulate stammering. I was struck by his observation that God is the first to pray since he speaks the first word of longing (p. 16). The essay concludes with practical advice on establishing a prayer habit.
Other essays deal with topics such as sharing religion with children and the experience of a long marriage. My favorite was the final chapter, on worship and its forms. In line with his overall themes, he contrasts older worship, in which ritual often smothered the gospel, and contemporary worship, which in its eagerness to be relevant often loses itself in formlessness and chattiness that allows none of the rest and receptivity for the voice of God that the best of worship enables.
This book would make good reading as a week of morning devotionals.… (meer)

Fulbert Steffensky left the Benedictine monastery Maria Laach aged 36 and converted. Well, half-converted. “Perhaps I would identify myself as a Protestant theologian and a Catholic Christian” (p. 11, my translation). While he values the clarity of its theology, he finds his new spiritual home poor in gesture, ritual, and everyday piety. In the twelve chapters of this book, he explores ways to unite these two expressions of faith. Also, they are a call to retain what he terms the language of the dead without regressing to a pre-enlightenment posture. By the "language of the dead," he means the faith formulations of those who have lived before us. Whenever we speak these words, we utter more than our own heart can hold, which he considers a good thing. Throughout the book, he emphasizes the hope and promise of the gospel, as well as the fact that its first addressees were the down-trodden. There are many gems here, products of someone who has thought humbly and deeply. I particularly liked the penultimate chapter; it seemed fitting that a former monk would write one of the most insightful accounts of Martin Luther’s life as a monk I’ve yet come across.
Shortly after leaving the monastery, Steffensky married the Lutheran theologian Dorothee Sölle. For the next 34 years, until her death in 2003, their fruitful partnership made them two of the most influential voices in German-speaking church circles. This book, with its call to reunite head and heart, as well as individual responsibility and shared community, is a good starting point for understanding his contribution to the dialogue.… (meer)

Most of the fourteen essays in this book originated as radio talks, so they are written in an understandable way. The quality of the essays varied, but I found most of them offered much food for thought. The author touches on a variety of topics, such as creeds, rituals surrounding death, and the act of speaking a blessing, but there are recurrent themes that underly all the chapters, such as the need to balance the necessary overthrow of authoritarian structures with a treasuring of tradition, or the poor as the primary addressees of the gospel. These concerns are well-expressed in this sentence from the foreword to the collection, where he reflects on the title of the book:
“Die Träume von der Güte des Lebens und von der Gerechtigkeit verwelken, wo sie nicht ernährt werden durch mehr als durch die einsame Kraft und Phantasie des Individuums.” (The dreams of the goodness of life and of righteousness [the German word can also be translated justice] wither if they are not nourished by more than the lonely strength and imagination of the individual).
If anything, his criticisms have only grown more relevant in the decades since this book appeared, as the gap between the privileged and the disadvantaged has grown wider.… (meer)