Drawing on Dorothee Sölle's claim that "God has no other hands than ours," this paper explores the relationship between theology, justice, and human responsibility in shaping liberatory religious interpretation. I argue that Sölle's theological vision calls for a reorientation of salvation away from abstraction and toward embodied ethical action, a reimagining of who holds authority in biblical interpretation, and an expansion of theological concern to include human and ecological systems alike. Placing Sölle in conversation with Matthew 16, I suggest that Jesus' question—"Who do you say that I am?"—invites communities into the ongoing and political work of theological naming. Rather than presenting theology as fixed or universal, this exchange positions interpretation as relational, contextual, and responsive to the conditions of each generation. In the contemporary United States, this insight is especially urgent as religious language continues to be mobilized in support of policies that reinforce inequality and exclusion. Engaging Sölle alongside thinkers such as Zora Neale Hurston and Howard Thurman, this paper argues that theological interpretation reflects the social conditions in which it emerges. A justice-centered hermeneutic therefore requires expanding whose voices shape theological meaning and recognizing how interpretations formed from marginalized perspectives open new pathways toward collective liberation. Finally, I suggest that Sölle's work invites a broader theological imagination grounded in the claim "on earth as it is in heaven." Read this way, heaven is not an escape from material suffering but a call to protect dignity within present social and ecological relationships. This framework encourages deeper conversation about the relationship between liberation theology, Black and Womanist theological traditions, queer theological thought, and climate justice as interconnected sites of theological responsibility.

Theology, Ethics, Economics