Contents

Preface by Walter Hooper -- pg. 7

Part 1

1. Evil and God -- pg. 21

2. Miracles -- pg. 25

3. Dogma and the Universe -- pg. 38

4. Answers to Questions on Christianity -- pg. 48

5. Myth became fact -- pg. 63

6. ' Horrid Red Things' -- pg. 68

7. Religion and Science -- pg. 72

8. The Laws of Nature -- pg. 76

9. The Grand Miracle -- pg. 80

10. Christian Apologetics -- pg. 89

11. Work and Prayer -- pg. 104

12. Man or Rabbit? -- pg. 108

13. On the transmission of Christianity -- pg. 114

14. 'Miserable Offenders' -- pg. 120

15. The Founding of the Oxford Socratic Club -- pg. 126

16. Religion without Dogma? -- pg. 129

17. Some Thoughts -- pg. 147

18. 'The Trouble with "X"...' -- pg. 151

19. What Are We to Make of Jesus Christ? -- pg. 156

20. The Pains of Animals -- pg. 161

21. Is Theism Important? -- pg. 172

22. Rejoiner to dr. Pittenger -- pg. 177

Must Our Image of God Go? -- pg. 184

Part 2

1. Dangers of National Repentance -- pg. 189

2. Two ways with the Self -- pg. 193

3. Meditation on the Third Commandment -- pg. 196

4. On the Reading of Old Books -- pg. 200

5. Two Lectures -- pg. 208

6. Meditation in a Toolshed -- pg. 212

7. Scraps -- pg. 216

8. The Decline of Religion -- pg. 218

9. Vivisection -- pg. 224

10. Modern Translations of the Bible -- pg. 229

11. Priestesses in the Church? -- pg. 234

12. God in the Dock -- pg. 240

13. Behind the Scenes -- pg. 245

14. Revival or Decay? -- pg. 250

15. Before we Can Communicate -- pg. 254

16. Cross-Examination -- pg. 258

Part 3

1. 'Bulverism' -- pg. 271

2. First and Second Thing -- pg. 278

3. The Sermon and the Lunch -- pg. 282

4. The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment -- pg. 287

5. Xmas and Christmas -- pg. 301

6. What Christmas Means to Me -- pg. 304

7. Delinquents in the Snow -- pg. 306

8. Is Progress Possible? -- pg. 311

9. We Have No 'Right to Happiness' -- pg. 317

Part 4

Letters -- pg. 325

It is precisely this pervasive Christianity which is demonstrated anew in the 48 essays comprising God in the Dock. Here Lewis addresses himself both to theological questions and to those which Hooper terms “semi-theological,” or ethical. But whether he is discussing “Evil and God,” “Miracles,” “The Decline of Religion,” or “The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment,” his insight and obser-vations are thoroughly and profoundly Christian.
These essays and letters were written over a twenty-four-year period, and almost all of them are published here in book form for the first time. (One, on “Christian Apologetics,” has never before been published in any form.) Since the articles appeared originally in a number of different periodicals, however, they will be completely new to the majority of readers.
Drawn from a wide variety of sources, the essays were designed to meet a variety of needs, and among other accomplishments they serve to illustrate the many different angles from which we are able to view the Christian Religion. They range from relatively popular pieces written for newspapers to more learned defenses of the Faith which first appeared in The Socratic Digest. Nevertheless, says Hooper, “all share a particular seriousness. Not ‘gloominess,’ for they sparkle with wit and common sense; but ‘seriousness’ because of the high stakes which Lewis believed were involved in being a man.”
The stakes involved in being a man are as high today as they have ever been. These essays, characterized by Lewis’s honesty and realism, his insight and conviction, above all by his thoroughgoing commitments to Christianity, make God in the Dock very much a book for our time.