In many and various ways Christians have tried to prove the existence of God. Many of these proofs are known to Lutherans and have been employed by us on occasion: the cosmological argument about a first cause or prime mover; the teleological argument pointing to the order and complexity of the universe; the ontological argument that God is greater than the greatest thing conceivable. Each has its virtue as well as its weaknesses, but one thing they all have in common: they are remarkably lonely. Whether they mean to or not, they signify a God detached, objectified, a thing to be proven or disproven rather than a person to be known, loved, or quarreled with. Likely this is why, even if they prove, these proofs never persuade.

Download the rest of Sarah Wilson's editorial from the Spring 2009 issue.