God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics

Note: this essay was first published in The Guardian in May 1940.

Lewis argues that the Christian doctrine of self-renunciation is different from cynical self-hatred. He notes that hatred of the self can lead to hatred of others, as the dissatisfied person looks into the world and resents the successes of others. It can also lead to a romanticization of suffering as a form of self-punishment. Lewis claims that self-renunciation is a rejection of the idea that the self is superior to others. The result of this self-renunciation is increased feelings of charity and love for others.

Note: this essay was first published in The Guardian in January 1941.

Lewis argues against recent calls for a Christian political party. He imagines three devout Christians: Philarcus, a conservative willing to ally with Fascists in order to obtain a Christian state, Stativus, who believes capitalist success for Christians is the best way to ensure Christian progress, and Spartacus, a radical who believes the Church has fallen and is willing to ally with nonbelievers to restore it. Lewis claims that these three types of Christians would not be able to agree on how to run a government, and that a Christian party would either fail or fracture, and thus not be a true Christian party. He urges readers to focus on evangelism to build a Christian majority.

Note: this essay was first published in 1944 as the preface to a new translation of St. Athanasius’s The Incantation of the Word of God.

Although many young readers are intimidated by old books, Lewis argues that they are often more accessible than academic secondary sources, which require knowledge of an ongoing literary conversation. Lewis claims that reading a wide variety of historical Christian texts shows that the individual doctrinal disagreements of individual centuries are usually resolved over time. He notes from his own conversion experience that even non-religious texts written in Christian societies reveal the influence of the faith on culture. Lewis celebrates St. Athanasius for his views on miracles, which Lewis claims are needed in contemporary Britain.

Note: this essay was first published in the Coventry Evening Telegraph in February 1945.

Lewis recalls a lecture which claimed that the central pattern of life on Earth is movement from small, simple things to large, complex things. The lecturer offers the example of an acorn becoming an oak tree, or primates evolving into early humans. That evening, Lewis dreams of another lecturer arguing that life moves from complex things to simple things: Mighty oaks produce simple acorns, adult parents produce vulnerable babies. 

On waking, Lewis concludes that the second lecturer is in the right, and that the pattern continues into an endless cycle. A bird lays an egg, which becomes a bird, which lays another egg. Lewis claims that because this cycle has no discernible beginning, its source must lie outside nature.

Note: this essay was first published in the Coventry Evening Telegraph in July 1945.

Lewis uses the example of a beam of light in a dark toolshed to describe the difference between observation and experience. Looking at the beam from the darkness of the shed is different than looking along the beam and into the outside world. Lewis argues that this pattern is visible in discussion of religion: Outsiders who look at Christianity are seen as more authoritative than Christians who look along (or experience) the religion themselves. Lewis claims that observation and experience are both valid, and that it is unfair to force one perspective over the other.

Note: this collection of fragments was first published in the St. James’ Magazine, a church newsletter, in December 1945.

An anonymous friend tells Lewis that his library in Heaven will contain only the books he gave away or lent. When Lewis complains about marks the borrowers left, the friend tells Lewis that they will have been turned into beautiful illuminations.

A friend tells Lewis that, because they lack bodies, angels have no sensory understanding of God. He claims the taste of honey and the blue of the sky are evidence of God that only humans know.

The Body and the Soul debate the root of their problems. The Body attributes their problems to desire.

Lewis debates the efficacy of prayer with a friend, arguing that God knows what’s best. The friend replies that, by that logic, there is no reason to act at all. The friend claims that God allows humans to act, and that prayer is a form of action.

Note: this essay was first published in The Cherwell, an Oxford magazine, in November 1946.

Lewis argues that it is possible to see both a decline in religion and a religious revival at Oxford. While acknowledging that churches are emptier than they were, he argues that the Church of England in the 19th century was not fully aligned with Christian theology. As a result, the “church” that is being abandoned is not actually Christianity.

As for the revival, Lewis insists that the popularity of Christianity as a topic of debate in academic circles does not equate to the actual conversion of people. He argues that the work is important, but may ultimately result in noting. He warns that opposition to the Christian intellectual revival will come.

Note: this essay was first published as a pamphlet by the New England Anti-Vivisection Society in 1947.

