And if God existed ...On meaning, doubt, and the risk of embarking on a search for God.
by Uwe Böschemeyer
ISBN: 978-3702243579
Pub Date: April 25 2026
Imprint: Tyrolia
Special note for English-speakers: Uwe Böschemeyer is the innovator of a Logotherapy technique called wertorientierte imagination in his native German, value-oriented imagination in English. Böschemeyer studied with Viktor Frankl in the 1980s and was authorized by Frankl to establish a Logotherapy institute in Hamburg, Germany. He now lives and works in Salzburg, Austria. Böschemeyer is also a prolific writer in many formats. Unfortunately, his writings are currently not available in English.
And if God existed ... is Böschemeyer’s latest book, though it seems more appropriate to describe it as a conversation between the author and reader. From beginning to end Böschemeyer engages the reader as if the two are in the same room, and though the other person does not speak, Böschemeyer expresses the kinds of questions the other person may ask as the conversation moves from opening premise to the final conclusion. It’s very simple: in a day and age so convinced of science and pragmatism, when many people feel no need to believe in God, there are still reasons to ask ourselves “What if God exists?”
As one who studied theology and spent time in the ministry, but left the ministry to pursue psychology, and as one who spent a number of years skeptical of God’s existence, Böschemeyer attests to the inescapable thought that God is, even when we can’t understand why. And so, the conversation of this book comes across as a semi-autobiographical appeal to the reader by anticipating and answering any objections he or she may raise to the suggestion of God’s existence.
More than once while reading this book I was reminded of C.S. Lewis, particularly Mere Christianity, but also Lewis’s autobiography, Surprised by Joy. Certainly Böschemeyer’s years of skepticism and return to belief were probably less intense than Lewis’s stubborn atheism. Nevertheless, it was a skepticism born from the same kind of deep questions about the vicissitudes of life. Just as Lewis was brought back through reason, Böschemeyer found deep traces of God in the human unconscious. And this is the real value of this conversation as well as the practice of value-oriented imagination (Wertimagination). That is, if a person can just slow down and listen, getting in touch with one’s inner self can bring one closer to God.
Part devotion, but not quite a sermon; semi-apologetic (as in, a defense of the faith), perhaps in the final analysis it is best to describe this book as an honest appeal to the reader to keep an open mind. It is an easy read deep with meaning.
Tom Edmondson for meaninginministry.com
Date Of Review: March 2026