Why I Believe in God, Gerhard Lohfink, Linda M. Maloney, translator. Liturgical Press (ISBN: 9780814689974) 2025.

Summary: A New Testament professor testifies to the reasons for his own faith in God in the form of a memoir.

Over the years of reading various works of New Testament scholarship, I came across the name of Gerhard Lohfink. Lohfink was a Catholic priest and theologian, teaching New Testament exegesis with the Catholic theological faculty at Tubingen. However, I had not read any of his works, having matured in a different theological tradition. Lohfink passed away in 2024. Why I Believe in God was his last book, a kind of theological autobiography and personal testimony to his faith.

This last is important in understanding the book. Rather than offer a formal theology or apologetic for God’s existence, he treats this as a given and traces how he was both formed in and lived out that faith as a priest and scholar. Because of that, the book has a personal feel, that of a man in his last days reflecting over his life. And, unlike some accounts that reflect disillusionment, this reflects gratitude and joy.

He begins quite simply by acknowledging that he believed because of believing parents, considering this a grace of God and his parents’ quietly resistant faith in the face of Nazism. This extended to an assistant priest who negotiated the razor edge of shrewdness and innocence under Nazi scrutiny while forming Lohfink and other youth in the faith. He also attributes a Catholic youth movement group led by Gertrud Koob for a pivotal experience of Christian community.

Through that movement, he came to understand the crucial decision of whether he would serve himself or follow Jesus. Yet he acknowledges that this also implied a lifetime of decisions:

“Probably, in the hour when we ultimately stand before Christ and have arrived completely in the presence of God, we will be astonished to see that the great decisions of our lives were fed by infinitely many daily choices–even by the help and hope of those who have lovingly and faithfully accompanied us through our lives” (p. 28).

For Lohfink, this decision also included the decision to enter the priesthood. He narrates his studies in philosophy at Frankfurt. Then he moved to Munich for theological studies. He describes the “intermission” of these years, discovering great works of music and art that taught him to see goodness, truth and beauty and to long for the eternal to which art pointed. During theological studies, he highlights his studies on the Trinity and on original sin. These two distinctively Christian doctrines are foundational to understanding God’s perfections and purposes in the world.

Lohfink spent a brief period as a priest before his bishop sent a letter opening the way to doctoral studies. It turns out two of his professors recognized in his graduation thesis a calling to scholarship. He speaks of the formative influence of Rudolph Schnackenburg, who directed his research on Luke’s resurrection accounts.

And then came the opportunity to teach at Tubingen, including his studies on community in the early church that led to his decision to leave in 1987. It is striking that he is silent about his role as a deputy of the theological faculty in the exclusion of Hans Kung. However, in 1987, he decided to leave Tubingen to join the Integrierte Gemeinde along with his parents. He offers a summary of his work on biblical community and how this afforded a chance to live his scholarship.

Then he turns to one of the most profound issues for any who defend God’s existence. He addresses the extent of suffering and evil in the world. In the end, he argues that our resolution of these universal realities is a faith decision. No argument can resolve these questions. We must choose between an absurd, godless world, or one that we believe “rests in the hands of God…who knows more than we do and has called us into freedom.”

With that, he returns to the title question–why I believe in God. His ultimate response is the mystery of the Incarnation. It is through meeting Jesus that he believes in God, seeing the face of God in the face of Jesus. He concludes: “But above all I look at Jesus. To him I hold fast. In him I will die.”

So much in this book spoke to my heart, including his conclusion. Though younger, I found many parallels in our journeys. And reading of his work, particularly that on community, led to picking up a couple of his books. I deeply appreciated a scholar who understood his work as being for Christ and the church, and not just the “publish or perish” rat race. This last work leaves me wanting to explore his other works, and with a profound sense of gratitude for his life.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.