Lewis admits that it is possible for Christians to accept an argument for vivisection (experimentation on live animals) provided that the experiments were necessary to alleviate human suffering and that they were performed with respect and reverence. He claims that these are not the conditions in modern labs. 

Lewis warns that the callousness of human experimentation on animals will lead to experimentation on groups of people deemed less human. He points to concentration camps in Austria and the use of the atomic bomb in Japan as evidence that this practice is already in motion.

Note: this essay was first as the preface to Letters to Young Churches: A Translation of the New Testament Epistles in 1947.

Lewis dismisses arguments against new translations of the Bible by pointing out that the same arguments were made before the first English translation. He suggests that new translations are essential for revealing the truth of the Bible, and that Jesus’s messy human life is best retold in a messy human language.

Lewis argues that St. Paul’s epistles are often discredited as a means of discrediting Christianity itself. He suggests that the epistles are the earliest Christian writing, and that they are essential to an understanding of the religion.

Note: this essay was first published in the Time and Tide, a political magazine, in August 1948.

Lewis argues against the establishment of female priests, explaining that the change would shift the foundation of the Church of England. Although he acknowledges that many women would make excellent priests, he maintains that the role of priest must be filled by a man because of the role of gender within Christianity. Lewis insists that God presented himself to humanity in masculine terms, and presented the Church in feminine terms as the Bride of Christ. He maintains that a religion which refigured God as gender neutral would not be truly Christian.

Note: this essay was first published in Lumen Vitae, a theological journal for clergy, in September 1948.

Lewis identifies four key challenges in converting contemporary British people. First, the average person knows very little about Christianity, having been introduced only to modern versions of the faith. Second, they know nothing of history, and are suspicious of the life of Jesus because they think nothing is known of his times. Third, the language of the average person is drastically different from the language of the educated clergy, making effective communication and conversion difficult. Finally, the average person has no conception of sin: Rather than worrying about how God will judge them, they imagine themselves as judge, with God sitting in judgement. Lewis admits he has no solution to this problem.

Note: this essay was first published in Time and Tide in December 1956.

Lewis uses the metaphor of a theater to explain the difference between Appearance and Reality. As a child, he was fascinated by theatrical sets not because he thought they were real, but because he knew they were not. The existence of the set reveals a second, hidden world behind the stage where the actors wait before entering. Lewis argues that the reality of the backstage world does not negate the importance of the story being told on stage. In fact, a person who dedicated himself to exploring the backstage secrets would miss the point of the play entirely. Lewis suggests that it is impossible to truly understand the reality of the universe.

Note: this essay was first published in Punch, a satire magazine, in July 1958.

When asked by his Headmaster about the growth of interest in religion in England, Lewis counters that interest in religions is not the same as faith in a Christian God. Although he acknowledges that academic figures are converting, he laments that those same academics are no longer respected by society, limiting their potential influence. 

Lewis is indignant when the Headmaster lumps Christianity in with a larger Western tradition, insisting that Christianity should be celebrated on its own. Lewis notes cynically that the average English person is not intelligent enough to truly wrestle with Christianity.

Note: this essay was first published in Breakthrough in October 1961.



As evidence of the problem of language in England, Lewis points to a recent change in the Church of England Prayer Book that swaps the word “indifferent” for “impartial.” Church leaders feared that average people would misunderstand “indifferent” as meaning careless. In reality working class uneducated people understood the original meaning, but could not understand impartial, while middle class uneducated people understood impartial but not indifferent. Lewis stresses that true communication is impossible until educated Christians learn to speak like their uneducated neighbors. He argues that every ordination exam should include a passage to be translated into vernacular English. He insists that this exercise will reveal weaknesses in the clergy’s own understanding of the Bible.

Note: this interview between Lewis and American theologian Sherwood E. Wirt occurred in May 1963 at Cambridge.

In an interview with an American theologian, Lewis struggles to give advice to young Christian writers, suggesting that writing is an impulse that comes from God and must be honored. He suggests that he writes with joy and levity because it comes naturally to him, but that forced humor is insulting to God. He urges young writers to hone their arguments first, then ensure their language is precise enough to help readers follow the argument. 

He declines to recommend modern novels, but decries the use of obscenity and sex in modern literature. Wirt asks Lewis to predict the next few years of history; Lewis insists that the best thing to do is to focus on living for God.